SugarCRM Inc., the world's leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, today announced the Sugar Authorized Learning Program to accelerate the adoption of CRM best practices across its global customer base. The Sugar Authorized Learning Program is a set of instructor-based training programs offered by a select number of Sugar certified partners to help Sugar customer and community members take full advantage of the features and capabilities of SugarCRM.

Charter members of the Sugar Authorized Learning Program include Levementum and Plus Consulting in North America, iZeno and Bhea Knowledge Technologies in Asia, and Redpill-Linpro in Europe. Partners have been selected for their ability to deliver quality training to SugarCRM customers. Authorized Learning Partner instructors go through a certification process where they are trained on SugarCRM’s product architecture, education methodology and user experience.

“Quality training by experienced instructors is a primary driver of CRM success,” said Andy Dreisch, vice president of worldwide services at SugarCRM. “The SugarCRM Authorized Learning Program provides a structured methodology for SugarCRM experts to deliver the educational services that drive CRM adoption and success.”

Sugar Authorized Learning Partners receive official course materials designed by SugarCRM, as well as unrestricted access to an up-to-date online training lab environment for their students. Partners also participate in a referral program for training opportunities with Sugar customers in their region. Sugar Authorized Learning Partners are allowed to post their public course schedules on Sugar University (http://university.sugarcrm.com) as well. SugarCRM maintains strict quality oversight by means of an online evaluation system for partner courses.

“Successful adoption demands a high-quality training program that is hands-on, up-to-date, and led by qualified instructors. Sugar’s Authorized Learning Partner Program ensures quality training is available to all SugarCRM customers. We are excited to join SugarCRM’s efforts to expand customer access to the great learning tools provided by the program,” said Doug Guilbeau, managing director of consulting operations, at Levementum, a leading professional services firm in North America focused on delivering world-class implementations of open source enterprise software, including ERP, CRM and business intelligence solutions.

“Teaming with SugarCRM via the Authorized Learning Partner Program allows iZeno to expand the quantity and quality of its educational services for customers and users in Singapore, Malaysia and China,” said Benny Ng, director of business development at iZeno, a provider of best-of-breed open source business solutions in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We look forward to working with the Sugar customer community to broaden the understanding of this great product. Proper training helps to ensure both end user adoption as well as a stable and robust platform. Plus Consulting will offer high quality training for both end users and technical administrators,” said Heath Flicker, managing partner at Plus Consulting, a consulting firm focused on CRM product and implementation services.

“The Sugar Authorized Learning Partner Program empowers us to provide proven training content and practices to Sugar customers during hours that are convenient to the Indian Standard Time zone. It also allows us to customize the content for language of choice,” said Ram Kumar, president of Bhea Knowledge Technologies in India.

“Redpill-Linpro has been working successfully with SugarCRM implementations in Europe for the past four years. To become a charter member of the Sugar Authorized Learning Program, is a recognition of our accomplishments as well as an opportunity to strengthen our training capabilities for new and existing customers,” said Kristian af Sandeberg, product manager for SugarCRM at Redpill-Linpro, a European consultancy focused on end-to-end delivery of technology solutions for corporations.

About SugarCRM

SugarCRM is the world’s leading provider of commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) software. Founded as an open source project in 2004, SugarCRM applications have been downloaded over five million times and currently serve over 500,000 users in 75 languages. Over 4,000 customers have chosen SugarCRM’s On-Site and Cloud Computing services over lock-in based, proprietary alternatives. In the last year, SugarCRM has been recognized for its customer success and product innovation by CRM Magazine, InfoWorld, Customer Interaction Solutions and Intelligent Enterprise. For more information, call (408) 454-6900 or 1 87 SUGARCRM toll free in the US, email contact@sugarcrm.com, or visit http://www.sugarcrm.com.