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:
- Your Version of the Software
- How Many Users You Have
- 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
Hi, my name is Travis Campbell, I operate this site. A key to success in any business is to effectively manage your relationships. ACT! is a software product helping millions when it comes to doing just that. This Website is designed to assist both those considering ACT! software for their business, as well as to provide insight to ACT! users who want to effectively use it in their day to day operations. So login, post, browse and enjoy.
1. ACT! Premium (Web and Workgroups) 12.1.181 HF1
2. 10
3. Sydney, Australia
Why have sage been wasting their efforts for the past 20+ months on ACT! Mobile Live? It still doesn't work and won't be able to work without a near complete re-design… there are to many flaws in the current builds.
It would make much more sense to do OEM something like Handheld Contact as you did with SwiftPage becoming ACT! EMarketing.
Handheld Contact works now and has virtually no technical support requirements.
everyone woul be better off – Sage (support costs for AML will be sky high), the VARs (who are going to have to support your choice) and most especially the users.
1. ACT! Premium 2009
2. 2 users
3. Home
Will there ever be a ‘simple’ mode or version? I find training new assistants to be a pain, when she only needs 10% of the presented ACT! features to do her job.
Thanks Travis.
1) ACT! by Sage 2010 Version 12.1.181.0, Hot Fix 1
English (Australia)
Sage Software, Inc.
2) 3
3) Cairns, Australia
Just wondering if they could have a SMS (text) messengers feature from within act to mobile phones and including send bulk messages to groups.
Does anyone know of a add on that does this?
1. ACT! by Sage 12.1.181.0, Hot Fix 1
2. 5
3. UK
Why do Sage rely so much on the user-base to do their testing post-live? Latest version to date since general release mid 2009…
Hotfix 1
Hotfix 2
Hotfix 3
Hotfix 4
Service Pack 1
SP1 Hotfix 1
It's good that, at last, the hotfixes are written and released relatively swiftly but pretty poor that more exhaustive testing isn't undertaken up-front; e.g. the SP1 HF1 so close on the heals of SP1.
ACT! 2010
5 users
Florida
Will there ever be workflow in the product? It seems to be the one thing that it cannot do that it's competitors can.
1-ACT 2009
2-10 users
3-Nebraska
I need better integration with mobile devices, what is Sage doing about that? Why is it taking so long?
Thanks Travis.
Paul Onish
Version 2010
1 user
—————————————–
fix it to work better:
1. default to Left Message instead of Call completed
2. if you schedule telephone calls for 5 minutes seguments let the user set up calls on a 5 minute basis not a 30 minute basis.
3. In commects box add Sent email in addition to called left message etc.
4. When adding a secondary contact populate the company name and address automatically
5. Birthday should be month and day not year
6. Lock down the telephone format so it cannot drift to free style
7. Offer the option in the set up to not repeat the last history wneh entering a new hisctory. It saves bits and bytes.
1. ACT! Premium (Web and Workgroups) 12.1.181 HF1
2. 10
3. Netherlands
Why isnt there a version which can translate the interface with a few mouse clicks. here in the Netherlands we still are dealing with ACT! 2009 as the most up to date version. Hotfixes arent available for translated versions either. ACT! for Web isnt available in Dutch.
There is already an add on that can do the translation.
integrate that add on and you can focus development on 1 product dont waste times with all the translated versions.
We can use the same version at the same time all over the world.
Question 2.
more and more need for webbased applications.
ACT! for Web is only 'working' in internet explorer.
We need a more stable product which can be used in all major browsers.
Thanks for the reminder email Travis.
ACT! 2009
4 users
Florida
Are there any plans for a simpler version (lite) that is only contact management and not all the whizz bang features?
ACT! by Sage 2010 Version 12.1.181.0, Hot Fix 1
1 user
Virginia
Any chance they will add voice recognition as a way of loading in information? I believe windows 7 has voice recognition but I've never used it.
Also I hope you ask the questions regarding a simple version.
Rusty-
Great, great question. Others?
-Travis
Act 2009, one user, home office
Make act work with Apple computers not using parallels, make synching more intuitive, it is burdensome and hard to work
make the help section cover more topics or more intuitive as well,
make the upgrades worth spending money on every year, In a recession it is hard to justify an upgrade for only a couple things.
Lisa-
Excellent question… Looking forward to their feedback on this question.
-Travis
I agree, ACT! Mobile Live is a resource waster at this point. give it up, and focus on ACT for WEB. People come to us all the time wanting Act for web but soon there after they switch to sync because Act for web has issues. Act for web is where the future is but it seems like its going to take another 3 years before anyone at sage truly realizes that and that is not productive. Act for web should be built to become the flag ship product. its where the future is at. Why wait – Innovate!
Travis we are having trouble importing excel database into act, what are your consult fees to show us these steps. Can you e-mail steps??
You can try calling me at 800-871-6976 (us number). You can skype me at trav_c as well.
ACT 2010
1 user
It would be so nice to have a "lite" version of ACT, (I'm using it since 1994) SINGLE USER, FAST and ROBUST without so many things that "work partially" (I had never been able to synchronize anything through internet).
Please do (your 40% customer base) a favor and create a MUCH simpler, faster to work on laptops LITE edition, without users to handle and permissions… Just ONE user, and a good CRM without all the "supposed" goodies !
thanks so much
Ignasi (Spain)
I AM WITH YOU IGNASI!!!!
act user since ver 1.0 – last happy somewhere around 4 or 5 – then started getting top heavy, super time consuming sync, complicated – a customer killer. Single user – bought ver 8 'cause I thought it would solve ver 6 headaches – refused to buy ever since.
now with new win 7 computer – gotta figure out what to do!!!!
ats-
Unfortunately, only the latest version of ACT! is supported under Win 7.
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