FileMaker Pro

It is perfectly suitable for many different projects, making it easier for developers to track customers, help them in the best way, and provide a database to provide better service
otherwise Not very suitable for large projects that need a lot of complex systems that are important to have available, but it is rather useful

I think FileMaker [Pro] is a great solution for a small business wanting to take the next step from managing data with Excel spreadsheets to actually using a database. It is very intuitive to use and manage. A tech-savvy user can learn to use FileMaker [Pro] very easily without advanced skills as a developer.

If your company is really small, I can understand the need for a product like this. However, I would go for MS Access... FileMaker Pro can not be integrated with other systems (like MS Access can at least be handled by C# for instance, and can be integrated with MS Excel or even SQL server). I'm really not sure in what scenario one would choose for FileMaker Pro. If your application or company grows bigger, you're going to have a problem to move to another environment. Also, the fact that only one person can work with the backend at any given time is a problem in a somewhat larger company.

In our situation it is well suited to our organization because one of the owners of the construction company has some programming experience and was able to use FileMaker to make all of the existing systems in the organization electronic. It has been a work in progress and the system has grown with the organization. When we want to shift to meet new market needs or changing government regulations we can move quickly to adjust our electronic processes.

It is well suited to teams or organizations that do things differently than their competitors and want their electronic systems to be reflection of who they are instead of using a canned system that forces them to work the same way everyone else does.

It is not well suited to teams where there is high turnover of employees and managers as custom systems may never get a foothold or be maintained in that environment.

The forums are great with lots of helpful experts and the staff monitor them to provide help where needed. There have been a couple of unique technical issues I've had to deal with that I haven't been able to get resolved so I chose to score this a 9 instead of a 10.

FileMaker is great for tracking sales opportunities to keep everyone updated on the status of a deal and how close you are to winning or losing the opportunity.

The developers I’ve worked with have been very helpful and easy to work with. There has just been a lot of turnover and our account has been passed on multiple times and we constantly have to re-explain how we built our platform to the new developer and they would have to figure out where the previous developer left off in order to accomplish what we want to see happen next.

This program is well suited for companies or individuals who are looking to hold a bunch of data in one place and need to keep it organized. I'd say it is most appropriate for larger organizations but could be useful anywhere there is a Human Resources Department, especially. Overall, it is useful but frustrating at times.

I have defaulted my rating to a 10 because I have never had to contact customer support. This may be a question that is more appropriate for our IT department. I do not have any personal first-hand knowledge or experience dealing with the customer service department of this software at this time.

It is suited well to help organize lots of data in the same place. Not worth the cost of implementation if a basic spreadsheet works for your purposes, but if you have lots of data associated with each entry, it works well. QuickBase is an excellent alternative and is internet-based, but not quite as customizable.

I do not have experience with their support.

It is very well-suited for events and meetings using one or two rooms.

It works well if there aren't tons of instructions. I say this because their field for this is a bit short and we sometimes run out of room when detailing our needs.

It is very good to use for creating internal libraries. To store collections of props, on screen talent, backgrounds, anything that you would need an inventory for.

If you have salaried salespeople it's easy to teach them to create quotes and invoices. If they can do that, they can also learn to create purchase orders so cross training is very easy. It is less appropriate to use to reconcile the every changing bank balance of a business. We always do that outside of FileMaker.

FileMaker is perfect for a company needing a custom data tracking solution that fits the way they do business.

It was difficult to navigate at first, however after time it became easier. The version I used did not have a cloud base application, this was a major downfall for us. It was very versatile in creating queries, and manipulating mail merge features. Being able to group data was very easy.

Small businesses that are trying to use Excel to manage their business should seriously consider FMP especially if they want to use iPads or iPhones run their business. Larger businesses that have to quickly track data from factory floors, mobile users etc. can find it helpful. And the other beauty is you can keep adding features as you go if you plan for expansion. The pricing structure, though, on server clients basically starts with 5 (6 including the free one) so a 2-person operation might have to spend more than they want to get the benefits of FileMaker Server.

We find the greatest use of Filemaker Pro is in creating a cohesion of working practices. If you currently have data being entered in 5 Excel spreadsheets and copied to a Word document, then somehow getting some of that together to make a presentation, wouldn't it be good if all this could be linked to the contacts that you have in your address book?

These sort of day to day working scenarios are how most businesses are run. FIlemaker Pro enables us to create one application that will do everything, with minimal data entry, less time spent on admin and many new options of how to use the data you are already collecting.

FileMaker is well suited when there isn't an off the shelf solution that works exactly to meet an organisation's requirement (or if the available off the shelf software is simply not economic) and a bespoke solution which can then be further adapted organically. It is especially appropriate for organisations which have a desire to 'get their hands dirty' so that there is someone in-house that can continuously review, tweak and adapt the solution to better meet business requirements on a regular basis.

The FileMaker platform can be used in a wide range of situations. It can be used as a data silo, similar to Excel, where it's used to quickly compile data. On a larger scale, it can benefit multiple users who are interacting with the same data - accounting, supply chain, procurement, general business management, and so on. It's a really great tool for customizing your business' workflow, instead of forcing your business to follow the workflow of a pre-built app.

FileMaker Pro is well suited for low-code situations where a custom app needs to be customized for specific customer needs.

It's really great for fast development, prototyping, and general database needs for a relatively small population. It doesn't scale particularly well, so large enterprises might be content to prototype in FileMaker, but would want to deliver at scale on another platform.

FileMaker is great for start-up businesses, small business, and even mid sized businesses. I would say that FileMaker is well suited for small to medium sized environments (1-200 people). You could definitely go bigger than that, but the level of expertise and planning significantly increases when you do that. Because FileMaker doesn't scale very well with really large companies, I would avoid using it for large companies who want a solution that goes across a large amount of employees.

Well suited to small business.

FileMaker is well suited for creating business management applications, e.g. ERP systems like job scheduling, customer management etc., and for remote access applications e.g. for staff that is on the road. FileMaker's ability to accept signatures on an iOS mobile phone and scan barcodes etc., makes it exceptionally good at rapidly developing powerful remote applications on iOS.

I could call or email FileMaker at any time to discuss my issue, and they were very pro-active at asking for help from me about my problem when they needed more information and at asking me if my issue was resolved.

FileMaker is particularly suited for small to medium sized businesses, departments or teams. It is not suited for massive and large scale applications used by hundreds of users. The web technology - called WebDirect - is very powerful, in that it lets developers deploy a web solution without any knowledge of HTML, CSS or Javascript. However, also, in this case, WebDirect is not meant to deploy large scale web applications or websites.

FileMaker has been designed for years to provide a flexible platform for developing customized solutions easily. It is one of the most rapid platforms available for developing powerful database solutions for businesses. Using FileMaker we can develop extremely user-friendly solutions in less than a quarter of the time and for a fraction of the cost of developing via SQL or other similar platforms.

Because of the speed and flexibility, FileMaker is ideal for small to medium sized businesses or for small to medium departments inside larger companies.

Creating a custom database solution - where data needs of organization is not easy to provide in off the shelf type solution. Almost all businesses have this need.

I personally have used FileMaker Pro in Banking, Retail, HR Management, HVAC & my personal life and feel like it can be used anywhere! The beauty of FilMaker is that you are creating the databases that you want, so if you can imagine it, you can make it happen with Filemaker!