Exploring Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration

We’ve already explored the Magento 2 Salesforce integration, but there are many more CRM systems to be covered. The following article sheds light on the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. Below, we describe the platform and then proceed to the synchronization of the two systems. Let us introduce you to SugarCRM – a complete CRM solution for both big and small businesses.

Introduction to SugarCRM

What’s the primary purpose of Sugar CRM, you will ask? Just like other similar systems, it is developed to deliver a complete CRM solution for growing your sales, improving customer experience, and running marketing campaigns with higher efficiency. Despite the potent functionality of the platform, it lets you eliminate unnecessary complexity by reducing feature overload, which is so common among other systems.

SugarCRM Features

Let’s take a look at the core features of the platform that can be streamlined due to the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration.

• Quote Management. With the help of the platform, you get the fastest and most efficient way of creating quotes. Leverage the existing sales cycle and enhance it with SugarCRM. The platform allows increasing deal velocity with the dedicated quotation software. Both small and large companies can benefit from this feature.
• Dashboards & Reports. Of course, a reliable CRM system offers multiple ways for monitoring your metrics, and SugarCRM is not an exception. It is designed to provide you with the most in-depth insights into your marketing, sales, and customer support data. First of all, you can leverage Sugar Dashboards which are easy to interact with getting all the necessary information. Secondly, the system provides Sugar Reports – a unique tool designed to turn your data into insights essential for managing your existing relationships better.
• Sales Forecasting. In addition to the feature mentioned above, we should also say a few words regarding the forecasting capabilities of SugarCRM. The platform lets you improve your business performance by streamlining better visibility and predictability. Make more effective decision making with the platform!
• Enhanced Workflow. What is the number one process when it comes to the increased efficiency and productivity metrics across the entire organization? Right! Automation! And SugarCRM lets you delegate multiple routine tasks to the platform instead of doing them manually.  The Magento 2 SugarCRM integration provides the workflow automation toolset designed to enhance all critical customer-facing processes and those that are never seen by your clients.
• Advanced Flexibility. SugarCRM offers lots of possibilities regarding customization and configuration of the system. Since every business is unique, it is necessary to implement an individual approach to each SugarCRM implementation, providing companies with advanced flexibility. Feel free to customize and configure the platform as your particular business case requires.
• Mobile Support. You might have already seen that CRM’s mobile support increases the efficiency of work of your employes. To enable your teams to work better and faster, Sugar offers a dedicated mobile application optimized for small screens. Thus, you can use it on your tablet or smartphone anytime and anywhere, maintaining productivity even if there is no internet connection.
• Campaign Management. SugarCRM offers campaign management software to push your marketing and sales initiatives to new milestones. The platform is designed to streamline the way you create, execute, and track campaigns. And of course, it supports multiple channels, email marketing programs, and leads capturing.
• Project Management. Manage all aspects of your business related to customers within a convenient and user-friendly interface. Build new and maintain existing projects across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support.
• International Capabilities. If you operate on several markets, it is not a problem for SugarCRM since the platform offers support for multiple languages and currencies. Note that this CRM provides support for more than 30 languages by default and you can add more!
• Advanced Security. The Magento 2 SugarCRM integration is secure due to several reasons, and one of them is the ability to provide your employees with limited access to the system. The platform allows creating teams and roles, mitigating security concerns and reducing risks. Consequently, each user gets access to only the relevant customer data.
• Case Management. With SugarCRM, you get support, sales, and marketing capabilities in one package. As a result, it is easy to empower your support team with more advanced tools than most CRMs offer. Thus, your employees can manage customer support requests through the system’s case management system with higher efficiency since the platform facilitates streamlined information sharing and case routing.
• Self-Service Portal. Let your customers be independent of a support team. With SugarCRM, they can create cases, update their account information, and search the knowledge base, discovering answers to their questions in the fastest possible manner.
• Email and Calendar Integration. The integration with email services and calendars dramatically improve your daily duties. Track customer emails, manage appointments and keep your calendars in sync with Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. Reduce daily responsibilities and spend more time on your customers.
• Sales Lead Management. SugarCRM is designed to help you identify the hottest leads. You can easily track them even for multiple campaigns. The platform’s lead management software lets you turn over the leads to sales seamlessly. And do you remember about the reach dashboard functionality of the platform? It enables you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
• Social Media Integration. SugarCRM lets you integrate leading social media services where you can engage with your customers at an entirely new level. Thus, you improve not only online collaboration but also leverage social media aspects of your business increasing its productivity.
• Google Apps Integration. In addition to social media services, you can also integrate Google apps into the system. SugarCRM offers both standard and custom integrations so that you can satisfy even the most demanding requirements.
• Collaboration. From the perspective of CRM users, it dramatically simplifies their work by introducing personalized updates. SugarCRM offers Activity Streams to provide each user with the ability to learn and act on the most relevant information.
• Other Backend Improvements. To simplify various activities related to the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration even more, the system lets you leverage such features as search, filters, and tags. Thus, finding the information you need is fast and easy.

SugarCRM Products & Their Characteristics

SugarCRM offers the following key products:

• Sales CRM;
• Marketing CRM;
• Service CRM;
• IT CRM.

Below, we describe the core features of Sugar Sales CRM since it is the most common product used in the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration.

Simple Reporting

Below, we’ve just mentioned that SugarCRM offers strong reporting capabilities. It is also necessary to say that you can easily leverage them in Magento 2 SugarCRM integration due to the Sales CRM product. Personalized dashboards are easy to find, configure, and view. As a seller, you will get a central place to track and monitor various activities, to-dos, as well as metrics against defined KPIs. Gain a complete view of different business segments with powerful insights. And you don’t need to spend hours to display the desired information – only a few clicks are required!

Outstanding Backen Experience

The productivity of your employees depends on how user-friendly the environment they work in is. And while we all know that the backend of Magento 2 is easy to understand and streamline, what about SugarCRM?

The platform offers the same-level experience when it comes to the user-friendliness of its admin section. Thus, your team can leverage this CRM system within a few clicks, especially if you use the Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration Add-On for Improved Import & Export extension.

The system provides every employee with the right information, at the right time due to the ability to assign different roles to different employees. The provided experience is simple, engaging, and consistent. Furthermore, it can be tailored to every user’s unique needs and ways of working across any device.

Accelerated Processes

The platform lets you accelerate multiple processes related to the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. You can automate different daily duties especially if Improved Import & Export is used.

Moreover, the system guides your employees through what actions, milestones, and activities to complete. They never miss any important details and do everything much faster due to the well-organized routine. As a result, more time can be spent getting to know customers personally so that your business efficiency is increased.

Precise Forecasts

If your business lacks forecasts, you can easily get them with the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. Manage your sales team better with additional information on every deal, such as real-time sales analytics and insights. Let your employees better collaborate around deals and provide them with precise business forecasts. At the same time, they will be able to track early indicators and changes affecting your business and react before any significant issues occur.

Reduced Data Entry

The Magento 2 SugarCRM integration on the basis of Improved Import & Export extension lets you eliminate most data entry tasks. Firstly, because the module enables you to transfer data between the two systems automatically. Secondly, due to the outstanding capabilities of SugarCRM. The platform is designed to keep customer records up-to-date and duplicate-free. You can leverage such tools as Hint and duplicate checker.

Entering a name and an email address, and Hint will augment your records by pulling in the latest contact, company, and social network data and moving it back into the system. Besides, it lets you sync and capture key interactions email servers, log calls and notes from mobile or desk phones, as well as prevent duplicate records from being added to the system.

Individual Approach to Customers

While Magento doesn’t have any robust tools that enable a personal approach to every customer, Sugar CRM provides you with the ability to leverage multiple new instruments designed to personalize the experience you offer. Thus, the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration enables you to uncover entirely new up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. Leverage the platform to capture the needs of your buyers. It will analyze previous purchase history and provide you with an understanding of future potential.

Next, you can map this information to your catalog to run targeted promotions. Thus, SugarCRM lets you offer more relevant products and services to your customers. What does it mean? Right: you can dramatically improve conversion and increase additional sales revenue.

Effective Quotes Management

SugarCRM provides the ability to manage quotes with higher efficiency than ever before. The system incorporates your product catalogs where items can be drag-and-dropped into quotes. You can group, reorder, apply discounts, and manage all other aspects of working with quotes. Create approval rules to accelerate your work in this direction.

Device-Agnostic Platform

As mentioned above, SugarCRM is device agnostic. It means that after your Magento 2 store is connected to the platform, you can manage all aspects of your CRM system from any device, anytime, anywhere. Maximize productivity while in the office or on the road. Access all data to stay on top of every deal and never miss an opportunity to engage with customers!

Reasons to Run Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration

1. Simple and Highly Customizable. SugarCRM is at the same time easy to use and powerful. You can customize it according to your needs and leverage its intuitive and straightforward interface without any third-parties.  
2. Flexible. As you can see from the features described above, SugarCRM is a flexible and fully-featured solution for both big and small companies in multiple industries including sales. Thus, it perfectly suites every Magento 2 business. If not, you can always customize the platform as you wish.
3. No Hidden Fees. Another important reason to connect your Magento 2 store to SugarCRM is the lack of hidden fees. Everything is clear, and we describe SugarCRM pricing below.
4. Easy to Integrate. You can effortlessly connect your Magento 2 website to SugarCRM using the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension. Two systems can be synchronized in a matter of a few clicks.  

SugarCRM Pricing

SugarCRM offers three key pricing plans: Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. Besides, you have to pay for Hint separately.

Sugar Professional is the cheapest one, and it is developed for growing small businesses. The plan costs $40 per user per month and includes such features as sales automation and forecasting, customer service + case management, and lead management + sales campaigns. Besides, you will get online support and 15GB storage.

Sugar Enterprise is a perfect plan for large enterprises. It is $25 more expensive and costs $65 per user per month. It includes all features mentioned in Professional Edition plus product levels quotes and forecasting, team-based role permissions, advanced workflow, self-service portal features, email, and phone support, as well as 60GB storage.

Sugar Ultimate is the most expensive and at the same time complete plan with the highest support level. It costs $150 per user per month and offers all features mentioned above plus Assigned Technical Account Manager, five sandbox instances, and 250GB storage

As for Hint, it costs $15 per user per month. The system will help you gather and analyze customer information from a broad range of sources.

Note that all prices are higher if you pay for less than one year.

SugarCRM APIs

SugarCRM provides the ability to connect to external systems with the help of APIs. It mainly relies on the REST API standard to enable integrations. Therefore, it is the recommended and safest mechanism for all data synchronizations to and from the platform.

Before using REST, the system provided module-loadable packages to run any integration. However, this method is problematic for some reasons.

While module-loadable packages can call private, internal application APIs, there are no guarantees that you will achieve the same behavior for all CRM releases. But what about the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration and Sugar APIs?  

Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration

As you might have already guessed, the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration is based on REST APIs. Of course, you need the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension to connect the two systems. The module provides the ability to automate all data transfers via cron, event-based import/export processes, mapping presets, and other useful features. But if you use the Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration Add-On, the procedure becomes way more user-friendly.

SugarCRM Integration Add-On

We’ve developed an add-on for the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension that dramatically simplifies the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. Let’s take a look at its core features and then proceed to more in-depth exploration.

Features

• Automated synchronization and updates of customer’s data between Magento 2 and SugarCRM:
  • Magento 2 Customers -> SugarCRM Opportunities,
  • Magento 2 Customers -> Leads,
  • Magento 2 Customers -> Accounts,
  • Magento 2 Customers -> Contacts,
  • Magento 2 Customers’ billing address book -> Targets;
• Automated synchronization and updates of Promotion Campaign data between Magento 2 and SugarCRM Campaigns;
• Automated mapping for Magento 2 attributes and SugarCRM custom fields with presets;

Mapping

The mapping opportunity of Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration Add-On for Improved Import & Export are great. The instrument not only lets admins define mapping field in the backend but also apply presets that simplify the entire process. We will return to this feature below.  

Data Sync

Another great feature of the add-on is the ability to synchronize all data between the two platforms. Note that the process is automated and can be based on triggers. For instance, when a new customer registers on your website, the corresponding information is sent to SugarCRM. The same algorithm can be applied to orders.

Automation

And all processes are entirely automated since you can not only apply triggers but also create update schedules. We will return to these and other features below.

Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration Case Study

Let’s take a look at the Magento 2 SugarCRM data synchronization based on Improved Import & Export.

Credit Notes

You can streamline the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension and SugarCRM Integration Add-On to sync credit notes between Magento 2 and your SugarCRM account. Apply mapping and trigger-based schedules to synchronize credit notes to SugarCRM every time they are created in your Magento 2 admin, or new changes are applied.

Product Data

Transferring product data between Magento 2 and SugarCRM is another process that you can establish with the help of Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration Add-On. The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension lets you synchronize product information between the two systems transferring product names, SKUs, prices, quantities, and anything else between the two systems. Note that product data can be uploaded to SugarCRM when a new product is created.

Customer Data

Synchronize customer data between Magento 2 and SugarCRM using Improved Import & Export every time a new customer is registered on your website. Note that the corresponding information can be sent to SugarCRM automatically. All changes are sent to your CRM system automatically as well.

Order Data

You can also transfer orders between Magento 2 and SugarCRM. Send every new order from your e-commerce store to SugarCRM when a purchase is made. The process is entirely automated.

Campaign Data

What else can you sync between Magento 2 and SugarCRM using the add-on for Improved Import & Export? Feel free to transfer campaigns between the two systems. Synchronize promotion info and catalog price rules between Magento 2 and SugarCRM. Easily send rule names, discount value starting/ending dates, etc.

The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension provides the ability to synchronize all entities between the two systems. Contact us and ask for the customization or request more information about the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration and our extension here:

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Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension Features

Now, when you are familiar with the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration, we’d like to draw your attention to the Improved Import & Export features that simplify the data synchronization between the two platforms. Our module completely revamps the default import and export functionality of the platform so that you can avoid many issues caused by the built-in tools. The most important aspect of the integration on the basis of our Add-On is that you can automate everything.

The default Magento 2 import tools don’t let you do that. In addition to the lack of automation, they cannot import all entities or match attributes to enable the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. As a result, it is necessary to repeat numerous processes every time an update is required. The Magento 2 SugarCRM integration requires multiple updates per day, so are you going to spend hours on these conventional processes?

We believe that such a waste of time is not for you. Therefore, our extension lets you transfer all information from Magento 2 to SugarCRM and back automatically: different external attributes and their values can be matched to ones used internally, multiple API connections – leveraged in the integration, and all entities – imported/exported! As a result, you effortlessly synchronize SugarCRM and Magento 2.

Automated Import & Export

The SugarCRM Magento 2 integration is a continuous process that requires advanced automation. And the Improved Import & Export provides the ability to avoid daily duties related to data transfers by allowing you to automate data transfers in two different ways: via schedules and event-based triggers.

Schedules

Schedules are the most popular way of automation in different data transfers but not the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. However, the flow of information between the two systems can be established in the background by cron. You specify a time interval and the system import/exports updates according to it. Our module lets you create fully independent import and export jobs with several different options:

• custom intervals,
• customizable predefined update schemes,
• profiles with no schedules (which are good for maintaining such tasks as migration to Magento 2),
• and asynchronous data transfers (launch every scheduled profile manually whenever you want).

Сonfigure a schedule as follows:

Events

Event-based triggers are the second huge improvement provided by the Improved Import & Export extension which is more useful for the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. Use the following algorithm to automate data transfers between the two systems:

1. Create a trigger;
2. Connect it to an event;
3. Link an action to a trigger to launch it automatically.

Thus, transferring data to SugarCRM with the help of a trigger dramatically simplifies the integration. As mentioned above, this feature enables data exchanges in real time. When something happens in Magento 2, the add-on transfers the corresponding data to CRM. For example, a customer makes a purchase on your website, and the extension automatically transfers a new order to SugarCRM. In the case of SugarCRM Integration Add-On for Improved Import & Export, you don’t have to create this scheme manually! Follow the link below for more information regarding triggers: How to Run Magento 2 Import or Export After Specific System Event or Process.

Advanced Mapping Features

Map SugarCRM attributes to ones used in Magento 2 to enable automated data transfers between the two systems. The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension radically simplifies the SugarCRM Magento 2 integration in terms of attributes and their values due to the following features:

Mapping Presets

Use our module to solve the problem of different attribute standards without headaches and enable the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration in the most intuitive way with mapping presets – predefined mapping schemes that eliminate manual attributes matching.

Our extension performs all the necessary stages automatically. It analyzes the input data file transferred from SugarCRM, discovers third-party attributes, and matches them to the ones used in Magento. The same algorithm is applied to export processes. Magento 2 SugarCRM Integration Add-One for Improved Import & Export knows what attributes are required by the CRM system and modifies ones utilized in Magento according to the requirements of the external platform. You only need to select a matching scheme suitable for your migration. The process is shown below:

Matching Interface

Importing/exporting data between SugarCRM and Magento 2 can also be enabled by mapping attributes manually right in the Magento admin! The Improved Import & Export module provides a unique matching interface which offers full control over mapping: you specify external (internal) attributes and link them to the corresponding internal (external) ones in a special grid enabling the data transfer. Here is how everything works:

Attribute Values Mapping

The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension offers a separate interface for attribute values mapping that provides the ability to simplify the Magento 2 SugarCRM synchronization and automate it entirely. With our plugin, external designations will no longer interrupt transfers since you can choose an external value from SugarCRM and specify the internal one from Magento 2 as a replacement. Repeat the procedure until all third-party designations from your old store are mapped to ones utilized in Magento 2. Note that the created schemes are saved and applied for further updates. For details, read this article: Attribute Values Mapping.

Attribute Values Editing

If attribute values mapping is not enough, streamline attribute values editing while transferring data from SugarCRM or other systems to Magento 2. It is another feature that makes the integration more merchant-friendly. To modify attribute values in bulk, use the following rules:

• Add a prefix to multiple attribute values;
• Add a suffix to multiple attribute values;
• Split multiple attribute values;
• Merge multiple attribute values.

Note that you can combine them and create conditions increasing the efficiency of the applied changes. Don’t miss the flexibility of our module! For further information, follow this link: How to Modify Attribute Values During Import and Export in Magento 2.

Category Mapping

Category mapping is a feature developed for product data transfers from any systems to Magento 2. It lets merchants match external categories to ones used internally reducing the number of difficulties that usually occur when products are transferred from other platforms to Magento 2. The Improved Import & Export module allows mapping external product categories to ones used in your catalog as follows:

To create new categories right in the import job, choose a parent category and specify a new one that will be generated automatically. Thus, the extension will link products to it during the import process. If your Magento 2 website doesn’t include a category from an imported file, it’s no longer a problem. You can find more information about this feature here: Category Mapping.

Attributes On The Fly

And if a data file provided from an external system lacks attributes, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension lets you create them on the fly via the following general form:

Attribute|attribute_property_name:attribute_property_value|…

The feature is described here in more detail: Product attributes import.

Extended Connectivity Options

As for the extended connectivity options, they are designed to improve all data transfers as well as make the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration possible. With Improved Import & Export, you can use multiple file formats and two alternative ways of transferring data between your e-commerce store and external systems. As for SugarCRM, the REST API standard is used. Also, note that our module transfers all Magento 2 entities, while the default tools support only a few of them.

Multiple File Standards

The Magento 2 SugarCRM integration cannot be established on the basis of data files, but you should know that the Improved Import & Export extension supports CSV, XML, JSON, ODS, and Excel. You can use these standards for other integrations.

Another feature that radically simplifies data transfers between Magento 2 and other platforms is support for compressed data. Our module can unpack file archives automatically while the default tools work with uncompressed CSV files only!

Multiple File Sources

The following file sources can be leveraged to import and export data files between Magento 2 and external systems:

• FTP/SFTP. Transfer data files using a local or remote server.
• Dropbox. Use a Dropbox account to establish a connection between the two systems. Alternatively, you can rely on Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, and Amazon Drive.
• URL. A direct URL can be used to import a data file as well.

Alternative Ways of Import & Export

As for the alternative ways of import and export, they are not represented in Magento 2 by default. However, direct API connections enable the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration. As we’ve just mentioned, the Improved Import & Export extension provides the ability to leverage REST for the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration as well as other APIs if necessary. In addition to the aforementioned standard, our extension supports SOAP and GraphQL.

Note that all API connections are fully compatible with the extension’s features. As a result, you can leverage mapping, schedules, and attributes on the fly while transferring data via API. Transfer all the necessary information between Magento 2 and SugarCRM in the most intuitive manner!

As for the intermediary services, the extension allows using Google Sheets, Office 365 Excel, and Zoho Sheet. Although they cannot be utilized in the SugarCRM Magento 2 integration, you can streamline them to connect to other systems. The following image shows how to use Google Sheets to move data to Magento 2:

The video below displays our extension in action:

Final Words

While Magento 2 SugarCRM integration is a complicated process, you can always simplify it with the help of the Improved Import & Export extension. Our module provides the ability to synchronize all entities between your e-commerce website and the CRM system making all data transfers automated. For further information about the Magento 2 SugarCRM integration on the basis of our plugin, follow the link below and contact our support:

Get Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension