Any light weight Customers Database App for OS X ?

Check out TapForms. It is really great app, full featured and easy to use. You can import your existing spreadsheet and it will automatically import everything.

You can even design your own layout for data entry forms.

http://www.tapforms.com

There's a modestly-lightweight database app out there called "iData".

May be worth a look.

There is the "iData Pro" version (new), and the older "iData 3".

The older version may be all that you need...

There's not much in terms of database products for OS X.

You can run Windows in a VM and use Access, you can use FileMaker Pro, which is probably over-kill. I like the idea of Excel for simple lists

soamz said:

Hi, I run an online motorbike parts store and we get many calls, emails everyday.
Right now, I maintain an excel sheet with,

NAME, EMAIL, CONTACT NO, ITEMS INQUIRED

But this is not a future proof plan, as I need a solution, so that I can do that at home, my staff can update the database at office, and store everything is synced in cloud.

Is there any light weight, flat looking OS X App, which would do this job for me ?

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I know it's not strictly what you asked for, but have you thought about using a spreadsheet in Google Docs and sharing it with your colleagues?

soamz said:

#fail

Very sad
So, no one uses light weight CRM apps ?

Click to expand...

I know you're asking about a desktop app but take a look at Zoho CRM. I believe you can start for free and if your business grows then step up to a paid tier. Besides CRM they have an entire suite of business applications. The one caveate is that it is a web based solution however they do have some iOS apps.

Good luck!!

soamz said:

I do that way now, but its not that good aoltuion.
Need a flat UI interface.

Click to expand...

Just remembered these two.

Elements CRM
Daylite CRM

Both are desktop apps and both get very good reviews.

I looked at CRM programs for a client years ago and was amazed at both the paucity, and the inane crap that so many of the programs stored about people. Some of the UI's of them were horrendous.

It's too bad that Bento was killed. I was a beta tester for it, and it had potential, and that's probably what killed it. Too many people were probably trying to run their big data ideas on it and it probably cannibalized the sales of Filemaker to a point, plus in those cases I imagine the tech support issues were massive.

Isn't there a version of MySQL that runs on OSX? Could you do ODBC connections to that from Excel and get where you wanted? I've never tried it on a Mac, but have done similar things on a PeeCee...

Any hierarchical DB can be made to look flat, just like a Lamborghini can be used to get groceries.

EDIT: There is MySQL Community Edition that is still free. It runs on OSX, and might be something to look at if you want to roll your own...

PinkyMacGodess said:

There is MySQL Community Edition that is still free. It runs on OSX, and might be something to look at if you want to roll your own...

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Yup, MySQL will run fine on Mac OS X. I run it on my MacBook Pro and also on an ageing Xserve. Works very nicely.

Of course, MySQL isn't meant to be a front end. You'll need some kind of app, be that Excel (using ODBC) or some kind of web based front end. That'd need some above average IT skills and possibly some programming.

You might be better off looking at something like SugarCRM:

http://www.sugarcrm.com/try-sugar

...you can try it for free and I don't think it's too expensive if you find it useful. At least it's a ready made front end.

Hope that helps


Rob

superscape said:

Yup, MySQL will run fine on Mac OS X. I run it on my MacBook Pro and also on an ageing Xserve. Works very nicely.

Of course, MySQL isn't meant to be a front end. You'll need some kind of app, be that Excel (using ODBC) or some kind of web based front end. That'd need some above average IT skills and possibly some programming.

You might be better off looking at something like SugarCRM:

http://www.sugarcrm.com/try-sugar

...you can try it for free and I don't think it's too expensive if you find it useful. At least it's a ready made front end.

Hope that helps


Rob

Click to expand...

Yes, ODBC is rather backdoor, over the fence, across the ditch, down the lane, but it does work. The good thing is that once it is setup, it usually just keeps working. I did have a client do their own ODBC connection to a production database. It surprised me they were able to pull it off. It is 'rustic', and you need to know your data, if it's something you didn't create yourself.

PinkyMacGodess said:

Yes, ODBC is rather backdoor, over the fence, across the ditch, down the lane, but it does work. The good thing is that once it is setup, it usually just keeps working. I did have a client do their own ODBC connection to a production database. It surprised me they were able to pull it off. It is 'rustic', and you need to know your data, if it's something you didn't create yourself.

Click to expand...

Yeah, if it was me I'd definitely be looking at something web-based and avoiding ODBC if possible.

If I just wanted a spreadsheet I could share with a few colleagues then Google Docs. Anything more advanced then I'd be looking for something like Sugar CRM or Zoho.

superscape said:

I know it's not strictly what you asked for, but have you thought about using a spreadsheet in Google Docs and sharing it with your colleagues?

Click to expand...

Look hard at this, it will let several users update the spreadsheet at the same time, I can't easily see how an app running on a single Mac will achieve that for you...

As a lightweight crm for mac I've been using insightly for 5 months and their email tech support has cleared up the issues we had.

Try insightly. https://googleapps.insight.ly

Its an online system that should be able to import the excel files you have & now its available via your smart phone.

under 2500 contacts its free & we are using the $7 mo version so i can sync google contacts etc.

What about using SQLite/MySQL with LiveCode?
It's quite easy to learn and it works on Mac, Pc, iOS and Android.