Best SugarCRM 10.3.0 Hosting Recommendation
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Best SugarCRM 10.3.0 Hosting Recommendation
Founded in April 2004, SugarCRM has become one of the highest growth CRM software publishers in the world. As of May 2012, the Cupertino, CA-based company has received approximately $80M in venture financing, and has amassed over 11M downloads, 1M users in over 80 countries, 170K paid subscriptions, 30K registered developers, 1K projects on SugarForge, 400 VARs on five continents and 100 products on the new SugarExchange
The company is showing traction in both customer acquisitions and business performance. Revenue growth maintained high double digit figures throughout 2011 and Q1 2012 began with triple digit growth. In addition to its business performance, SugarCRM’s brand and reputation are unique in the CRM industry. The company has built a passionate and loyal following of partners and customers.
In an industry of innovators or fast followers, SugarCRM is one of the few innovators. The company was born with the SaaS incarnation and has since pioneered commercial open source within the CRM software industry.
What’s New in SugarCRM 10.3.0?
Overview
Upgrades to Sugar 10.3 (Q1 2021) are available or required for instances according to the following guidelines:
- All instances hosted on Sugar’s cloud service will be upgraded to 10.3 (Q1 2021).
For the upgrade, please keep in mind that there are some key features of 10.2.x that have changed or are not available in Sugar 10.3.x. Some of the items that are unavailable in Sugar 10.3.x may be made available in a future release. To help provide you with the necessary information, this article covers what to expect when your instance is upgraded from 10.2.x to 10.3.x.
For information regarding new functionality available in 10.3.x, please refer to the release notes specific to your Sugar product:
- Sugar Sell 10.3 Release Notes
- Sugar Serve 10.3 Release Notes
- Sugar Ultimate 10.3 Release Notes
- Sugar Enterprise 10.3 Release Notes
- Sugar Professional 10.3 Release Notes
Feature Disparity Between 10.2.x and 10.3.x
10.2.x features in the following categories have changed or are no longer available in 10.3.x:
- Administration
- Dashboards and Dashlets
- Notes
- SugarBPM
- Sugar Sell – Renewals
- Sugar Serve – SugarLive
- User Interface
Please refer to the sections below for further information on the changes.
Administration
The following 10.2.x Administration features and behaviors have changed in 10.3.x:
| Feature | Sugar 10.2 Behavior | Sugar 10.3 Behavior |
| Role Management | “View” permission is labeled “View” in the Roles table. | “View” permission is labeled “Record View” in the Roles table. |
| Studio | The following field types can be enabled for mass updating: date, datetime, dropdown, multiselect, radio, relate, flex relate, tags. | The following field types can be enabled for mass updating: checkbox, date, datetime, decimal, dropdown, encrypt, float, Iframe, integer, multiselect, phone, radio, relate, text, URL. |
| Relationship-based relate fields cannot be edited in Studio. | Relationship-based relate fields are in the module’s Fields list in Studio, where you can adjust their settings. | |
| System Settings | The setting that displays phone numbers in Sugar as clickable links is called “Enable SkypeOut integration”. | The setting that displays phone numbers in Sugar as clickable links is called “Enable Click-to-Call”. |
Dashboards and Dashlets
The following 10.2.x Dashboard features and behaviors have changed in 10.3.x:
| Feature | Sugar 10.2 Behavior | Sugar 10.3 Behavior |
| Consoles | There is a pre-defined list of filters available to select when configuring the tabbed module list views (e.g. Accounts, Cases) for the Renewals Console and/or Service Console. | Administrators can control the fields available as filters for the tabbed module list views in the Renewals Console and/or Service Console by configuring the Search layout in Admin > Studio. |
| Dashboard Configuration | The dashboard actions menu appears on dashboards (e.g. Home page dashboard, list view/record view dashboard, console dashboard) throughout Sugar and allows you to perform various actions such as creating dashboards, duplicating dashboards, and adding dashlets. | The floating actions button appears on dashboards (e.g. Home page dashboard, list view/record view dashboard, console dashboard) throughout Sugar and replaces the dashboard actions menu for common tasks such as creating dashboards, duplicating dashboards, and adding dashlets. |
| Dashlet Configuration | Dashlets can be resized by dragging their lower right corner. | Dashlets can be resized by dragging their sides, bottom, or corners. |
Notes
The following 10.2.x Purchased Line Items features and behaviors have changed in 10.3.x:
| Feature | Sugar 10.2 Behavior | Sugar 10.3 Behavior |
| Attachments | Notes can only have one file attached in Sugar and the portal; the file is shown in the Attachment field, which is displayed by default in record view and list view. | Notes can have multiple files attached in Sugar and the portal; all files are shown in the Attachments field, including files originally saved in the deprecated Attachment field in Sugar 10.2 and lower. The new field is displayed by default in record view but is not available to be added to list view, and the deprecated field is hidden. |
| When copying a note record, its file attachment is carried over to the duplicated record. | When copying a note record, its file attachments are not carried over. To include the same attachments on the duplicated record, you must save them to your computer and upload them to the new note separately. |
SugarBPM
The following 10.2.x SugarBPM features and behaviors have changed in 10.3.x:
| Feature | Sugar 10.2 Behavior | Sugar 10.3 Behavior |
| Process Definitions | Process definitions targeting the Notes module that are triggered on note creation will initiate a single process when a note is created with an attachment. | Process definitions targeting the Notes module that are triggered on note creation will initiate multiple processes if the note that is created has one or more attachments. To avoid this, add the following filter to the Start event’s criteria: “Is Attachment = False”. |
Sugar Sell – Renewals
The following 10.2.x features and behaviors related to renewals in Sugar Sell have changed in 10.3.x:
| Feature | Sugar 10.2 Behavior | Sugar 10.3 Behavior |
| Renewals | The Renewal field, a read-only checkbox that automatically gets checked during renewal generation, exists only in the Opportunities module. | The Renewal field, a read-only checkbox that automatically gets checked during renewal generation, exists in the Opportunities, Revenue Line Items, Quotes, Quoted Line Items, and Purchased Line Items modules. The only layout it has been added to is the Purchased Line Items record view. |
Sugar Serve – SugarLive
The following 10.2.x SugarLive features and behaviors have changed in 10.3.x:
| Feature | Sugar 10.2 Behavior | Sugar 10.3 Behavior |
| SugarLive Calls and Messages | After the agent or the customer ends a call or chat, a Create drawer appears for the agent to confirm values and save the call or message record. | When a call or chat is started, the call or message record is automatically created and its values are updated throughout the session. When the agent or the customer ends the session, the record is updated with the final details, and no Create drawer is presented. |
| SugarLive Layout | SugarLive is divided into two panels: the Detail panel containing a tabbed dashboard on the right and the Communication panel displaying the ongoing call or chats on the left. | SugarLive is divided into three panels: the Detail panel on the right, the Communication panel on the bottom left, and the new Summary panel, displaying fields from the call or message record for the current SugarLive session, on the top left. |
| SugarLive Communication panel | When you end a chat, the Communication panel shows the Close Contact button but no longer shows the chat conversation. | When you end a chat, the Communication panel shows the Close Contact button and the chat conversation remains visible. |
| SugarLive Summary panel | SugarLive saves call and message records once at the end of the call or chat session. | SugarLive updates call and message records every time a change is made to them in the Summary panel during a call or chat. If you have process definitions that are triggered when a call or message record is updated, they could potentially have a negative performance impact. To reduce this risk, it is recommended to ensure that these process definitions have specific enough criteria that they will not be triggered every time the fields in the Summary panel are updated by an agent. |
| Amazon Connect Settings | The Instance Name field is used to construct the URL to the Contact Control Panel (CCP) in your Amazon Connect instance. | If you fill in the Contact Control Panel URL field, this URL is used to connect Sugar to your Amazon Connect instance, even if a value is provided in the Instance Name field. If you leave Contact Control Panel URL blank and populate Instance Name instead, the instance name value is used to construct the URL to the Contact Control Panel (CCP) in your Amazon Connect instance. |
User Interface
The following 10.2.x User Interface features and behaviors have changed in 10.3.x:
| Feature | Sugar 10.2 Behavior | Sugar 10.3 Behavior |
| Editing Fields | When switching from record view to edit mode, the size of text-input boxes is reduced, requiring the user to expand the field or scroll to view longer content. | When switching from record view to edit mode, the size of text-input boxes is preserved, so text boxes that were expanded in record view remain expanded on edit. |
| Filters | Filters on a user field can return only active users. | By default, filters on a user field will return only active users, but you may now apply a secondary filter to filter by an inactive user as well. |
| Phone Number fields | Phone number fields can be clicked to dial the number using your default computer telephony integration (CTI) software if the admin has enabled the “Enable SkypeOut integration” setting and the phone number uses an accepted format. | Any phone number format can be dialed provided your default computer telephony integration (CTI) software accepts the format and the re-named “Enable Click-to-Call” system setting has been enabled in Sugar by your administrator.
Note: For Sugar Serve users who are logged in to Amazon Connect, phone numbers will be dialed using SugarLive. |
| Record View | Clicking and dragging to copy a field’s value from record view puts the record in edit mode. | Record-view mode is maintained when a user clicks and drags is initiated within a record, allowing for copying of text to system clipboard. |
Best SugarCRM 10.3.0 Hosting Recommendation
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| ASPHostPortal | HostForLIFEASP.NET | UKWindowsHostASP.NET |
| $1.00/month | €3.00/month | £3.00/month |
| Host 1 Site | Host Unlimited Site | Host 5 Sites |
| 1 GB Disk Space | Unlimited Disk Space | 1 GB Disk Space |
| 10 GB Bandwidth | Unlimited Bandwidth | 20 GB Bandwidth |
| Dedicated Application Pool | Dedicated Application Pool | Dedicated Application Pool |
| Support UTF-8 Domains | Support UTF-8 Domains | Support UTF-8 Domains |
| 30-Days Money Back | 30-Days Money Back | 30-Days Money Back |
| Latest ASP.NET | Latest ASP.NET | Latest ASP.NET |
| Plesk Control Panel | Plesk Control Panel | Plesk Control Panel |
| Windows 2008/2012 | Windows 2008/2012 | Windows 2008/2012 |
| SQL Server 2008/2012/2014 | SQL Server 2008/2012/2014 | SQL Server 2008/2012/2014 |
| Latest MySql version | Latest MySql version | Latest MySql version |
How to Choose Cheap SugarCRM 10.3.0 Hosting Recommendation
Reliability and Speed of Access
Not only should the web host be reliable and fast, it should guarantee its uptime (the time when it is functional). Look for a minimum uptime of 99%. In fact, even 99% is actually too low — it really should be 99.5% or higher. The host should provide some sort of refund (eg prorated refund or discount) if it falls below that figure. Note though that guarantees are often hard to enforce from your end — especially if the host denies there was any downtime. However, without that guarantee, the web host will have little incentive to ensure that its servers are running all the time.
Data Transfer (Traffic/Bandwidth)
Data transfer (sometimes loosely referred to as “traffic” or “bandwidth”) is the amount of bytes transferred from your site to visitors when they browse your site.
Don’t believe any commercial web host that advertises “unlimited bandwidth”. The host has to pay for the bandwidth, and if you consume a lot of it, they will not silently bear your costs. Many high bandwidth websites have found this out the hard way when they suddenly receive an exorbitant bill for having “exceeded” the “unlimited bandwidth”. Always look for details on how much traffic the package allows. I personally always stay clear of any host that advertises “unlimited transfer”, even if the exact amount is specified somewhere else (sometimes buried in their policy statements). Usually you will find that they redefine “unlimited” to be limited in some way.
In addition, while bandwidth provided is something you should always check, do not be unduly swayed by promises of incredibly huge amounts of bandwidth. Chances are that your website will never be able to use that amount because it will hit other limits, namely resource limits.
To give you a rough idea of the typical traffic requirements of a website, most new sites that don’t provide video or music on their site use less than 3 GB of bandwidth per month. Your traffic requirements will grow over time, as your site becomes more well-known, so you will need to also check their policy when you exceed your data transfer limit: is there a published charge per GB over the allowed bandwidth? Is the charge made according to actual usage or are you expected to pre-pay for a potential overage? It is better not to go for hosts that expect you to prepay for overages, since it is very hard to forsee when your site will exceed its bandwidth and by how much.
Disk space
For the same reason as bandwidth, watch out also for those “unlimited disk space” schemes. Many new sites (that don’t host videos or music) need less than 20 MB of web space, so even if you are provided with a host that tempts you with 100 GB (or “unlimited space”), be aware that you are unlikely to use that space, so don’t let the 100 GB space be too big a factor in your consideration when comparing with other web hosts. The hosting company is also aware of that, which is why they feel free to offer you that as a means of enticing you to host there.
Technical support
Does its technical support function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (often abbreviated 24/7), all year around? Note that I will not accept a host which does not have staff working on weekends or public holidays. You will be surprised at how often things go wrong at the most inconvenient of times. Incidentally, just because a host advertises that it has 24/7 support does not necessarily mean that it really has that kind of support. Test them out by emailing at midnight and on Saturday nights, Sunday mornings, etc. Check out how long they take to respond. Besides speed of responses, check to see if they are technically competent. You wouldn’t want to sign up with a host that is run by a bunch of salesmen who only know how to sell and not fix problems.
Email, Autoresponders, POP3, Mail Forwarding
If you have your own site, you will probably want to have email addresses at your own domain, like sales@yourdomain.com, etc. Does the host allow you to set up whatever email addresses you want on your domain, so that mail can be forwarded to your current email address, or placed into a mail box on your web hosting account itself? Can you set an email address to automatically reply to the sender with a preset message (called an autoresponder)? Can you retrieve your mail with your email software?
Control Panel
This is called various names by different hosts, but essentially, they all allow you to manage different aspects of your web account yourself. Typically, and at the very minimum, it should allow you to do things like add, delete, and manage your email addresses, and change passwords for your account. I will not sign up with a host where I have to go through their technical support each time I want to change a password or add/delete an email account. Such tasks are common maintenance chores that every webmaster performs time and time again, and it would be a great hassle if you had to wait for their technical support to make the changes for you.
Web Server and Operating System
Is the type of operating system and server important?
In general, most people will want to sign up for a web host offering a Unix-based system (like Linux, FreeBSD or OpenBSD) and running the Apache web server. Most web-based software assume your website is running on such a system, and you will usually experience fewer compatibility issues with it. There are also a lot of guides available on the Internet on configuring such systems, so finding help when you need it is easier as well.
In my opinion, the only time when you will want to use a Windows server is if you’re running Windows-specific programs, like ASP scripts. But even then, you’ll probably be better off looking for a PHP-equivalent, and using a Unix-based system.
Price
I was actually hesitant to list this, but I guess it’s futile not to. However, I would caution that while price is always a factor, you should realise (“realize” in US English) that you often get what you pay for, although it’s not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best.
Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Payment Plans
Most web hosts allow you to select an annual payment plan that gives you a cheaper rate than if you were to pay monthly. My current personal preference is to pay monthly with all new web hosts until I’m assured of their reliability and honesty. Paying monthly allows me to switch web hosts quickly when I find that the current host does not meet my requirements: this way, I’m not tied down to a bad web host because I have prepaid for an entire year. I do this even if the new web host guarantees that they will refund the balance if I’m dissatisfied, since at the point I sign up, I have no assurance that they will honour their guarantee. Later (usually after a couple of years), when I’m satisfied with the host, I may change payment plans to the discounted annual plans.
Resellers?
Not all hosting companies own or lease their own web servers. Some of them are actually resellers for some other hosting company. The disadvantage of using a reseller is the possibility that you are dealing with people who don’t know much about the system they are selling and who take longer to help you (they have to transmit your technical support request to the actual hosting company for it to be acted upon). However, this also depends on both the reseller and the underlying hosting company. It is thus wise not to rule out all resellers; there are a number of reliable and fast ones who are actually quite good and cheap. In fact, a number of resellers sell the same packages cheaper than their original hosting company. If you find out that a particular company is a reseller, you will need to investigate both the reseller and the real hosting company.
International
If you don’t stay in the USA, you have the option of hosting your site with some local provider. The advantage here is the ease of dealing with them (they are after all easily accessible by phone call or a visit), your familiarity with the local laws and easy recourse to those laws should it be necessary. It should be your choice if your target audience is local (eg a local fast food delivery service). On the other hand, hosting it in USA has the advantage of faster access for what is probably the largest number of your overseas visitors (particularly if you have an English-speaking audience). You also have a large number of hosting companies to choose from, and as a result, cheaper prices too.
