SierraCRM Inc. has released a process management engine for SugarCRM, the open-source customer relationship management software. The new engine, designed to help users capture more new business and create a "customer-for-life" environment, is offered in both full-featured and "lite," configurations. The latter, with fewer functions, is available as a free download.

"This new module allows any company using SugarCRM to streamline and automate many daily tasks involved with customer acquisition and management, freeing up time to focus on selling and servicing customers in a more effective and automated manner," said Bill Convis, SierraCRM chief technology officer.

He described the SugarCRM open systems model as the "first true commercial-grade CRM that users can download and set up for free."

With the new module, the workflow engine takes care of communications to a new lead, contact, opportunity, or case along with scheduling and follow-ups, Convis explained.

Financial institutions have generally found it has become a necessity to differentiate their services with higher regard being placed on customer service. According to a survey conducted last year of 35 financial institutions across the United States, 94 percent said it was "critical" or "extremely important" to improve the customer's experience.

SierraCRM's full-featured version sells for $499. SierraCRM Inc. was formed in 2004 by Bill Convis, a consultant in the CRM industry since 1996 when he joined Clarify, Inc. Convis left Clarify in 1998 and started Sierra Software Solutions, a Clarify Consulting and Implementation company.

Last month SugarCRM announced plans to expand support for customers of the Oracle (News - Alert) Unbreakable Linux Support Program across all SugarCRM solutions.

Based on the growing demand, SugarCRM and Oracle can now provide their joint customers what SugarCRM officials call "a robust, fully supported product."

The support of Oracle Unbreakable Linux is "a direct result from the SugarCRM customers demanding high-quality, reliable CRM applications," said Paul Oh, director of technology alliances at SugarCRM. "SugarCRM has been a member of the Oracle open source partnership for the last two years, and this announcement expands our Oracle database integration into the Oracle Unbreakable Linux Support Program."

Sugar's commercial open source model is built on modern open source and Web 2.0 languages and relies heavily on customer feedback, community contributions and strategic partnerships to bring CRM features to market.

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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.