SugarCRM introduced a new “Cloud Connectors” feature with release of its SurgarCRM 5.2 product, announced on Monday this week.  The new Cloud Connectors feature allows SugarCRM to fetch data from third-party sources around the web.  One of the first demonstrations of this was integration with LinkedIn, allowing users to launch a window directly from the SugarCRM application to explore their LinkedIn contacts who may be from the same company they are currently viewing.

This sounds really similar to the Oracle Social CRM demonstration that was published by Oracle earlier this year.

Nonetheless, SugarCRM presents an interesting new feature ripe with possibilities for further integrations.

Also included in the 5.2 release: social feeds, where other users of SugarCRM can be notified of activity of their co-workers, such as closing a deal or adding a new opportunity, more granular administrative controls for IT staff, and Portal Dashlets – additional windows of information from third-party websites.

SugarCRM is relatively inexpensive, with the on-demand (SaaS) version starting at $40USD/user.

Filed under: Cloud Computing, Enterprise Web, SaaS, Social Computing