Data for dummies: SugarCRM just got stupid-simple business data

Popular customer relationship management (CRM) vendor SugarCRM is enlarging its data offering today by announcing integrated business data from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).

The new data will help its users better pinpoint sales opportunities.

D&B data had previously been available as an outside source to the software, in addition to such sources as LinkedIn, HootSuite, and in-house ERP systems.

This new D&B partnership is intended to provide access to data via searching instead of manual entry. Users can search in SugarCRM for, say, new prospects, click to add lists of competitors or corporate family members, or search for departmental contacts and add them with a click.

The “tighter integration [of D&B data] takes advantage of the Sugar UX … interface to bring that data into a single view” of all the information on a given topic, Sugar CRM senior vice president of marketing Jennifer Stagnaro told VentureBeat.

SugarCRM launched a redesigned user experience last fall. This Sugar UX emphasizes graphs for visualization of data, inline editing, activity streams, and contextual information that it pulls from outside.

“Sales, marketing, and customer service teams are fighting a losing battle against incomplete data,” D&B senior vice president Mike Sabin said in statement. His company can certainly fill in a lot of missing company, industry, and contact information, as it boasts over 230 million business records and 100 million contacts, as well as unstructured social and news data.

D&B data is also available directly in Salesforce, SugarCRM’s biggest competitor.

Three levels of D&B data integration will be offered next month through SugarCRM resellers – a Basic Package with company and contact info, a Standard Package that adds such additional detail as corporate parent info, and a Premium level with detailed industry and competitor data plus unlimited news on prospects and customers.