Syncing GoldMine with Smartphones

Everybody has a SmartPhone these days. Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Palm, yada yada. The list is endless and growing constantly. What makes these “Smart” phones so popular? Well, it’s because they are really portable computers as well as communication devices. And as communication moves quickly from writing and mail and direct verbal communication to text and e-mail, these functions begin to take priority on the “phone”.  We also want to take all our info with us and that means the contacts, calendars and more from our computers. That’s where syncing comes in. Transferring and updating info back and forth from our Smart phones to our less mobile devices. 

Actually I predict that in the very near future syncing will go away and most of our data will be transfered directly through the “cloud” to our phones; either through a push technology like the Blackberry server or Exchange, or we will just log onto websites with all our information. 

But for now the question is, “If you are using a CRM system what are your options to get your data to your SmartPhone?” Since we are specialists in GoldMine we’ll give you our examples, but other CRM programs should have similar options. 

Mobile Options - GoldMine  Blackberry

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   1.  GoldMine’s Internal Sync to Outlook

GoldMine and several other CRM packages Include a sync to Outlook, Palm, or Windows Mobile devices. The Outlook sync tends to be used where an Exchange server is available because it moves the data from GoldMine to Outlook and then to the SmartPhone. It is a one or bidirectional sync. It is reasonably reliable with limited duplication. We recommend syncing Contacts out only and calendars both ways. 

Pros:

• No additional cost.
• Data stays on the mobile devices address book and calendar while disconnected from Internet.
• Once configured, can be set to automatically sync when logging into GoldMine and at specific intervals.
• Can configure seperate settings and profiles for Calendar and Contacts to sync with Outlook.
• Fairly easy to purge data if needed. 

Cons:

• Semi-automatic – will rely on a macro in the GoldMine shortcut to start when logging in to GoldMine or by hitting a shortcut button once after logging into GoldMine. 
• Can duplicate data in either Outlook or GoldMine. 

2.    CompanionLink Pro

Cost: $100 per User

Pros:

• Many more configuration options vs GoldMine`s built-in sync to Outlook
• Can be configured to auto start and sync at intervals during while connected to GoldMine.
• Data available on the BB while disconnected from the Internet.

Cons:

• Additional cost per user.
• Would have to synched to local Outlook while offline if iGoldMine is used**.
• Sometimes needs to be reconfigured.

3.   WMobile 

Cost:  $400 charge for server Installation + $295 per user 1 time charge. $58.00 per user annual maintenance and upgrade fee. (Optional after first year) 

Pros:

• Awesome interface – provides almost all of the functionality of the full version of GoldMine on the Smartphone. 
• Provides live phone link, live email link, live Mapquest to address link, ability to copy contact or calendar event to SmartPhone local application. 
• This is a direct connection to the GoldMine server. Changes to records, calendar, email etc. are available immediately for the entire workgroup. 
• No syncing is involved so no troubleshooting is required.
• Works with any web enables Smart Phone
• Also provides access through any web browser on a PC or Mac. 

Cons:

• Additional cost.
• Must be connected to Internet to gain access to data. Though on a Smart phone, internet access is almost always available.

Tech.Sell Recommendation – WMobile with Periodic local sync or contacts and or calendar through outlook. 

We feel that WMobile offers the next best thing to being there. There is no syncing involved and syncing of anything is great when it’s working flawlessly and a time waster when things get duplicated or the sync isn’t quite right. With WMobile, because it is a live link to the eGm database, any work done is immediately available to users in the office. 

We are recommending that a periodic sync of contacts to the BB could be helpful for times when users aren’t connected to the internet.  Calendars can also be synced to Outlook and then the BB if necessary.