Maximizer vs. Goldmine ? any comments ?

What I like from max is those popup that appear to remind you to ACT on stuff, to go forward. Ex: when you have finish a phone call, he ask: do you want to create a task? A appointment. So I it force me to think what is the next action.

Are you using GM 7, 6.7SQL or 6.7dbase?

I have found max9 to be a stable-backend product with many features. Yet, compared to GM is it vastly less intuative and cumbersome. Goldmine is a joy to use, the filters, the html email, the easy mail merges (in max9ent you need to set up full blown marketing campaigns just to shoot out one nice html email personalized) , the automation all trump Maximizer 9. In maximizer you need an expensive add-on for automation, and you need an expensive add-on for custom screen design. The only thing GM67 doesnt do is relate companies- it's contact centric. In goldmine you can do calculations and conditionally show fields based on record properties, dynamically, max? no. In GM you can show internet information based on what contact you're on in a special tab, dynamically ( map, directions, stock price, all completely customizable by you). in max? they never even thought of such a concept.So, all in all, Maximizer's pervasive backend is nice and solid, but the UI and the features- they have a long way to go to be modern. If you look at vtiger.com and sugarcrm.com, there's quite a bit to choose from. Unfortunately, Goldmine was bought out and has not added to the existing basic product for a year, but they say things will change now with new owners and money. I'm not sure Id switch at alll if I were you. HTH

There is a lot of info on this forum comparing the two. Use the "Find" function and look for all occurences of Goldmine.

Just keep in mind that Max has different flavours. There's Maximizer and then there's Maximizer Enterprise. An example of the differences is indicated in maxmax's post - Max Enterprise has marketing campaigns and his comment indicates that to have a single personalized HTML email go out you need to set up a full marketing campaign. However, in Max you don't have to do that to get a plain HTML formatted email - but then, you don't get marketing campaigns, nor is the email automatically personalized. So be careful in your comparison and look at what you really need.

Interestingly enough, Oracle's CRM product had the same need for a full on marketing campaign to allow you to do a single mail merge for one letter. Max blew it away on that score. As a general enquiry, could you set up a marketing campaign called "General" that included everyone on the database, then use it to generate your one-off personalized HTML emails? Just a thought - I'm not an Enterprise user, nor do I plan to become one.

- R.

Also look here

The Max GM comparison that Feejo was nice enough to post is helpful, but many of the items there are flat out wrong.

-synchronization with Palm OS® handhelds is not an added fee, that's just a fabrication. it's built into the program.
-there's manual and automatic duplicate checking in GM, so that one is not true either.
-integrate with OUtlook- GM works very well with internal sync routines, two way, with Outlook calendar and contacts. so that one is a fabrication as well.
-Upgrade seamlessly to a complete CRM solution- what does that mean anyway? gm can upgrade to GM sql, and enterprise grade product, seamlessly. another misleading one.
-easy to use interface Form-based views difficult to work with. this is so silly. the contract-centric view is actually much easier to see and visualize than bits of little windows that max has, all scrolling around. come one, this has got to be the brainchild of a marketing rep who didnt get to their coffee yet before writing the web copy, no offense. it would be much more believable if maximizer were to revamp this list, it's a little difficult to read of one knows a bit about both products.

Hi Larry,

I think you really need to think about what is important to you before you can decide about which would be the best product.

I selected Maximizer enterprise about a year ago based on my needs:

1. Ability to synchronise a complex database across 10+ users, most of whom are remote workers, with good data integrity.

2. Ability for each user to see quickly all activities at a company for his colleagues as well as himself.

3. Database organisation in a company / contact format. For me this is a must as we are 100% B2B selling.

These were the main requirements I had for maximizer and I decided (end 2004) that max was way ahead of GM, ACT etc. Max Enterprise 9 is much better than Max Enterprise 8 in terms of stability and ease of use. It syncs well with Outlook and therefore all PDAs.

For me issues like HTML emailing are not an issue. I never sent out an automated email campaign yet.

Opportunity management is better in ME9 than before but is still rather clunky for me. Looks like it was developed by a team of softies who never sold anything in their lives before (ie lots of features but no real understanding of the needs of the users).

btw. I really like the main address screen with its windows (no offence, maxmax). it gives you all the info you need on a single screen.

hope this helps

Cheers

Paul

No offense taken at all, Paul. You have a point, and indeed a good one. My objection was to the literature claiming that the max layout was somehow leaps and bounds ahead of a contact centric layout. Like a contact centric layout is inherently confusing. Of course, it's nuts. It *is* true that the company relationships add a much appreciated dimension- but that is not really how it's presented in the comparative sheet with Goldmine. It should be! Max9 is not a bad product, and they don't have to take these obvious liberties to show that Max is good. The fact that the facts are bent-- not just fairly shaded but verifiably wrong-- this takes away from the integrity of other (true) information provided about the product. I happen to like Max but the usability- youre right- it doesnt seem like users were really integrated into the convoluded worklow design they built into the product. m2cents