Claris FileMaker vs. Kintone

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.

Incentivized

Kintone is great if you want a software that will help you in managing your data, and keep track of which tasks are assigned to whom. It also helps to streamline communication and information in one central place. However, it is not for you if you are looking for something complex that has to manage a lot of data.

Incentivized

• The relational database management system makes the program highly customizable to fit the needs of any product. You can add a ton of information to each record and update your inventory on a regular basis with an Excel import or manually inside of the record. It has the capability to incorporate barcoding, which can manage your available inventory with ease.
• The scripting language allows FileMaker to automatically calculate complex algorithms automatically or generate report outs with the click of a button. This allows for greater UI, especially with active users who are not familiar with writing code. Almost all of our internal data is linked to the FileMaker database
• The server license allows many users to update the database in real time, which is handy if your inventory is constantly changing. We have users with Macs, PCs, iPhones and handheld tablets linked to our FileMaker database and they are updating the information constantly throughout the day.
• If you invest some time into formatting and scripting the database, there is a high ease of use for users without knowledge of any programming or FileMaker itself.

Incentivized

• Flexibility. You can build apps (without coding) to serve a wide range of processes and projects.
• Ease of use. The interface is intuitive.
• Training. There are resources readily available to train new users. Even starting from scratch, I felt like I was up to speed in just a few hours.

Incentivized

• I had some big complaints about how to edit calculations and scripts, and not being able to print/export PDF from server but with the last 2 versions I can't complain any more. Those got added.
• Syncing records between iOS and Filemaker Server still requires a developer to accomplish. Although I make money doing it for others I wish there was some "central" method of syncing that everyone can follow.

• I feel that Kintone is not well enough known yet. This means that other apps/APIs are not necessarily easy to connect with Kintone. Yes, you can use Zapier though for interfacing with other apps.
• It would be great if it could give more customized options to change the look and format of certain things. You can make price quote apps, for example, but have to rely on 3rd party apps or programming skills to customize the look and fields.
• If you make a table as an input field, it cannot connect to other internal Kintone apps for lookups and such.
• I think there is more potential to make more customized data graphs.

Incentivized

It it not really up to me but my opinion does have some weight in the decision and the reason I would renew my use FileMaker Pro 8.5 is because I am finally getting used to it! Now that I have been working with the program, tasks have become quicker and projects are getting done faster. File Maker Pro 8.5 really is a versatile tool and I think we are just scratching the surface with it's abilities.

Incentivized

I still think that there's a room for Kintone's future, and high expectations for them in additional features and innovative tools and supports. Truly hope that they will support email features, and standardized supports for various plug-ins with the 3rd party software and apps. In the meantime, we will have to consider our ways of doing our work in all aspects

Incentivized

It's almost what it should be after so may years and with Apple's longevity and strength behind it. For people who earn their living based on efficiency I think there are too many developer obstacles that waste time and therefore money.

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Kintone is agile app and most of the time we can easily come up with new apps. However, there should be more feature-based drag and drop and or a visual-based usability, as we all want to minimize the number of clicks and dropdown menu selections as much as possible. Thanks.

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mostly never issues and if there are they are resolved fast

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Never had an issue with this.

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for the most part but lots of error messages if you type something h correctly

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No issues.

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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.

Incentivized

The support from Kintone has been excellent. On numerous occasions, customer service representatives have proactively reached out to us to see if we needed help with anything. They also scheduled Zoom calls one month after we went live to go over any questions we had. Additionally, they assigned a local account representative to check in on us periodically to provide any necessary help.

Incentivized

easy to follow along and was able to jump in right away

Incentivized

Suggest you use an iterative R.A.D. or AGILE development approach. (i.e. rather than writing a gigantic spec for a system, then building it). FileMaker facilitates quick prototypes. Developing an example, then allowing users to "try it out" is a snap.

Incentivized

Everyone has their own tastes of things and way they want to work. Asking them to adapt to the changes with the new tools or apps is always difficult. We would want to start with a very small but best example within the organization, which in our case was that the employees will not be bothered by the bosses by being asked to find the documents, status of the progresses, or major things/requests/projects.

Incentivized

FileMaker Pro is the chaotic, cumbersome and non-integratable little sibling of MS Access. And even MS Access can't be taken serious in a medium sized company. FileMaker Pro can not even be compared to serious products like OutSystems and Sitecore. It's also not free... whereas at least MS Access can be used free, even if your company is (really) small.

Incentivized

Kintone is the easiest product to create from and the cost is the lowest I believe. In addition, reconfigurability and extendability are great. If you look for a low code tool, you can try Kintone. But as same as another low code tool, don't expect too much.

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it's most definitely does as we are a unique business to use this for scholarship awarding

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I could see this work for all departments if implemented correctly.

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• Positive impact for my company is that we have designed a solution that meets the needs of our very custom processes.
• My company is in the process of expanding rapidly and with that the need for new tools are need quickly. With most languages (like Java or .Net), it could take weeks to develop the same tool it takes us 3 days to make in Filemaker.
• The most negative impact however is that at times Filemaker will just become overwhelmed and we have no choice but to restart the server which hosts the application.

Incentivized

• It used to take us 15-20 minutes to create a quote for a client. It now takes less than 3.
• It allows a few of our employees to work remotely, which was essentially impossible prior.
• We can see raw data for success/failure rates, which we actively use in our employee review process.

Incentivized