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FrontRange Announces GoldMine Plus Account 4.0 CRM Enhancement TMCnet Contributing Editor Customer relationship management (CRM) applications are great in that they better equip a company and its employees to anticipate and respond to the needs and demands of the customer base. What these applications lack, however, is integration with accounting records. Too often, sales or customer service representatives have to waste valuable time accessing different applications and opening separate files to answer basic questions.
FrontRange is proposing a change to this process as the company has added a new capability to its popular GoldMine CRM application. The GoldMine Plus Accounting 4.0 is a response to customer requests for tighter integration between front- and back-office data. Users can seamlessly draw information from QuickBooks and see it alongside standard GoldMine data to gain a unified view of all transactions related to a specific customer account. Updates can also be sent easily from GoldMine back to QuickBooks. Organizations deal with an abundance of issues as a result of using separate systems to access customer, sales, accounting and operational data. GoldMine Plus Accounting 4.0 can help to improve productivity by eliminating things such as duplicate data entry that reduces the chances of human error or data discrepancies between the front and back offices. These organizations can also avoid expensive and time-consuming data integration projects and purchasing additional, complex business integration systems to achieve the same results. “Integrating front and back office data has been near the top of most organizations’ IT wish lists,” said Kevin J. Smith, vice president of products for FrontRange Solutions, in a statement. “But the expense in terms of cash, time, and resources has been a huge barrier. GoldMine Plus Accounting provides an easy way for our installed base, the installed base of QuickBooks, and organizations looking to improve their customer-facing service to fulfill that wish.” With QuickBooks integration, users in GoldMine can now view invoices, and drill down to specific details and status. They are also able to view current balances and payment terms for each account, including drilling down to specific orders and status on purchase orders without having to open or search through a separate application. Organizations can increase internal efficiency while improving customer service. Greg Anderson, senior director of products, GoldMine, noted that technology is designed to be an enabler, not a barrier to getting things done. However, the way things are set up often doesn’t match the needs of people on the front lines. When salespeople can consistently access complete, up-to-date information about their prospects and customers, they focus on results and close sales. This latest announcement from GoldMine seems long overdue. This type of integration has long been in demand and kudos to FrontRange for responding so appropriately to the needs of clients. This enhancement to GoldMine will likely see mass adoption as the demand is significant and the benefits extensive. Want the latest scoop on all things VoIP? Make sure you attend INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo East, January 23-26, 2007 in Fort Lauderdale , Florida. While you’re waiting for the show to start, check out Rich Tehrani’s analysis of the communications industry in 2007. -------- Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page. |