Using Workflows in Sugar to Streamline Internal Emails

Sending a Slack or IM message? Too informal.
Walking over to chat with a colleague? No, I need something on record.
A phone call? No way, it’s not 1995 (Sad).

Email, for all its issues, remains the default (and official) form of business communication. Think about it, a proposal, plan or even an idea feels more official when it’s in an email. However, email has become overburdened and it would behoove all of us to send fewer and to make them more worthwhile.

This is where SugarCRM’s workflow functionality can really help Sugar customers. Sugar administrators can create workflow templates to update fields, send emails, or create records when certain conditions are met. Workflows are a great way to configure automated processes within Sugar so that users do not need to remember manual steps and instead can focus on their primary tasks and job responsibilities. One of the most common workflows is email notifications to alert users when something needs to be done.

This allows you to automatically inform a team member, or even another department, of a task that needs to be completed, a purchase order that needs processing, or a hot new opportunity that needs attention. For example, an organization can use Sugar’s Advanced Workflow to automatically alert the appropriate sales rep when a new lead or opportunity enters the system in his or her region. Automating the process means it doesn’t have the chance to slip anyone’s mind and one official email comes from Sugar.

It may sound counterintuitive at first – email alerts will actually declutter your inbox. However, we’ve found that getting an automated alert from the CRM via email with only the relevant details and explicit instructions on what needs to happen next is much more helpful than an email from a colleague. Of course, best practices and common sense come into play as well. Before creating an email notification from a workflow, one should evaluate if it’s needed. The more notification emails a rep gets, the less likely each is to be seen as important. So…choose wisely when creating email alert notifications.

Another great benefit: email alerts via workflows are a great way to increase user adoption of the CRM. If you have users who are dragging their feet about the new CRM, emails that make them go into the system is a good catalyst for wide adoption. When users feel invested and get something sent to them from the CRM (rather than always entering data), they will find it much more valuable.

SugarCRM’s Advanced CRM Workflow is designed so any Sugar user can rapidly design and deploy these business processes with a visual design interface. Individuals can receive, analyze, and react to template-driven notifications through any standard e-mail system, wireless devices, or any standard Web browser.

Though SugarCRM has simplified the process with Advanced Workflow, we’ve found that many organizations still are nervous about getting started. If you’d like to take advantage of all workflows have to offer, but need help getting started, don’t hesitate to contact reach out to us.

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