FrontRange Announces Goldmine Business Contact Manager; Establishes New Business Contact Management Market with Outlook and the QuickBooks 2002 Products

Business Wire, Dec 10, 2001

Business Editors & Technology Writers

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 2001

FrontRange Solutions Inc., an international market leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and customer service and support software that delivers rapid results today announced the release of GoldMine(R) Business Contact Manager, a new business contact management solution for organizations that have outgrown basic contact and task management.

GoldMine Business Contact Manager builds upon the award-winning, team-based GoldMine(R) 5.5 and offers significant enhancements, including enhanced data integration with Microsoft(R) Outlook 98/2000/2002 and Intuit's(R) QuickBooks(R) Pro 2002 and QuickBooks Premier 2002, to facilitate effective and consistent customer interaction and sales force automation functionality within historically underserved small and mid-sized organizations.

By integrating more closely with Outlook, GoldMine Business Contact Manager will enable users to send, accept, decline or reschedule meetings with attendees via the iCalendar (iCal) standard. In addition to allowing companies with mixed calendar solutions for their internal users/employees to work more efficiently by integrating their meeting schedules, the new iCAL meeting request also enables every GoldMine user to work more closely and effectively with their global contacts and customers for more effective meeting management.

GoldMine PLUS Accounting for the QuickBooks 2002 products will enable the sharing of data between front-and back-office customer records in either program -- delivering a solution for the mainstream businesses. With this data sharing solution (which is sold separately), all employees in contact with customers will have critical customer transaction information at their fingertips -- streamlining quoting, reducing incidence of credit problems, mitigating inventory problems and eliminating redundant data entry -- maximizing the opportunity for customer acquisition and retention.

"GoldMine Business Contact Manager provides the critical first-step elements for businesses that are ready to move to the next level in contact management," said Ric Miles, executive vice president of worldwide operations for FrontRange. "With the data integration to Outlook and the QuickBooks 2002 products, it offers the same contact interaction benefits of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) automation available to larger corporations at a fraction of the cost and time necessary to get the entire team up and running."

Additional features of GoldMine Business Contact Manager include the following:

-- New Look and Feel -- the updated user interface, including re-designed
toolbar icons, customizable work area background settings, and onscreen
indicators, makes GoldMine Business Contact Manager easier for users to learn
commands and to navigate throughout the product.

-- One-button Synchronization -- the highly requested ability to simplify
synchronization for remote users, by eliminating the options and settings
available under the Synchronization Wizard, now makes it effortless for any
GoldMine Business Contact Manager user to stay up to date on key contact and
calendar information (requires GoldSync(R))

-- Friendly Installer -- the completely re-designed Wizard now walks users
through the process of installation asking a series of logical questions about
how they want to use GoldMine Business Contact Manager using friendly,
"non-technical" terms.

-- Undocked Sites Installer -- the ability for administrators to simply and
quickly set up, configure, and install process is now available with GoldSync
version 5.7, automating the task of deploying multiple undocked sites for
remote users.

"In our business, customer care is our number one priority, and GoldMine Business Contact Manager will enable us to do just that -- spend more time on customer interaction," said Chad Wright, chief technology officer, Barrett & Simmons executive search firm. "The software does all the work, centralizing information and facilitating communication across the organization, enabling our sales teams to perform at optimal efficiency."

"With the release of GoldMine Business Contact Manager coupled with the QuickBooks 2002 products and Outlook, FrontRange Solutions has succeeded in bridging the gap between traditional personal contact managers and complex CRM solutions," said Mike Jude, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Management Associates. "This team-based approach in collaborative contact management is just what the small to medium sized business needs to excel in today's market."

Availability and Pricing

The new GoldMine Business Contact Manager is available now and can be purchased through authorized FrontRange Solutions Partners. Also available to customers who purchase GoldMine Business Contact Manager is a new Upgrade Protection Program that includes an upgrade to the next version of GoldMine Business Contact Manager. GoldMine PLUS Accounting for use with QuickBooks Pro 2002 and Premier 2002 will be available in the first quarter of 2002, at an additional charge.