Outlook Plugin support multiple Sugar Instances

[zenorb]

Someone, anyone? Please - I'm stuck

Hi

Can anyone think of an elegant way to easily archive Outlook emails to multiple disparate instances of SugarCRM?

At the moment the Outlook Plugin appears to be designed to communicate with a single instance of Sugar only.

We need to be able to archive emails to multiple disparate companies with unique (disparate) instances of SugarCRM.

The email would be unique to the particular Instance of Sugar. We are not trying to archive to multiple simultaneously.

We are trying to match emails in a single Outlook inbox to their appropriate respective SugarCRM homes.

What would be ideal is an "Archive to Sugar" Outlook Plugin with a drop down list of SugarCRM Instance choices.

Anyone got any ideas or other ways to accomplish same result?

Appreciate your thoughts

Regards
Sean
www.1800technology.com

[aldoz]

Can anyone think of an elegant way to easily archive Outlook emails to multiple disparate instances of SugarCRM?

Check out our Riva Integration Server. Riva does server side Exchange-to-SugarCRM synchronisation and therefore does not have the single instance restriction of the Outlook plug-in. There is no Outlook Plug-in. You can configure Riva to synchronise with multiple instances of SugarCRM.
http://www.omni-ts.com/crm-integration/sugarcrm.html

If you just have a couple of users with that specific need and don't want to set up Riva on a workstation/server in your environment, you could use a hosted version of Riva:
https://www.rivasync.com/live/login

Best regards,

Aldo

--
Aldo Zanoni
CEO, Managing Director
Omni Technology Solutions Inc.
The Integration Company
www.omni-ts.com

[zenorb]

Thank you Aldo

I really appreciate your suggestion and had a look at your website and was vey impressed with your product.
Unfortunately I don't use exchange and just connect and clear email from a host through an ISP.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but your solution requires Exchange and wont work for me.

Or is there a way to make it work without Exchange?

Best regards
Sean

[aldoz]

Or is there a way to make it work without Exchange?

Hello, Sean.

No. Because Riva provides server-to-server integration, it requires either Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise as the email server. I don't know what you use for your current email provider, but hosted Exchanged with BPOS has become a much more affordable option. Riva works with all Exchange 2007 or 2010 hosting providers. And if you have a limited number of users who need Riva integration, you can use Riva's hosted service - nothing to install in your environment:

http://www.omni-ts.com/crm-integrati...d-edition.html
https://www.rivasync.com/live/login

Best regards,

Aldo

[agcopley]

Hello, Sean.

No. Because Riva provides server-to-server integration, it requires either Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise as the email server. I don't know what you use for your current email provider, but hosted Exchanged with BPOS has become a much more affordable option. Riva works with all Exchange 2007 or 2010 hosting providers. And if you have a limited number of users who need Riva integration, you can use Riva's hosted service - nothing to install in your environment:

http://www.omni-ts.com/crm-integrati...d-edition.html
https://www.rivasync.com/live/login

Best regards,

Aldo

Riva is also very expensive $150 per Exchange account!

[aldoz]

Riva is also very expensive $150 per Exchange account!

Ah, yes. The whole question of price versus value. I understand your position that, at first glance, $150.00 per seat appears to be a lot of money to pay for integration with a free CRM. On the other hand, it takes as few as five hours of saved time to recuperate that investment. I don't know how many other technology investments can provide that quick a return on investment. And if you only have a few accounts that need to be able to access multiple Sugar instances and Riva solves that "pain", I would think that it would be worth it.

Our customers report to us that Riva saves them the purchase price in time alone - from an installation, support and end-user troubleshooting and frustration perspective over the course of the first few weeks. Because Riva runs server-side, there are no costs associated with installing a plug-in or application on multiple machines for each user. There are no configuration, training or upgrade costs and no "the #@#$ plug-in stopped working" end-user issues. Riva provides native integration for Macs. It provides native integration for BlackBerry, iPhone and other mobile devices whereas integration with mobile apps is usually delivered through paid-for applications with other solutions. The purchase price includes technical support and upgrades during the first year. Support and updates are 30% of the purchase price for the following years. We also offer volume discounts for companies that have a large number of CRM seats.

For customers under tight budgetary constraints, the free Outlook Plug-ins should cover their expectations. For users who are looking to get more than just the minimum out of their CRM (including support for multiple Sugar instances), Riva provides server-to-server integration with advanced features, most of which would save a normal sales person a 20-30 minutes a day. If a sales person can not recuperate the investment in 30 days, you are right, the advanced features provided by Riva are probably not worth it.

Following is a link to an article where I discuss a number of other reasons customers prefer to pay for Riva versus using the free Outlook plug-ins:
http://www.omni-ts.com/newsroom/crm-plugins.html

I look forward to continuing the discussion.

Best regards,


Aldo

--
Aldo Zanoni
CEO, Managing Director
Omni Technology Solutions Inc.
The Integration Company
www.omni-ts.com

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo da Vinci

[zenorb]

Aldo

I think your cost justification argument to agcopley's comment has significant merit.

I currently clear email directly from my POP3 hosting account - in answer to what I use as a current email provider.

Taking on an additional service such as Hosted Exchange BPOS may add additional cost and complexity I don't require at this time. It appears BPOS has a five user (with equivalent monthly fees) minimum.

By changing my User Name and Password to be the same accross all seperate SugarCRM instances I've found a slightly less elegant but functional solution where all I have to do is change the URL to point to the correct crm install instance under Outlook SugarCRM Plugin options. While I'm pointing at the correct instance I can go and sync all messages accordingly. All I have to do is change the URL pointer in the settings to whichever one I need which takes only a few seconds leaving all other details intact.

I'll continue to explore a hosted solution and see if it adds any other functionality I may find useful but I'm not sure I need to add that level of cost and complexity just yet with our simple needs.

Thanks again for your knowledgable and informative suggestions.
Much appreciated.

Sean R. Smith
www.1800technology.com

[agcopley]

Ah, yes. The whole question of price versus value. I understand your position that, at first glance, $150.00 per seat appears to be a lot of money to pay for integration with a free CRM. On the other hand, it takes as few as five hours of saved time to recuperate that investment. I don't know how many other technology investments can provide that quick a return on investment. And if you only have a few accounts that need to be able to access multiple Sugar instances and Riva solves that "pain", I would think that it would be worth it.

Our customers report to us that Riva saves them the purchase price in time alone - from an installation, support and end-user troubleshooting and frustration perspective over the course of the first few weeks. Because Riva runs server-side, there are no costs associated with installing a plug-in or application on multiple machines for each user. There are no configuration, training or upgrade costs and no "the #@#$ plug-in stopped working" end-user issues. Riva provides native integration for Macs. It provides native integration for BlackBerry, iPhone and other mobile devices whereas integration with mobile apps is usually delivered through paid-for applications with other solutions. The purchase price includes technical support and upgrades during the first year. Support and updates are 30% of the purchase price for the following years. We also offer volume discounts for companies that have a large number of CRM seats.

For customers under tight budgetary constraints, the free Outlook Plug-ins should cover their expectations. For users who are looking to get more than just the minimum out of their CRM (including support for multiple Sugar instances), Riva provides server-to-server integration with advanced features, most of which would save a normal sales person a 20-30 minutes a day. If a sales person can not recuperate the investment in 30 days, you are right, the advanced features provided by Riva are probably not worth it.

Following is a link to an article where I discuss a number of other reasons customers prefer to pay for Riva versus using the free Outlook plug-ins:
http://www.omni-ts.com/newsroom/crm-plugins.html

I look forward to continuing the discussion.

Best regards,


Aldo

--
Aldo Zanoni
CEO, Managing Director
Omni Technology Solutions Inc.
The Integration Company
www.omni-ts.com

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo da Vinci

Thanks Aldo,
The reduced feature set option would make this a more affordable solution
for those who are not small users e.g. < 500 but at the same time not
qualifying for bulk discounts and dont require the whole feature set.

Rgds
Andrew