GoldMine Business Contact Manager

GoldMine Business Contact Manager (BCM) is a customer relationship management (CRM) application, formerly known simply as GoldMine. It provides an easy way to create a customer database, update it and use it to keep track of your business contacts. This version also offers a range of contact, sales and marketing tools such as sales forecasting and report generation -- more than enough for most small businesses.

You should experience little if any trouble setting up GoldMine BCM, even if your business lacks a dedicated IT department. Simply insert the CD-ROM and answer a few questions that tell the software about how you'll use it -- for example, whether it's for an individual or for multiple users. After you install the program, you must register with FrontRange before you can use it. Most other Windows applications don't make you register. As with many CRMs, GoldMine BCM's interface looks a lot like Microsoft Outlook's: a taskbar sits on the left side of the work space and menu options line the top. We were impressed with the interface's clean look and its new customisability. You can now create up to 20 custom taskbars for, say, modifying or adding fields to contact records. This CRM also integrates nicely with Outlook. So if, for instance, a staff writer stores data in Outlook, he or she could sync and share email, address books and calendar features with GoldMine BCM-based sales reps. Likewise, GoldMine BCM integrates with Microsoft Exchange 5.5, Lotus Notes 5.02 and Lotus CC:Mail. Most of GoldMine BCM's considerable strengths lie in its contact management tools. For example, whenever you create or send a letter, a fax or email, GoldMine BCM automatically records your communications with each contact. And the new iCal-standard meeting request feature sends invitations to contacts and team members who use other iCal-compliant programs, such as Outlook. GoldMine contains competent sales features. For instance, you can forecast sales, complete transactions and assign quotas for various employees. Also, from the Reports Menu, it's easy to create reports and charts to document and analyse sales data, including projected sales and cash flow. In keeping with today's mobile workplaces, GoldMine BCM lets you synchronise with telecommuters, but the setup is somewhat lengthy. The administrator creates a profile for the remote worker and sends that person an email message. An email attachment walks the remote employee through the rest of the synchronisation setup. You can also synchronise GoldMine with Palms and Pocket PCs. If you run into trouble using this product, you're in luck. Goldmine BCM provides very helpful documentation, including a detailed installation guide, a 'What's New in Version 5.7' booklet, and an easy-to-follow user manual. In addition, FrontRange offers free online, email and newsgroup support. Access to telephone hot-line support service is available to customers with a valid support contract, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm GMT. GoldMine Business Contact Manager gets the basics of CRM right, and includes so many features that small businesses will find almost everything they need. If your small business requires a usable, highly customisable and sophisticated contact manager with a minimal investment of time and money, you can't do better than choose GoldMine Business Contact Manager.

Member reviews

Member's rating:

9.00 out of 10

Reply 17 Mar 04 21:33 Reply

Allows me to manage my business by creating direct marketing campaigns in minutes, allowing me to win more business. So cost-effective I would have spent Â£600 per licence! Also must mention that our supplier Accounting Answers (023 8030 4300) were very helpful in training, support and installation, without which we would not be getting the most out of GoldMine.

10.00 out of 10

Reply 24 Mar 04 10:27 Reply

With the assistance of the local reseller, and after the 5th reinstall, the software still does not work as advertised. GoldSync and Outlook integration do not sync nor integrate. Not to mention its absurd transfer set file creation, that has to occur every time it's being reinstalled. In my case the duration has exceeded 60 hours! You have to consider an in-house expert, who is fully trained by FrontRange, to run it.

3.50 out of 10

Reply 14 Dec 04 02:22 Reply

Do not upgrade to version 6.7 if you plan on syncing with a Palm. Not only does the sync feature not work, it screws up the sync between the Palm and the Palm desktop. I had to uninstall and reinstall my Palm software to get it working again. Tech support does not return emails.

5.50 out of 10

Reply 18 Jan 05 16:12 Reply

Goldmine is a terrible piece of horrendously clunky software, the GUI is a never-ending series of wind-ups and manages to defy, at every single painful step, any and every usability convention regarding windows applications. The interface goes beyond cluttered often 4 windows with bizarre resizing characteristics, windows constantly in the way of each other etc etc. The 'goldsync' option goes further with archaic functionality - a remote 'undocked' user needs to constantly and MANUALLY perform a synchronization at regular intervals, even when connected to the same network. Outlook integration is buggy as hell, with its linking mechanism Â‘fragileÂ’ at best. Your employees will grow to detest this product if you lay it before them, as its unintuitive, annoying, and downright shoddy interface causes a serious of resignations, heart attacks and strokes within your organization. Support is very expensive and even then, extremely poor. Look at the newsgroups on the frontrange site (newsgroups?!) And look at the vast numbers of people with sync problems and just look at how often people are complaining about how they canÂ’t even get the Goldsync Â‘serviceÂ’ to run as a service!! It ticks lots of boxes on the feature matrix but thatÂ’s about it. Summary - Diabolical. DonÂ’t go near it.

Reply 17 Feb 05 14:51 Reply

Has good features, better than Outlook, but not as good as ACT! Less complicated than this last one.

7.50 out of 10

Reply 13 Apr 05 23:40 Reply

Their website is a shambles. Their support is SHOCKING.
Their product is the most hacked-together horrible piece of CRM software in existence. It is horrendously full of bugs.

I should know, I've been force to use and ADMINISTER (hah!) this junk for the last year.

Go use Sugar CRM or something else, just not this.

4.00 out of 10

Reply 10 Aug 05 10:07 Reply

I have used several CRM solutions and this one is the best value for money around. As it seems to have all the features I could ever want and more besides. Better than act. The Igoldmine (goldmine on the web) is great for people out in the field

8.50 out of 10

Reply 15 Sep 05 13:32 Reply

This product is junk, pure and total junk. Everything in it is a hack. I feel dirty after using it. I've been the "Goldmine Administrator" for a few months at my company and I'm now seriously considering suicide.