SugarCRM launches first product to help provide a ‘full view of customer’

SugarCRM is expanding beyond its base in customer relationship management with the release today of the first in a line of Relationship Intelligence products.

Called Hint, this initial product automatically searches the web and various databases for additional information on users in the SugarCRM. The person could have only a few basic data points — like name, email address or company — and Hint will add more.

Co-founder and CMO Clint Oram told me that the searchable data involves 70 sources, although he declined to mention the specific ones. He noted that they include government and public data but not LinkedIn, which doesn’t have an appropriate data feed.

The returned data, which is added to that person’s profile in SugarCRM, focuses on several current or recent status items, such as employment. Oram said SugarCRM’s search also has access to historical data about contacts, which might become an additional service in Hint at some point.

The determination that a found Jane Smith is the one in your CRM is made by the search algorithm, centered around a key connector like the same email address. (See screenshot above.)

While other vendors provide tools for expanding beyond initial data on contacts, particularly B2B ones, Oram pointed to two differences in Hint. The most obvious is the direct integration with a CRM, in this case the largest open source one. The other: an all-you-can-eat pricing of $15/month for unlimited searching of one user.

Oram said that upcoming related products in the Relationship Intelligence line, similarly employing machine learning to improve by example and to make predictions, will also help round out a “full view of the customer” when they are launched later this year.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.