Small Business Special…
Daylite is a purpose built database for tracking clients, quotes, estimates, projects, pipelines and more.
PROS:
CONS:
One of the great things about Daylite is that at any point during its use you really do feel like your using a mac application, which, as you all know, greatly increases the usability factor.
VERDICT: A generally sound all round contender that although a bit pricey can be purposed for pretty much any type of business. The real winner is the accompanying iPhone application that means you can be mobile with your company data.
USEABILITY 4 STARS
Next up….
37SIGNALS have created a suite of web apps that help you stay connected wherever you are.
The three main applications are…
Basecamp – “Manage projects, collaboration and communications.”
Backpack – “Organise and Share information across your Business.”
Highrise – “Track your contacts, leads and deals, always be prepared.”
PROS:
CONS:
VERDICT: A genuinely innovative attempt to shake up and revolutionise the CRM and Business communication market that works well and is very easy to use. Being able to access anywhere and the fact that your data is safe and backed up are a huge advantage but not being able to use off line. Having a rolling fee may also put off small businesses and freelancers.
USEABILITY 4 STARS
Lastly…
FMStarting point is deceptively simple looking. It is actually an amazingly straightforward yet powerful solution for any business.
The nature of a filemaker database is that you need to understand the basics of Filemaker but in this case the hard work has been done for you. Even customising invoice templates for your business is a breeze.
The upside of a Filemaker database is that it is infinitely customisable.
It is hard to believe that this is free as its power certainly warrants a levy. Richard Carlton Consulting also make a home version called Data4Life which offers similar functionality for running your personal as well as your business data.
CONS:
VERDICT: A super addition to any businesses arsenal. Incredibly easy to use, impressive looking documents such as invoices, estimates etc, built in email distribution and most of all COMPLETEY FREE!
USEABILITY 5 STARS
After reading your blog posts on CRM options for Macintosh users, I thought you might like to hear about and further investigate this new game-changing CRM integration option for Macintosh Entourage users: Riva Integration Server for Exchange. Riva is compatible with hosted and on-premise installations of Microsoft CRM, SugarCRM, Salesforce, Oracle CRM, NetSuite and others – with full support for Outlook, Outlook Web Access, Macintosh Entourage, BlackBerry, ActiveSync and IMAP Exchange clients. Riva is compatible with on-premise and hosted Exchange 2010, 2007 and 2003.
Because Riva Integration Server is server-side, there are no plug-ins to install on any of the clients. No clumsy Outlook plug-ins. No plug-in support and training issues. All Exchange clients are natively supported without any add-ons or plug-ins. This means that Macintosh Entourage users now have full integration for all of the Riva supported CRMs.
http://www.omni-ts.com/newsroom/exchange-crm-integration.html
Best regards,
Aldo Zanoni
CEO, Managing Director
Omni Technology Solutions Inc.
The Integration Company
http://www.omni-ts.com
780.423.4200