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What are the major drawbacks and advantages of ACT CRM?
ACT CRM by Sage seems to be a pretty good solution, but I know that you don't always get the full story online. Do you have experience with ACT? What are some of its truest strengths and weaknesses?
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2 Answers
Jeff - this is a great question, one I wish more people asked before making purchase decisions! I am a CRM expert, and have worked with ACT! for many years. Many times, I'm working with it inside a company that should not be using ACT but they are not willing to change.
Here are some of the true strengths and weaknesses.
Strength - low cost, easy to use, easy to customize, based on SQL back-end so can work with other applications if necessary, scalable through add-on tools.
Weaknesses - requires many add-on products to do everything you want to do above and beyond basic contact management; is NOT a CRM system, but rather a glorified contact manager; does not allow you to truly customize the Opportunity area; does not have a real Account level, as everything is stored on the contact record...so if you have 3 key contacts at the same company, you cannot find the information stored in the company record, but you have to find the information in one of the 3 contacts. This may have changed now, but it used to only sync calendar and tasks with Outlook and not contacts (required add-on tool to have contacts sync)...this may have changed with the 2009 or 2010 version though. And finally, they come out with a new version every year, suggesting you upgrade. So while your upfront cost may have been $350 per user, you're really adding to that cost over time.
The bigger question I pose back to you is what is your current situation? What industry are you in? Who is your audience? This will help determine whether ACT is appropriate for you or not, and if not, what other tools would be a good fit for you.
Jeff,
Kendra is right on! I recommend making a list of the top things that drive your business and then work from there. There are countless options out there so you can really be picky and look around to get just the right fit.
Ask yourself some of the following questions:
- Who will be using the tool?
- What will we do with the data if it's used?
- What is my ROI if the tool is used to its fullest capacity?
- Am I willing to invest to make it happen?
The system you select only "costs" you money if you don't get value from using it. I'm sure you would happily pay out hundreds of dollars per user IF in return the tool helped to increase the productivity of your team by 20, 30 or even 40% or more, right?
Remember, any system you select must facilitate what you do, not complicate your already over booked workload.
Best of Success!
Tom Metcalf
www.telenotes.net
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