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Contents 
Introduction
ACCPAC
Act!
Coordimax
GoldMine
Legrand
Maximizer
Specifications
How we tested
Editor's choice
About RMIT |
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MaestroSuite's product is a fully customisable CRM tool for the serious user. Coordimax purposely steers clear of Microsoft platforms for security reasons. If hackers and virus builders want to target the big cheese, stay well away! MaestroSuite instead chose to work with the long-lasting alternative -- Lotus. Rather than a stand-alone application, Coordimax, is based in Lotus Notes running on a Domino server. While Windows is an optional platform, Linux and OS400 are also possibilities. This is a delivered solution which is tailored to your company's individual needs after a careful consultation process which assists the customer IT staff to install and configure the software. Pricing is dependent on the modules required and each module is tailored to suit. Everything is configurable from escalation procedures to labels for company/contact descriptions. Modules exist for campaign management, sales analysis and help-desk support.
Being a Lotus notes client the user interface is more functional than beautiful; picture garlanded buttons tend to give way to text-based menus. The wealth of options makes it a little hard to get a handle on things initially, but staff training is part of the deployment as far as MaestroSuite is concerned. Basically, any data related to that on screen should only be one or perhaps two clicks away. While navigation is mostly achieved within the Coordimax client, certain functions, such as creating new contacts and data export, rely on Lotus Notes' menus or buttons. While at first I found it a little difficult to use, after a little familiarisation with its methods tasks became quite straightforward. Import and export of data is restricted to text delimited and MS Excel formats. While export formats may be limited the nature of the exported material is not. Complex queries can be set up and kept as templates for later use.
Coordimax supports Lotus Notes and Outlook-based e-mail and can work with any PC-based word-processor or spreadsheet. It is compatible with any ODBC compliant accounting systems and network-based databases. Support also exists for faxing as well as handheld devices such as XDA, Palm, and Blackberry.
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What about SugarCRM?
SugarCRM is one of the fastest growing CRM/Contact Management systems in the world, and competes directly with many of those systems listed.
SugarCRM's commercial open-source model clearly differentiates it from the competitors by providing full access to all source-code allowing the system to be easily tailored to suit each customers needs, making it a powerful alternative to an otherwise proprietary and inflexible systems included in the review.
SugarCRM is commercially supported in Australia by Insightful Solutions, and backed internationally by SugarCRM in the US.