IBM and longtime partner SugarCRM announced today that companies now have the option of running the Sugar customer relationship management (CRM) platform across IBM’s worldwide network of cloud data centers.
That arrangement promise security-rich cloud environments, data isolation and performance, SugarCRM said. Based in Cupertino, Calif., SugarCRM produces the Web application Sugar, a CRM system available in both open source and commercial open source applications. A typical end user for Sugar is in a regulated industry such as banking, healthcare or financial services.
Partnership Means New Offerings
By choosing IBM Cloud, Sugar can be deployed across bare metal cloud servers, dedicated off-premises clouds or private cloud environments behind the firewall, according to SugarCRM. IBM Cloud is the only cloud company to offer SugarCRM customers those options. Organizations will also gain access to on-demand, scalable computing power, a global footprint, and a fast, private network via IBM’s 46 cloud data centers worldwide, according to a statement from the companies.
“IT strategy should not be held hostage by vendors that offer a proprietary, multitenant cloud configuration as the only option. Instead, choice should be the rule of the day for cloud deployments, so organizations can implement systems in a way that fits their business and IT needs,” Clint Oram, co-founder and CTO of SugarCRM, said in the statement.
One SugarCRM client, Chicago-based Highland Solutions, is already using Sugar on IBM Cloud for its own clients. For one university, deploying an HIPAA-enabled solution allows the organization to manage a self-administered healthcare plan, giving it a 360-degree view of each participating member while combining data from multiple systems, Oram noted.
SugarCRM has been trying to gain ground on CRM rivals, including Salesforce, by strengthening its platform with more intelligent and predictive sales tools and features. By teaming with the likes of IBM, SugarCRM should be able to increase its exposure to prospective clients as well as have a strong cloud partner, thus enabling it to put more of its money and personnel toward developing new software.
Another New IBM Teammate
IBM has placed an emphasis on beefing up its enterprise cloud reach, both with its own products and those of other companies. Another longtime IBM partner, VMware, also announced this week that it will offer its Horizon Air cloud-hosted desktops and apps globally via the IBM Cloud. VMware has been an IBM partner for 14 years in a reseller arrangement.
Bringing in outside partners could also be a way for IBM to compete for market share in the enterprise software sector against such leaders as Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS. Both of those providers have also partnered with outside companies, including competitors of VMware and SugarCRM.
