Users of GoldMine, the contact management software for businesses, will already be aware of its key strengths. The core of the software is its ability to capture, organise and make available information relating to contacts, marketing and customer relationship management.

Added to this are features like group diaries and task management, contact history tracking, document management facilities, strong performance across networks and the ability to complete automated procedures such as issuing invoice reminders.

This mix makes GoldMine suitable for companies working in a wide range of sectors and it is particularly popular among smaller businesses. What's been missing from the library of features, until now, is mobile access to the wealth of information GoldMine controls. That has changed with the release of mGoldMine.

Quite simply, mGoldMine is a remote access tool designed to work on a range of portable devices such as PDAs and phones, provided they are GPRS or WAP enabled. We tried it with a SonyEricsson p800 and everything went smoothly. Note, though, that you need to be using GoldMine Business Contact Manager Corporate Edition version 6 back at the office in order to have remote access in this way.

The new mGoldMine relies on a simple user interface involving straightforward, hyperlink-style menus. It takes only a couple of seconds to look up contacts and check on activities relating to that contact. If your mobile device is the one you use to make voice calls, you can dial phone numbers directly from mGoldMine, which is both time-saving and convenient. You can also check on your own diary.

Importantly, this is not a one-way information feed. You can upload new or updated information from the field; anything from changed contact details to a rescheduled or new activity, or even notes from a meeting.

Importantly, no data is actually stored on your portable device. When 'in the field' you view information stored at the office rather than synchronising to the mobile device. While this means that you need to be connected to the office when working, this arrangement is good from a security point of view, as no commercially sensitive data can be left on the device, something that could cause problems in the event of theft or loss of the device.

Also sensible is the fact that the login process requires two items; a user name and a PIN. Store them in different places - or better still don't store them anywhere but remember them - and security should remain high.

Frontrange Solutions' mGoldMine is a relatively straightforward add-on to a comprehensive and well featured business tool. It's not cheap, but it could be very useful to many organisations that rely on staff spending plenty of their time in the field and want to ensure consistent access to accurate data without having that data stored locally on portable devices.

We'd like to see future versions include more expansive facilities to access other things that GoldMine controls in the office, such as pro-forma invoices, documents and even the diaries of other people in the company. But even as it is, in the right hands mGoldMine could be a real productivity booster.