Even though ACT! has been around for over 20 years, there are new businesses being formed every day who need a good database solution, and ACT! is one of the more affordable options out there.  Truth is, with the surge of Internet-based technology in recent years, the old way of doing things in ACT! just wasn’t cutting it for many using the application for the first time, the question was Why can’t this be easier? Sage decided to get serious and simplified the startup experience of the program, starting with the redesigned welcome page.

Redesigned Welcome Page – Easier Navigation

When you run the application without having a database open you are presented with the welcome screen similar to the one below.

Pretty straightforward, you either create a new database, open a new one, or close ACT!.  If you have any questions, you can watch a video to learn more.

Express Importing

Users can choose between a typical and a custom import. Typical is fastest, especially if you are importing standard contact fields. Custom allows users to create custom fields on the fly, and populate the data for those fields.

Import Directly from Excel

Point the wizard to the spreadsheet containing your data, confirm that it is reading it properly, and import. There is also logic built into the import wizard that properly identifies and matches field names, and normalizes data formats upon import. This is also customizable through a configuration file if you don’t like what is suggests.

One Click “Create New Field” Option

This is a great time saver.  Previously, if when importing you discovered you needed to create new fields, there were multiple steps to close down the import and invoke the field creation wizard.  ACT! administrators and new users will benefit most from this functionality.

Get Smart Faster with ACT! Welcome Screen

Not to be confused with the Welcome Page, the Welcome Screen is what users see with a database open.  Here is the default screen.

I’ve circled some items in red to call attention to the videos (right), and the web based information available about ACT! on the bottom half of the screen.

Here’s a Preview Video of the Sage ACT! Welcome Screen:

Is this helpful? Questions?  Chime in using the comment boxes below.

Technorati Tags: act by sage 2011, act corporate edition, getting started, sage act 2011, sage act premium, sage act pro

Today, Sage software officially makes Sage ACT! 2011 available for purchase through their early bird promotion program.  I first saw the ACT! 2011 product in April during an alpha release, and I thought I’d share my take on this new version with readers and subscribers.  With the annual release schedule ACT! has been on since the ACT! 2005 version, it has been interesting to see Sage Software alter the ACT! product line with each new release.  Allow me to provide an overview of the five key areas added or enhanced in the product, as well as my overall take.

My Take on Sage ACT! 2011 Contact Management Software

Perhaps you received an email from me or Sage or somewhere else and are curious what is in this new version of ACT!.  If you are an existing ACT! user, you may notice name change; The product is now called, Sage ACT! 2011 PRO or Sage ACT! 2011 Premium.  The PRO version is for individuals or those in small workgroups of 10 or less without the need for enhanced workgroup features or access through their Web browser via ACT! for Web.  Let’s move on to what’s new with ACT! 

Note: This is the first of a series of posts reviewing new features in the software.  There will also be a complete review of Sage ACT! 2011 for subscribers to see it in action (video).

Disclaimer: Perhaps like you, I am a small business owner and know the challenges of a small business.  I am also a Sage Partner and a Certified Consultant for the ACT! Product line, as I like most (no company is perfect) of what Sage has done to help customers in the small business community.  That said, I’m here to keep it real and offer my candid feedback as best I can.

1-Improved Startup Wizard

This will make life easier for new customers but also has features long time customers have been clamoring for.  Some of the features include:

• Redesigned Welcome Page – making for easier and more intuitive navigation
• Express Importing - This allows users to get contacts into their ACT! database faster with a redesigned import functionality.  The actual import seems faster than in previous versions.
• Import directly from Excel – This makes sense as many lists are bought and sold and delivered in CSV or Excel format.
• One Click “Create New Field” option – Just like it sounds, more visible and useful.  Of course only those with Administrator level privileges will be able to use this function.
• Improved Default Layouts for improved navigation – ACT! 2010 had user interface enhancements, most of which were welcomed; they continue to improve navigation with these updated default layouts.

Heard Enough? Customers who purchase either Sage ACT! 2011 Pro, Sage ACT! 2011 Premium, or a Sage ACT! 2011 Early Bird Bundle, by July 31, 2010 through our store will receive several bonus options. I will send an “voting” email for customers later in the month, and as last year, you’ll have the bonuses when Sage makes ACT! 2011 available.

2-Sage Business Information Services

Ever heard of Hoover’s? They provide business insight about companies around the world, saving a lot of research time for any businesses or sales organization. Sage as partnered with Hoover’s to provide Hoover’s data within Sage ACT! 2011.

To be honest, some of my customers aren’t a big fan of having Windows software tie into web services.  However, I think for many this can offer significant value, especially if ACT! users are sales oriented.  It is optional, and does require a subscription (I don’t have the full details on trial/pricing) for the service to work.

Here is the business information customers get with this subscription service:

• Contact, and company profile
• Company Financials, Contacts (org chart information), and News
• Industry Information – useful for having a reason to call or email, think conversation starter
• Search for new companies and Import new leads <<–big time saver…
  
• Email Alerts

3-Smart Tasks – Long Awaited Workflow

I’ll get into this in more detail later, but in my opinion it is the second most compelling reason to upgrade to Sage ACT! 2011.  Once you have your business processed dialed in, and that alone is a competitive advantage, take it to the next level by automating the process with Smart Tasks.  Here is the skinny on what it offers…

Smart Task Templates:

• 10 Prefilled templates for common tasks
• Useful out-of-the-box or edit to personalize
• Suitable for general productivity or sales

Easy Customization:

• Easiest visual designer for creating and modifying Smart Tasks
• Drag/drop capabilities for Smart Task steps

Smart Task Visibility:

• Pause or Activate Smart Tasks
• View pending Smart Tasks

Fully Extensible Engine:

• Windows Workflow Foundation
• Out-of-the Box integration with ACT! E-Marketing

Heard Enough? Customers who purchase either Sage ACT! 2011 Pro, Sage ACT! 2011 Premium, or a Sage ACT! 2011 Early Bird Bundle, by July 31, 2010 through our store will receive several bonus options. I will send an “voting” email for customers later in the month, and as last year, you’ll have the bonuses when Sage makes ACT! 2011 available.

4-Outlook Integration and Synchronization

This may be the most compelling reason for many existing customers to upgrade.  I am still testing all these features, but so far so good.  The sync functionality is the most important part, this will make it much easier for users to move data (and use habits) from Outlook to ACT!

Contact Synching:

• Create new Outlook Contacts from ACT!
• Create new ACT! Contacts from Outlook
• Control which ACT! Contacts are synched to Outlook
• Contacts are always up to date regardless of where they were created or changed

Calendar Synching:

• Calendars are always up to date, regardless of where events were  created or modified
• Select which ACT! Activity types to sync to Outlook
• No duplicate entries
• Sync runs even with Outlook and/or ACT! closed
• Same features available for APFW users
• Users choose which system alarms display in

5-New Database Security Preferences

Security is especially a concern in larger corporate environments that deploy Sage ACT!.  One aspect of that concern has to do with file attachments in the database.  Sage has taken action to provide the following capabilities with new database preferences:

• Restrict emails from being attached to user records – addresses issue of one act user reading another act users (the boss, or colleague) correspondences via their user record.
• Restrict email attachments in the database
• Restrict file attachments in the database such as IE, Word, Notes, Histories, Activities, Mail Merge, ACT! Email

My Take on the Sage ACT! 2011 New Features

Software purchases can be tricky.  It’s about understanding your needs, remaining competitive, and investing wisely.  While everyone may not find this upgrade worthy of their investment, Outlook intensive environments who understand the productivity kill of fragmented data or information islands, “it’s in Bob, or Jack, or Sharon’s Outlook”, and customers who value automation (Smart Tasks), the improvements in these areas are significant.

I’m a fan of investing in tools that free up time so you can sell more. Automation is key, and until now was only available for ACT! users by a 3rd party enhancement product.  To be fair this is version 1 of Smart Tasks in Sage ACT! 2011, so while it may not compete with more established workflow type packages, it is a good start.

Administrators will appreciate the streamlined startup process, with improved layouts and easy of creating new fields in the database, as well as the additional data security found in Sage ACT! 2011.

Sales and marketing professionals will be intrigued with Hoover’s data integration with Sage Business Information Services, and the ability to import lists of target market companies and contacts quickly.

Overall this is a significant upgrade, especially for workgroups an larger environments that have IT staff.  Smaller environments and individual customers may find it hard to justify the upgrade if they don’t see immediate value in these five enhancements.

Heard Enough? Customers who purchase either Sage ACT! 2011 Pro, Sage ACT! 2011 Premium, or a Sage ACT! 2011 Early Bird Bundle, by July 31, 2010 through our store will receive several bonus options. I will send an “voting” email for customers later in the month, and as last year, you’ll have the bonuses when Sage makes ACT! 2011 available.

Thoughts? Ideas? Questions?  Chime in using the comment boxes below.

Technorati Tags: act by sage 2011, act corporate edition, contact managment software, sage act 2011, sage act premium, sage act pro

Last week at Insights 2010 here in Denver Colorado I caught up with Larry Ritter for what turned out to be a lengthy discussion fielding questions from ACTasap.net subscribers and readers.

NOTE: If you cannot watch the whole thing, I totally get it. I’ve included start times for various questions so you can jump ahead to sections you have interest in (scroll down).

After the video has loaded, simply click and drag gray circle on player bar to the time you want and release.

Larry addressed some good ACT! database software questions, as we did our best to manage the live stream. If you did make the stream, my apologies for the audio issues you may have experienced, hopefully the audio in this replay will be better for you.

As always chime in using the comment boxes below the video.

Question #3 Rusty asks about voice recognition option to help load data faster? 13:33
Question #4 LIVE-STREAM Steve asked when will there be total Outlook support? 15:27
Question #5 Shane is curious about SMS mobile feature (including groups) for ACT! 17:48
Question #6 John, when will there be better integration with Mobile devices, and why is it taking so long? (reason might surprise you). International support? 20:00
Question #7 Kim, in the UK, why are so many hotfixes? Can you take more time to test the product so you deliver a better product out of the gate? 24:02
FYI: Information about joining the beta program. 27:14
Question #8 Janet and Jenny will there be a simple version of ACT!? If I don’t need all the whizz bang features. 27:40
Survey Ever seen the embedded product survey? Larry speaks to that, and what they are doing with that information. 31:25
How to connect with Larry. 33:00

Questions? Feedback? Chime in using the comment boxes below.

Technorati Tags: act database software, sage insights, sage software executives

Every year at this time Sage Software puts on their Insights conference.  This year it happens to be held in Denver, just 25 minutes from where I live.  This conference is a place for vendors and customers to connect with save and their 20+ product lines.  As this sites focus is the ACT! Database software 2 years ago at the Sage Insights conference held in Washington DC, I had the privileged of sitting down with Sage Executives who oversee the ACT! product line, this year (with your help), I intend to do the same.

Sage Insights 2010 – Your Questions for ACT! Executives

When I did a similar call for questions of subscribers, readers, and customers in 2008, it yielded over 60 comments.  I cannot say what this year’s might bring, but am hopeful we’ll have at least that.

Your Participation with Questions in The Comments Section Below

Please include:

1. Your Version of the Software
2. How Many Users You Have
3. Where You Are Writing In From

Drop this information with your questions for Sage Executives below in the comments section so we can relay them in the interview.

Deadline For Questions: Well, no deadline (always interested in your questions), if you want to have your questions considered for the interview, please submit no later than close of business Monday May 17th.


Image Credit: myklroventine

Technorati Tags: "contact management software", "sage insights 2010", act by sage

Earlier this month, Sage Software released service pack 1 for the ACT! 2010 product.  I have worked with the product first in my own environment and with several customers now and wanted to share with you what you can expect with this latest update of the program.  There are four main improvements that were most requested by users, and a few others that were worth mentioning from the customers I have the privilege to coach.  Hint: it is all good.

My Impressions of ACT! 2010 Service Pack 1

With any software there will be bugs to iron out after initial release, and with ACT by Sage, it’s not different.  Truthfully, there were several “hotfixes” released shortly after the program released last fall to address immediate customer needs, with a service pack they often introduce something more than just bug fixes, let me explain.

I put a video together highlighting some things in this ACT! by Sage software patch.  If you can’t see it here it’s available directly on YouTube here.

Here are 4 items called out by Sage in their user community as a part of communicating what customers can expect from this update.

One – Group and Company Counts

Quickly understand how many contacts are in a selected group or company.

Two – Search Button Change

Search button on the “big easy” bar no longer restricts access to keyword search.

Three – More Descriptive Info on Mail Merge

This is true for many of the improvements, just making it easier for users to know what to do, or what will be done when an option is selected.

Four – “Location” Field Avail in Task List View

This makes it easier to see “at a glance” where various activities are taking place form the task list view.

Performance

It is worth noting that there are significant performance gains as well.

• Time to Launch ACT! improved by 2 seconds.
• Time to open the Opportunity View improved by 6 seconds.
• Time to perform a lookup by last name improved by 2 seconds.
• Time to run a contact report improved by 40 seconds.
• Time to perform a mail merge to email improved by 10 seconds.
• Time to open ACT! with the Dashboard as the default initial view improved by 27 seconds.

Things to Be Aware Of

• Make a Way Out!: Always backup before applying any software update.
• Use Experts: If working with an expert like an ACT! Certified Consultant, be sure to use so that you understand the full impact this patch has in your environment.
• Outlook: While I haven’t experienced this, in some cases Outlook integration may have to be reestablished (and other preferences), so keep that in mind.
• Training: Improve your ACT! skills by getting instant access to my friend Mark’s training here.  It is top shelf professionally done, and reasonably priced.

Access to Download and Details

Here are the details on the ACT! 2010 SP1 Update.

If you want to download any apply the patch, you can learn more here.

Your Turn

Have experience with this support pack?  Likes? Dislikes?  Chime in the comment boxes below.

by YtseJam Photography

Technorati Tags: act 2010 fix, act 2010 patch, act 2010 software