Outbound Call Center Featured Article

SugarCRM Appoints Tony Hughes to Lead Asia Pacific region

By Rahul Arora
TMCnet Contributor

SugarCRM (News - Alert), the world’s fastest-growing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company, recently stated in a press release that it has appointed Tony Hughes as managing director of SugarCRM Australia Pty. Ltd. A proven leader in the technology and software industries in Australia, Tony will help SugarCRM build upon its tremendous success in the Asia Pacific region. Second quarter billings rose by 41 percent over the first quarter of 2011 and by 30 percent over the same quarter in 2010.

Even in the rest of the world, SugarCRM has reported remarkable growth. The company’s customer numbers for ROW have ballooned by 47 percent in a year, and by the end of Q2 2011 SugarCRM had 29 percent more customers in the region than at the end of Q1.

 “There are growing segments of businesses in this region that are clamoring for CRM as they add customers and seek to reduce churn,” said Hughes (News - Alert). “Flexibility and affordability are watchwords, and that’s what SugarCRM delivers along with unrivalled ease of use and business value.”

“The momentum in the Asia-Pacific region is clearly on Sugar’s side, and it’s a testimony to both the completeness of the product and its flexibility to adapt to unique local business conditions,” said Larry Augustin, chief executive officer. “Tony’s arrival is only going to intensify what has gone on in the previous two quarters in APAC.”

Apart from the customer base, SugarCRM has also seen tremendous growth in its sales channel network. In the second quarter, Sugar gained 25 new partners, raising the total of its partners worldwide to 288. That number is one-third higher than the number of SugarCRM partners at the end of the second quarter of last year.

“Our partners create momentum for the entire SugarCRM ecosystem,” said Doug Erickson, vice president, Asia Pacific. “Business needs are different in Asia and Australia than they are in North America, and our partners’ reach and expertise — in addition to their creativity and their ability to distil real business needs for their end-user customers — give users real competitive advantages precisely tailored to their geographic regions.”

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.

Rahul Arora is a TMCnet contributor. He has worked as an editor and freelance writer for several reputed organizations in India. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jamie Epstein