SugarCRM Inc., a vendor of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, has announced the immediate release of Project Management for its Sugar Professional and Sugar Enterprise product lines.

 

Sugar's Project Management offers what company officials call "the advanced capabilities of a standalone project management application" integrated into SugarCRM's CRM suite.

 

"As companies become more service-based, managing customer and internal projects becomes even more critical," said John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM.

 

According to a recent on-demand survey by Nucleus Research, 32 percent of on-demand customers are using on-demand CRM and only 23 percent are using on-demand project management. However, future buying intentions in on-demand shift from CRM to project management, with 29 percent of companies planning to buy on-demand project management and 16 percent planning to buy CRM in the next 12-18 months. 

 

"Managing customers and projects is the next step after acquiring them, making integrated project management a key factor in driving greater value from CRM," said Rebecca Wetteman, Vice President of Nucleus Research.

 

Earlier this month SugarCRM announced the opening of Sugar Europe in Dublin.

 

Based on growing demand across Europe, Sugar officials say, the new office will "foster close relationships with SugarCRM's customers, partners and user communities across the continent." Clint Oram, a co-founder of SugarCRM, will serve as General Manager of Sugar Europe and will lead the European team from Dublin.

 

Over the last three years, company officials say, SugarCRM has seen "widespread adoption across Europe," with its strongest growth in France, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Currently, about one-quarter of SugarCRM's commercial customers are located in Europe and more than 30 percent of Sugar Open Source downloads take place in Europe.

 

Commercial open source CRM provider SugarCRM, "not necessarily viewed on par with salesforce.com, yet," according to company officials, nevertheless sees itself "on a similar growth path."