Important Licensing Notice for all Act! CRM Customers

Act! Licensing Software Update

We have recently been informed that an embedded third-party software component of Act! that facilitates licensing services (Protexis) is being discontinued by the manufacturer at the end of 2018. As of January 1st, 2019, depending on what version of Act! you are running, there will be necessary steps that need to be taken to ensure uninterrupted access. You can read the statement from Swiftpage, here

This affects all Act! users

All Act! users will need to upgrade.

If you're on an old version, Act! may stop working in January.
If you have v18.2 or newer, YOU WILL NEED A PATCH
To Check Your Version in Act! – Help Menu > About Act!

As of January 1st, 2019, customers who haven’t updated Act! will no longer be able to:

• Install Act! on new machines
• Re-activate Act! on existing machines
• Modify your user count
• Make key modifications to existing machines (eg. Motherboard swap, network card swap)

If you make any of the changes listed above, your Act! product will fail to re-activate and you will lose access to the software completely.

*Note: If you are a NEW Act! customer (I.e. you are not upgrading from a different version), and you have purchased v21 on or after November 19th, 2018, you will NOT be affected by this issue.

Please refer to the obsolescence policy for your region below:

• North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand: Act! Support Obsolescence Policy
• Europe, UK and Rest of the World: Act! Support Obsolescence Policy

See below for the necessary steps for your version and the expected dates for updates.

If you have any questions, or need any help, please contact GL Computing by clicking on this button:

Licensing Software Update: v17 and earlier

Solution:

Because you are on a retired version of Act! you are no longer eligible to receive critical updates and enhancements. In order to ensure uninterrupted access to your product, you must upgrade to latest version of Act! by December 31st, 2018.

More info →

Licensing Software Update: v18.2

Solution:

Version 18 will be unsupported from Nov 30th 2018 as per the obsolescence policy linked above. In order to ensure uninterrupted access to your product, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade to latest version of Act! by December 31, 2018.

Should you elect not to upgrade to Act! v21, we have decided to make available a one-time update for v18.2 products that seeks to address this specific issue in January, 2019. We cannot and do not make any representations as to how long this one-time update will provide the functionality of Act! that you expect. Please note that this decision to provide you with the update in this instance shall not be precedent, or require us to provide, neither now nor in the future, any fixes for additional issues that may or will arise after the date of obsolescence as specified in the Act! Support Obsolescence Policy.

• Update 7 for v18.2 is available here

More info →

Licensing Software Update: v19, v20 and v21

Solution:

In order to ensure uninterrupted access to your product, you must apply the update provided before December 31st, 2018.

• Update 7 for v21.0 is available here
• Update 8 for v20.1 is available here
• Update 9 for v20.0 is available here
• Update 5 for v19.2 is available here

More info →

What’s new and fixed in Act! updates

To see what’s new and what issues have been fixed in updates for your version, click here.

Winmail.dat replaces attachments sent by Office 365

What is RTF, TNEF and Winmail.dat?

Outlook can use a special method, technically referred to as Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF), to package information for sending messages. The use of TNEF is affected by settings in Outlook that are referred to as Rich Text Format (RTF). TNEF and RTF are not identical, but they are very similar.

A TNEF-encoded message contains a plain text version of the message and a binary attachment that "packages" various other parts of the original message. In most cases, the binary attachment is named Winmail.dat, and it includes the following information (if included in the message):

• The formatted text version of the message (ie, font and colours).
• OLE objects (such as embedded pictures and embedded Office documents).
• Special Outlook features (I.e., custom forms, voting buttons, and meeting requests).
• Regular file attachments that were attached to the original message.

Where to check for RTF settings in Outlook

When RTF is not working as expected (either all messages are RTF, or Meeting Requests and Voting are not working) there are several settings your need to check in Outlook.

Note: Exchange server administrators can also control RTF to Internet addresses. If the administrator disables RTF to Internet addresses, the settings in Outlook will not override them.

Global Properties

Composing new messages:

Outlook 2010, 2013, or Outlook 2016: File, Options, Mail and at the top. Set “Compose messages in this format” to HTML.

Use this setting to control how messages created using RTF formatting or that require TNEF encoding are handled. If this is set to plain text or HTML formatting, Voting and Meeting Requests may not work unless you override the setting using Email properties.

Outlook 2010, 2013, or Outlook 2016: File, Options, Mail and scroll to the bottom of the dialog and set “When sending messages in Rich Text Format to Internet recipients” to “Convert to HTML format”.

Recommended setting: Convert to HTML. Outlook will send all messages to the Internet using HTML unless you change the email properties (below).

Outlook 2007 and older: Go to Tools, Options, Email Format, Internet Options button.

You can also change the settings on a per-contact level by opening the contact card and double-clicking on the email address.

Registry Setting

If nothing seems to be working and you use Outlook 2007 SP2 or newer, you can use a registry value to end TNEF encoding once and for all. This will affect your ability to use features that require TNEF encoding, including Voting and Meeting Requests in native Outlook format.

1. Close Outlook
2. Start Registry Editor (type regedit in the Start Search box or Start menu, Run command and press Enter)
3. Locate the following registry key:
1. In Outlook 2016:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences
2. In Outlook 2013:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Preferences
3. In Outlook 2010:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences
4. In Outlook 2007:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Preferences
4. Add a new DWORD named DisableTNEF.
5. Double click on DisableTNEF and in the Value data box, type 1
6. Close the Registry editor and Restart Outlook

Act! 20.1 Update 6 is a great release! #ActCRM

Today, Swiftpage has released Update 6 for Act! 20.1 and it has some significant improvements. Enough to be a service pack rather than just an update.

Twenty-two new or enhanced features and 90 closed defects!

Yes, you read that right! The developers and QA guys at Swiftpage have been putting in some serious effort to get this done – and yes, for those who don’t know, I have been contracted to help with QA as their Certified Act! Expert (the only one in the world) for the past year.

And here is the list:

Outlook integration improvements

1. When sending an email to a someone whose email address isn’t in the database, you now have the option to create a new contact or to attach the email to another contact.
   
   
2. You can now enter ID/Status when creating a new contact from Outlook.
   
   
3. A preference setting to auto-attach histories to contacts and NOT to your My Record.
   
   

User Interface Improvements

1. A Documents Tab option to save the selected file locally
   
   
2. Contact column should display by default on Group and Company history tab
3. Display preferences tabs on two rows
   
   
4. Enable 'Look for' field in list views by default
5. Move Lookup > Favorites further down the menu
6. Remove inactive paging controls under the calendar task view
7. Allow 'Create Lookup' from multiple selected companies (Windows client only)
   
   

Act! Premium for Web Improvements

1. Left align the big button menu
2. Managing opportunity processes to use the same terminology as windows
3. Reduce Act! icon file size to improve performance
4. Version numbers displayed should match windows client

Improvements to the Update

1. Update Act! Notification link to point at the “What's Fixed” KB article
2. Includes new Custom Tables package

SDK Improvements for custom add-on developers

1. Add event where a contact, group or company is added to an opportunity
2. Add events where opportunity total is modified or recalculated
3. Add events where a relationship is added to a contact
4. Add open and close events for the layout editor
5. Provide consistent event for LayoutLoaded
6. Record Created events are inconsistent or missing

Defects Closed

1. FR- APFW - Task list view/ Activity Tab - Edit and Delete links are truncated
2. FR- APFW - History list / Tab - Edit and Delete links are truncated
3. FR- APFW - Notes Tab - Edit and Delete links are truncated
4. TS - FR - Text Overlaps Button Edges When Deleting Contacts.
5. TS - When creating a History item and selecting the Type as Other, the follow up button on the local install is greyed out, however it remains active on APFW.
6. TS - Rescheduling a recurring activity with attachment does not create a rescheduled activity.
7. Windows - Companies - Update linked fields messaging was not updated for "update linked fields" button
8. LC - DE– Browse button is truncated on Save Copy As dialog
9. LC - CF - Truncation in emarketing profile
10. LC-FR-“Post” should be “Code postal” on Contact Detail View.
11. LC–FR-On the Copy/Move Contact Data page, the text can’t be showed fully.
12. LC–FR-On the “Reset Menus and Toolbars” truncation
13. LC-DE- The selection box of “Opportunity (select one)” is misaligned in Act! Emarketing--Webpage dialog.
14. Two same hotkeys “Alt + S” appear in the “Schedule Activity” box.
15. Chrome-User Log out automatically with an error message occurred after using “Attach File…”.
16. LC-FR-APFW: Truncation display on the Activity part on contact detail view
17. Chrome – Dashboard – The activity cannot be deleted when we select “delete all activities in the linked series”.
18. LC-FR-APFW: There should be more space between these buttons and the dialog frame
19. TS - Relate Contact Window cannot be resized.
20. LC-FR: Truncation in Email System Setup Outlook Address Books page
21. TS - Act! Network Sync Service Update refers to Act! Update
22. Lock/Unlock filter slider text needs to be centered as it's topmost currently
23. TS - APFW - DE - Spelling error in Emarketing Opt Out menu.
24. Space needed for easier reading Monthly contact limit
25. Unable to connect to sync server error is incorrect
26. APFW - The “Send At” field displays blank in the “Next Scheduled Email Campaign” section
27. TS - APFW - Defunct 6 month survey appears
28. TS - APFW - Error in Application when trying to change password when 'User cannot change password' is enabled.
29. White icons of ‘Product Reports’ & ‘Opportunity Reports’ appear in New Report dialog.
30. The ‘Favorite’ icon was changed from icon to text after resetting the Columns in the contacts List View.
31. TS - APFW - Deleted Activities in IE do not disappear from list without refreshing page
32. APFW - Calculated fields allow blank if set before choosing "calculated" as field type
33. APFW - Activities - Schedule for dialog displays current user instead of "created by"
34. LC - DE/FR/CF - Pro Welcome Page isn't directed to the correct regional page.
35. Act! Update package (20.0 u5) references ACT2000
36. TS - APFW - Unable to filter task list by keyword in IE.
37. No scrollbar when creating calculated field with long formula
38. TS - APFW - The advanced query open window doesn't always close in IE11.
39. TS - Unable to delete a complete activity series in IE.
40. TS - APFW - When using the 'replace' option when importing into APFW, information that is not being imported is removed from the record.
41. TS - APFW - Company activities tab showing all activities after lookup in IE.
42. TS - APFW - Standard Users unable to create secondary contacts if 'Delete Records' permission removed.
43. TS - APFW - Able to create a remote database from another remote database via Web.
44. LC-DE- Truncation issue occurred on Emarkting Overview.
45. TS - APFW - Attempting to delete an in use opportunity stage gives misleading error.
46. DE - Act! Notification message contains truncated text
47. TS - APFW - Removing a field from a database when included in a 'customised columns' selection causes a logout
48. LC-DE/CF/FR: The help descriptions of all charts are not translated into German or French.
49. TS - APFW - Logged out of web or error message after adding a document to a new contact
50. TS - APFW - Alarms window not appearing after a session times out
51. TS - Old databases open in 20 without needing to update
52. LC - CF/FR –Truncation issue occurred in Select Contacts dialog.
53. LC_FR/DE/CF Truncation issue occurred in Act! Update Details dialog.
54. LC – CF/FR Truncation issue occurred in Contact Merge Options dialog when import database.
55. APFW - IE - Selecting "delete all occurrences" of recurring activities still only deletes one
56. LC-DE Truncation issue occurred on the ‘Create, edit, or delete drop-down lists’ dialog.
57. LC – CF/FR Truncation issue occurred in Opportunity Graph Options dialog.
58. LC – DE/CF/FR APFW - Truncation issue occurred in Opportunity Pipeline Options dialog.
59. TS - ISPA.exe runs at 100% CPU on TS environments.
60. LC – CF ‘Share’ button is not translated to French on Open/Share database dialog.
61. LC-FR/CF/DE – Translation issue occur during the creation of custom tables.
62. LC – FR/CF/DE ‘Delete local preferences’ prompt box is not translated to French/Germany.
63. LC – FR/CF/DE Some contents are not translated to French/Germany in Map Entity Fields page for Custom Tables.
64. LC – FR/CF/DE Translation issue occur in Customize Columns dialog for Custom Tables.
65. TS - APFW - History Result incorrect when sending an aem campaign via Web.
66. TS - Email address from Outlook contact is used instead of email address in Act!.
67. LC – FR/CF/DE The prompt box name – ‘Custom Tables’ is not translated to French/German.
68. LC-FR/CF/DE – The contents of all prompt boxes are not translated to French and German when edit a record in the custom table.
69. LC – FR/CF/DE - Truncation issue occurs in Mail Merge Wizard (7 of 7) dialog when mail merge by E-mail.
70. TS - Upgrading Pro Databases to Premium 20.1 does not always update the Product Tier correctly.
71. LC-DE Truncation issue occurred for ‘This contact is dynamically included in the groups listed below’ on the ‘Dynamic Groups Membership’ dialog.
72. LC – DE/CF/FR The ‘company field’ is overlapped by the field selection box in Define Fields dialog.
73. LC – DE ‘Browse…’ button is wrapped in Import List Items dialog.
74. TS - History has no line break after the Regarding field in preview pane
75. TS - APFW - Unable to schedule an activity series in Chrome when one of the activities is in the past.
76. APFW-Custom Tables-Create a 2 Number fields and a Calculated Numeric field, using the Number fields, in Custom table via APFW gives errors
77. APFW - Custom Tables - Creating a Field in Custom Tables before creating a custom table logs user out of APFW
78. APFW - Custom Tables - Editing a custom table calculated field gives an error.
79. APFW - Custom Tables - Cannot edit custom table field name.
80. APFW-Custom tables-Clicking on Picture field in Custom table Layout Designer for Web gives error
81. APFW-Custom Tables-Create 2 Picture fields in Custom table and add an Image in each of the fields via APFW, last Image added, overrides both fields
82. APFW - Custom Tables - Industry Template Library option is unresponsive
83. Custom Tables-Creating a Calculated field, based on Numerics, does not validate formula.
84. TS - Web Info tab - Open Browser link uses IE and not default browser
85. LC-FR : Missing translation for “Address” in Contact detail view.
86. Pressing keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F5 when viewing AEM in Act! causes an error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
87. Custom Tables - Calculated fields on Custom tables, break Schema export
88. Deleting Series causes popup for delete recurring activity
89. (Chrome) Warning in activity series doesn't let you continue
90. Groups tree doesn't stick when navigating away

Emailing from #ActCRM via Gmail and SMTP on other ports.

One of the long standing issues in Act! has been the inability for the email clients (Windows Internet Mail and Act! Premium for Web email merges) to use alternate ports. You can record History from email sent via Gmail and you can sync the contacts and activities between act! and Gmail, but you can’t use it directly as your email server as stated in this Act! knowledge base article: What email systems are compatible with Act!?

Recently an Act! Consultant came to me to help find a workaround for an Act! Premium for Web (APFW) User who needed to do emails with Templates. They are using Google’s G-Suit as their corporate mail server.

The user did have Outlook on their users’ machines, but the APFW email merge only works from the server, direct to an SMTP server.

Always up for a challenge, I looked into a few options (both free and paid) and came up with the idea of setting up a simple IIS SMTP server on their server and having it route the emails via the Google servers.

As I thought this might be useful to many of you, I thought I’d describe the process.

Please note: These instructions are of a technical nature and should only be done by those with the appropriate skills and understanding. Should you need assistance with this, please contact your Act! Consultant or send me a message via the GL Computing Contact Form

Google Setup

Note: This section is only necessary for those wanting to email via Google.

First, you need to determine which Google system you’re using and what authentication is necessary to allow the SMTP traffic. There are three supported options to do this:

• G-Suite SMTP relay (recommended) – Only for G-Suite customers
• Gmail SMTP server
• Restricted Gmail SMTP server – Only allows emails to other Gmail or G-Suite users, so probably not suitable for our use and won’t be covered.

G-Suite SMTP relay (recommended)	Gmail SMTP server
Sending Limits
A registered G Suite user can't relay messages to more than 10,000 recipients per day. For full SMTP relay limits, see Sending limits for the SMTP relay service.	2,000 Messages per day. See Gmail sending limits.
Anti-spam filters
Suspicious emails may be filtered or rejected
Fully qualified domain name of SMTP service
smtp-relay.gmail.com	smtp.gmail.com
Configuration options
Options: Port 25, 465, or 587 Secure Socket Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols. Dynamic IPs are allowed, but a static IP might be required due to authentication requirements.	Port 465 (SSL required) Port 587 (TLS required) Dynamic IPs allowed
Authentication requirements
Either a static IP address or a valid G Suite user login	Your full Gmail or G Suite email address is required for authentication.

Please Note: I recommend selecting TLS and port 587 for security

Please Note: If selecting Gmail SMTP server or not using a reasonably stable IP, you can only authenticate with a single user account at Gmail and emails will go from that account. However, it is possible to assign multiple IP addresses to your server and configure each account to use a separate one.

Once you’ve decided on your preferred option, you need to enable that function.

• For G-Suite SMTP relay, you need to add the IP address (or address range) for the machine(s) you’ll be setting up with SMTP server. To do that, follow the instructions at:
• Step 1: Route outbound mail using the SMTP relay service
• Use the external IP address of the SMTP server for #7/8
• Note: We’ll do step two when we’ve set-up the IIS SMTP server
  
• To use the Gmail SMTP server, you need to allow less secure apps access.
  The method you need to use will depend on if you are using a G-Suit account or a plain Gmail one. See the appropriate link::
• G-Suite - Allow or disallow less secure apps to access accounts
• Gmail - Allow less secure apps to access your account
  Note: If using two-step authentication, you’ll need to create an app password, as per
  Sign in using App Passwords

Setting up your SMTP server

To workaround the problem with sending to SMTP on different ports, we’re going to setup our own private SMTP server which will then relay the emails to your ISP or Corporate server.

While there are many free or inexpensive SMTP server options available, I’m going to just cover the IIS one as every Act! user would have access to it.

While this can be setup on a Windows Desktop system, I wouldn’t advise doing this because of a number of limitations and reliability factors.

So, I’m going to include instructions for Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012.

Install Internet Information Services (IIS)

If you already have IIS installed (eg on your APFW server), you might be able to skip this section and go to “Install SMTP”.

1. In Server Manager, select Add Roles
2. On the Before you begin page in the Add Roles Wizard, select Next.
3. For Windows Server 2008 R2:
1. On the Select Server Roles page, select Web Server (IIS) and select Install.
2. Select Next until you get to the Select Role Services page.
3. In addition to what is already selected, make sure that ODBC Logging, IIS Metabase Compatibility, and IIS 6 Management Console are selected and then select Next.
4. When you’re prompted to install IIS, select Install. You may need to restart the server after the installation is finished.
4. For Windows Server 2012
1. On the Select Installation Type page, select Role-based or Feature-based installation.
2. On the Select destination server page, choose Select a server from the server pool, and select the server that will be running SMTP services. Select Next.
3. On the Select Server Roles page, select Web Server (IIS), and then select Next. If a page that requests additional features is displayed, select Add Features and then select Next.
4. On the Select Role Services page, make sure that Basic Authentication under Security is selected, and then select Next.
5. On the Confirm Installation Steps page, select Install.

Install SMTP

1. Open Server Manager and select Add Roles and Features. On Windows Server 2012, you might also need to select the correct server.
2. On the Select Features screen, choose SMTP Server. You may be prompted to install additional components. If that’s the case, select Add Required Features and select Next.
3. Select Install. After the installation is finished, you may have to start the SMTP service by using the Services snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) – Windows Key + R > Services.msc

Setup SMTP

SMTP is an IIS6 feature, so the above steps will have installed that version and we’ll use it for setting up

1. Start IIS 6 Manager – Start > Run > inetmgr6
2. Expand the current server, right-click the SMTP Virtual Server, and then select Properties.
3. We only need to worry about the Access and Delivery Tabs
4. On the Access Tab:
1. Select Authentication and make sure only “Anonymous” is checked. Click OK
   
2. Select Relay. Select “Only the list below” then use the “Add” button to add the IP addresses (or ranges) of all your machines that are allowed to send emails. Click OK.
   
5. Go to the Delivery Tab:
1. Select Outbound Security.
• If using G-Suite SMTP Relay with IP authentication, select Anonymous access and check TLS encryption. Click OK.
• If using G-Suit SMTP with SMTP Authentication, or if using the Gmail SMTP, then select Basic authentication and check TLS encryption. Click OK.
  
2. Select “Outbound connections” and set the port to 587. Click OK.
   
3. Select “Advanced” and enter:
• Fully-qualified domain name – The correct DNS entry to identify the public IP you’re server is on
• Smart host
• If using G-Suite SMTP Relay - smtp-relay.gmail.com
• If using Gmail SMTP Server – smtp.gmail.com
6. Close the dialog box and the Properties.
7. Right Click on the SMTP Server in IIS6 and select “Start”

Test your setup

You can do a simple test from the command prompt. Windows Key + R > cmd.

1. telnet
2. set localecho
3. o <your smtp server IP or FQDN> 25
4. EHLO <your email domain>
5. MAIL FROM:<sender@gmail.com>
6. RCPT TO:<recipient@gmail.com>
7. DATA
8. <Type some text>
9. Enter, type a period (.) and then Enter again
10. If the server is working properly, you should get a response like this indicating that the message is queued for delivery:
    250 2.6.0 <INET-IMC-01UWr81nn9000fbad8@mail1.glcomputing.com.au.

Finally

Please Note: Make sure you correctly adjust your SPF records if using custom domains. This is essential if you don’t want your messages treated as spam.

Now you’re ready to set up your applications like Act! Internet Mail, Act! Premium for Web Email Merge, and Premium Mobile.

As always, you can let me know if you have any trouble with this or would like to book me to help you.

Saving memory when running #ActCRM on servers

I was recently asked about how to remove some of the Act! items that load for each user from a machine used for Terminal Services, where only a few of the users needed Act!.
The following ideas are also worth doing on any system/server where Act!’s Outlook/Google Integration isn’t required. This also applies to Web Servers with Act! Premium for Web as the integration is done from the client end.
There are two basic areas where you can remove these components.

Startup Folder Shortcut

The All Users Windows Startup Folder can be found at:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

These programs start up for all users. To open this folder, bring up the Run box (Windows Key + R), type shell:common startup and hit Enter.

From there, you can remove:

• Act! Integration – this shortcut is only needed to set the Preferences for the ISPA (Integration Services Patch for Act!) that provides the synchronisation of Contacts/Activities with Outlook and/or Google.

If you want to make this available to specific users, you can place the shortcut in their individual Startup folders, located at:

C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

These programs start up for the current logged in user only. To directly access this folder for the current user, open Run (Windows key + R), type shell:startup and hit Enter.

Windows Registry Run Keys

Bring up the Run box (Windows Key + R), then type regedit and hit enter

Warning: We strongly recommend that you back up the system registry before making any changes. Incorrect changes to the registry could result in permanent data loss or corrupted files. Please make sure you modify only the keys specified. For detailed information on backing up the Windows Registry, click the link below:

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Check each of the following locations:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

From there, you can remove any of the following keys if you like:

• Act! Preloader – This loads parts of Act! to make it faster when opening and using the program
• Act.Outlook.Service – Needed to load the Act! address book in Outlook and for recording history
• Act.Outlook64.Service – Needed to load the Act! address book in Outlook and for recording history
• ACTSchedulerUI – Used for changing the Scheduler settings. Likely only needed for the admin
• ISPA - Integration Services Patch for Act!. Provides the synchronisation of Contacts/Activities between Act! and Outlook, Exchange, Office365 or Google.

Memory Saving

In my testing, removing all of these saves about 50MB Private memory and 200MB Commit memory per user for those not needing Outlook/Google integration with Act!.
Let me know, in the comments, if your results differ.

What you need to know about Act! 20.1 #ActCRM

How will the latest Act! update benefit your business?

Custom Tables: Increased Efficiency for Sales Automation

Act! has supported the ability for third-party add-ons to add and work with custom tables since version 10.02. Now, with the newly released 20.1, this functionality can be added by a simple upgrade to Premium Plus.

As an individual salesperson, Act!’s custom tables help you to improve your efficiency and track detailed information on the contacts and companies you deal with or even on the Opportunities and Groups you manage.

In the screenshot below, we have a custom table showing vehicles. If you run a car dealership, this is a helpful table to track. For example, you might get in touch with the buyer of the 2006 and 2013 cars to see if they are interested in a trade-in.

Clicking on any of the line items brings up a detailed dialogue (Click to see full size):

Act 20.1 ships with some custom industry templates including:

● Mortgage brokers. Detailed documentation matters in mortgages so keeping detailed files in Act will help you satisfy the compliance department.

● Wealth management. The information you gather at this stage will help you to satisfy the regulatory requirements imposed on financial companies.

● Residential real estate. Most people buy several properties over their lives, so there is a significant benefit to staying in touch with past customers over time.

● As well as templates for Event Planning, Consulting, Project Management, and Product Inventories.

Are you worried that your industry or need is not covered by a template? You can use the custom tables capability to create your design. I recommend getting an Act! consultant to help you with this if you have not done it before.

How Does Custom Tables Benefit Sales Managers?

Let’s start with the obvious benefit. Your front line sales staff will have an easier time at work. They will be able to walk through each part of the sales process with ease. If you regularly hire new sales staff, this guidance will support your sales training program.

● Sales Training Resource: Act is a powerful resource to enhance your sales training. For more insight, read my past article How To Use Act! for Your Sales Training.

Adding custom tables to Act also helps sales managers better understand the performance of their sales staff. In addition to tracking primary activity metrics like the number of calls and emails sent, you can monitor higher-value aspects of the sales process.

Here are some ideas:

● Presentation. In contrast to basic sales metrics like call levels, you can track higher value measures. One option is to follow the number of presentations made to prospects especially if you have customised service offerings.

● Relationship Depth. In complex B2B sales, a single point of contact is not going to be enough to close a deal. You also need to line up internal champions. Imagine you are selling an extensive business insurance policy. Aside from senior management, who else needs to be involved in winning the business? You may need legal to support the purchase. If you are selling to a bank, you might also want support from compliance and risk management. With custom tables, it is easier to track and understand these complex sales relationships.

Tip: Act becomes the most useful when users fill it with comprehensive data. As a manager, you can create custom views to make sure staff are covering the basics like phone numbers, email addresses, and discounts.

Streamlined Integration with Outlook

As I have previously posted, Swiftpage announced, last Dec, that it was completely re-writing the Office integration. See the detailed letter, here: Letter from Lorcan Malone, Dec 2017

If you are concerned about how different systems integrate, it is tough to trust them. You never know if the information you are looking at is up to date. Picture what how this problem would like in sales:

You use a third-party tool to pass data back and forth between Act! and Outlook. Unfortunately, the third party connection breaks down for a week when a new version of Act comes out. While you wait for updates, you regularly have to switch back and forth to get all of your sales data. If you are moderately busy, you are probably going to forget to track and log your emails and meetings.

Likewise, the same problem could occur in account management. If customer requests are not tracked accurately, you might risk the business relationship.

Whew! Who needs that kind of anxiety worrying about out of date records? Fortunately, the improved Act! integration with Outlook eliminates this concern. Specifically, Act! now has robust two-way synchronisation with Outlook. You no longer have to worry about third-party software breaking down. All of your emails to customers are automatically added to Act!’s history.

There is also a new synchronisation module to sync contacts and activities. Not just to Outlook, but optionally directly to your MS-Exchange or Outlook365 server.

The Next Step To Bringing Act 20.1 To Your Business

How does Act 20.1 help your company improve its operation? Finding your way around these new features may be tough. That is why I would like to invite you to contact me for a free assessment to see how you can boost productivity with custom tables.

How To Use Act! for Your Sales Training #ActCRM

Charisma, a strong network, blind luck, or skills: what explains great sales results? Like any complex activity, it’s easy to throw your hands up in frustration and say all of the above. That’s defeatist thinking. How can you make your sales training give you the best returns on your investment?

Use Act! as a support system to track, report and encourage your staff to implement what they learn.

1) Check Your Beliefs About Sales Training

“All business skills are learnable.” – Brian Tracy, sales expert

In her bestselling book Mindset, Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck defines two mindsets that shape results. The fixed mindset believes that skills and capabilities do not significantly change: a weak sales professional isn’t likely to change. In contrast, the growth mindset emphasises change and development. This is a critical distinction if you are going to improve in sales training. With a fixed mindset, you’re more likely to give up before you develop proficiency in new skills. The growth mindset, you believe you can grow and research finds you are more likely to persist and succeed in learning.

Adopting a growth mindset will help you get the highest value out of sales training.

Attitude matters – skip it at your peril!

Action Step: Take the quiz on the Mindset Assessment to see which mindset you have. If you have the fixed mindset, ask yourself if that perspective is helping you to reach your goals.

2) Complete A Sales Training Program And Track Followup Afterwards

Truth be told, there are multiple sales training methods that work.

Buying a sales training program, attending a sales seminar or using online training all have the potential to work. For sales professionals in the B2B environment, two popular options include SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham and The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson. Once you choose a sales training program, how do you ensure you get results?

If you get the opportunity, see if you can get the opportunity to attend an inspirational presentation by one of Act!’s co-founders, Mike Muhney.

Often people are excited and galvanised by a sales training course but, unfortunately, these effects can wear off without regular maintenance and monitoring.

Set up a tracking process to reinforce the principles and processes of the training for a set period. For example, schedule a weekly 30-minute meeting for three months to review the key points you learned. You might focus on prospecting, managing stakeholders or the art of landing large sales with Act!. Many traditional professionals like accountants, lawyers and doctors are required to take training regularly to keep their skills sharp. Why not apply that idea to the sales world?

Action Step: Select and attend a sales training program if you have not taken one in the past 12 months. Next, set up series of weekly meetings to track whether you practice the principles.

3) Set Sales Lead Indicators In Act!

You want closed sales at the end of the month, quarter or year. How can you increase the odds of hitting that goal?

The answer lies in tracking lead indicators for sales - measures that tend to predict the future. For example, a few common leading measures in sales include: number of meetings held, number of proposals sent and number of prospecting actions per day.

To train your sales staff in how and why to use lead indicators to close more sales, ask them to identify the best lead indicator for your sales process. For example, your sales process may look like this:

1. Call 1: you introduce yourself to a prospect by phone.
2. Initial Meeting. If the call goes well, you arrange a meeting with the prospect by phone or in person.
3. Needs Assessment. Determining the client requirements and scope of the project.
4. Proposal Presentation. If the previous steps go well, you are invited back to present a proposal.
5. Negotiation. Sorting out the final details and payment.
6. Close. You ask for the order and get a YES!
7. Sales Fulfilment. Payment Received. Your CFO sees cash in the bank and you can supply goods/services.

Steps 1-4 are promising candidates for lead measures. I recommend focusing on steps 4 because it will ensure prior steps are carried out with quality. If you choose steps 1 or 2 as your lead indicator, quality may suffer.

To aid you in tracking this measure in Act!, choose a lead indicator involving calls, emails or in-person meetings. Those interactions are almost always a requirement to win business and Act! is well set up to track those activities. In the past, sales professionals used notebooks to track this kind of information. That works but it is a lot of effort to keep up.

Create Opportunities for your sales in Act! and link the activities to those Opportunities. Then use Act! Insight, Dashboards, or some reports to make the measuring and monitoring a simple task.

Action Step: Meet with your sales representatives to choose a lead measure that you can track in Act! and which predicts ultimate sales success.

Resource: For more insights on using lead indicators to accomplish your sales goals, read “The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals" by Chris McChesney, Jim Huling, and Sean Covey.

4) Sales Managers: Monitor for Success in Act!

Sales managers: this step is for you. Choose a schedule – weekly and monthly are good options – and monitor your staff’s performance at each stage of the sales process. Recognize who wins in terms of lead indicators and sales!

Action Step: Speak to your Act! consultant to help you in customising Act! and generating reports on the metrics you need to track this data.

Want to improve your sales efficiency with Act!? Contact me today for a free consultation.

Fix: Issues when installing .Net Framework 3.5

One error that sometimes occurs when installing/upgrading Act!, and many other products, is during the install/upgrade of MS SQL Server.

For Act! installs/upgrades, the typical error you might receive is as per this knowledgebase article: "Act! pre-requisite has encountered a problem and needs to close." When Installing Act!

This error is not an Act! issue, but an issue installing MS-SQL on Windows operating systems from Windows 8 onwards, when the .Net Framework v3.5 isn’t enabled or has a problem with its setup.

You can also get similar issues updating SQL Server 2014 or adding Roles when the .Net 3.5 install lacks the right service pack.

The first step is to try enabling the Framework manually via the Control Panel.

Installing .Net 3.5 via Control Panel

As per this Microsoft article, you can enable the .NET Framework 3.5 through the Windows Control Panel. This option requires an Internet connection.

1. Press the Windows key Windows on your keyboard, type "Windows Features", and press Enter. The Turn Windows features on or off dialogue box appears.

2. Select the .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) check box, select OK, and reboot your computer if prompted.

You don't need to select the child items for Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) HTTP Activation and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Non-HTTP Activation unless you're a developer or server administrator who requires this functionality.

Troubleshooting .Net 3.5 Installation Failure

During installation, you may encounter one of these errors 0x800f0906, 0x800f0907, 0x800f081f, or 0x800F0922.

Or you might get the error “The following feature couldn’t be installed, The source files could not be found”.

Or, on Server 2012, you might get “Do you want to specify an alternate source path? One or more installation selections are missing source files on the destination server”

Microsoft covers some of the basics in this article. However, as it misses fixes for some of the errors and is, in my opinion, incomplete, I thought I would document my preferred solutions.

Check the System and Security Action Centre

1. Hold the Windows Key and press R
2. In the Run dialogue, type: wscui.cpl
3. If you see any warnings, you should resolve them.

Using DISM and an SFC/DISM Scan

Try installing via DISM to enable the .Net 3.5 Framework:

1. Open a Command or PowerShell Prompt as an Administrator – Press Windows Key + X to open Win + X menu and choose Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin) from the menu.
2. When the Command Prompt starts, changing “X” for the drive of your Windows ISO.
   DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:X:\sources\sxs
3. The operation will now start. Keep in mind that it can take a while to finish, so don’t interrupt it.

If that fails, perform an SFC scan, by doing the following:

1. From an Administrator Command Prompt
2. sfc /scannow and press Enter.
   
3. SFC scan will now start. Keep in mind that SFC scan can take about 15 minutes to finish, so don’t interrupt it.

Once the SFC scan is finished, try to install .NET Framework 3.5 again.

If it doesn’t work, you might have to perform DISM scan as well.

To do that, just follow these steps:

1. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Now run each of the following commends:
1. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
2. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
3. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

The scans can take more than 15 minutes to complete, so be sure not to interrupt them

Once you complete the DISM scan, reboot and try to install .NET Framework 3.5 again.

Installing from a Clean ISO

Sometimes, the Windows files you have can be damaged. In that case, you need to follow these steps

Download the Windows Media Creation Tool

1. For Windows 10 users, download the Windows Media Creation Tool, which is a tool that helps you create a Windows 10 ISO. If running Windows 8.1, download the Windows 8.1 Installer.
2. Use the Windows Media Creation Tool to create a Windows ISO image locally.
3. When the download is complete, mount the ISO by double-clicking on it.

For Windows Server 2012 R2, you can download the appropriate Evaluation ISO

Copy the SXS folder

1. Open the mounted ISO, and go into the Sources folder.
2. There should be a folder named sxs.
3. Copy the folder to another location on your computer.
4. Right click on the copied folder, and choose Properties from the drop-down menu.
5. When the Properties window opens, click on the Security tab.
6. Select your username from the Group or user names box; check if there is a checkmark next to Read and Write in the Permissions for [Your Username] box. You could also add “Everyone” or “Domain Users” if wanting to store and run from a network share.
   
7. If you do not find the check marks, you should click on the Edit button, select your username, and check both the Read and the Write box.

Edit the Group Policy

Press Windows Key + R and enter gpedit.msc. Now press Enter or click OK. Keep in mind that this tool is available only on Pro versions of Windows 10, but there’s a way to run Group Policy Editor on the Home version of Windows.

1. When Group Policy Editor starts, in the left pane go to:
   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
2. In the right pane, double-click on
   Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair.
3. A new window opens.
4. Select Enabled.
5. In the Alternate source file path, enter the address of the sxs.
6. Then click on Apply and OK.
   
   Optional: Check Download repair content and optional features directly from Windows Update instead of Windows Server Update Services.
7. After making these changes, you just need to start Command Prompt as administrator and run gpupdate /force command to apply the changes.

Finally

Now it should install from an Admin Command Prompt with the command:
DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:X:\sources\sxs
Remember to change “X:\sources\sxs” to the correct location of the sxs folder.

It’s also advisable to backup your system and, if you’ve had issues like this, you might also consider:
Repairing your Windows Image

Please post to the comments if these worked for you, or if you’ve encountered this problem and these solutions didn’t help.

Act! Certified Expert – Sanctioned by Swiftpage #ActCRM

Over the years, Mike Lazarus has been the recipient of many unique awards and certifications related to his work in Act!, including:

• Certified ACT! Sage
• ACT! Community Development Partner
• Certified ACT! Genius
• Experts Exchange Titan Award – three times

In another first, Mike has just been sanctioned by Swiftpage as an
“Act! Certified Expert”

As indicated in this previous blog post, Working with Act! Again, Mike has been working with Swiftpage for some months to identify and resolve outstanding issues and to improve the stability and functionality of the product. Now he is connected with the QA and Development teams in testing some of the enhanced and new features expected in 2018 before they go to beta and then release.

Some important ones regarding Office integration have been announced in this December 2017 Letter from Swiftpage’s President, Lorcan Malone to registered Act! users.

Please respond in the comments with any areas or bugs you think need additional testing.

What CRM Experts Don’t Tell You About Winning Large Sales

Large sales, enterprise accounts, the big fish.

It’s all about the large accounts that increase profits and prestige overnight. Ever since SPIN Selling was published, sales experts have recognised that work in small sales does not transfer to large-scale deals. I will assume your team has robust sales skills once they are in the room with the prospect. Optimizing performance before and after the meeting will be our focus.

1. Preparing For Major Sales Meetings With Act!

You’ve decided to pursue a large, well-known, corporation as a client for your business. You know that landing that account will bring instant credibility throughout your region. Through networking, you have managed to identify a few managers at the company. How will you convert this information in a productive meeting?

• Do your pre-call research. Get on the phone with your customers to find out what software they are using and problems they have experienced. If you are selling technology, market research tools like BuiltWith may be helpful.
• Opportunity Notes in Act!. As you prepare for the meeting, include links to resources and notes in an Act! Opportunity for future reference. Significant sales can take weeks or months to close, so it is helpful to have these notes available beforehand.
• Hold a pre-call meeting. This step is critical if your major sales involve team presentations and coordination. A few days before your first sales call, organise a short meeting to outline what you have learned and what you plan to cover.

Sales Resource: Read Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount for additional insight on prospecting. Blount makes an excellent point with his 30-day rule. If you are disappointed with your sales results today, check your calendar from 30 days ago. For example, if you take it easy at the office in December, you will have to work extra hard in the new year to catch up!

2. Improving Major Sales Follow Up With Act!

After you hold the major sale meeting, you leave with a signed contract! Well, that might happen if you are lucky to meet an exceptionally hungry buyer. If you are seeking to close a large sale, the process takes time to close.

Disciplined follow up makes all the difference. There’s just one problem with that suggestion. Sales professionals know they need to follow up. Yet many of them get distracted with other work and sales opportunities and never get around to it. Use Act! to augment your follow up discipline.

• Set reminders. Remembering to call the next day is easy – doing so a month after a meeting is more difficult. Using Activities associated with the Opportunity in Act! helps you stay engaged with the sale.
• Connect with multiple stakeholders. Did you notice that some technical experts at the prospect’s company objected to your solution? If so, document those points in Act! and work on developing answers for them. Link all the client contacts to the Opportunity in Act!
• Use email marketing. After your initial introduction to a major sales contact, they may be interested but simply not ready to buy. Using drip-marketing or inviting them to sign up for your email newsletter are excellent ways to sustain the connection.

3. Growing and Keeping Customers Loyal With Act!

So far, I have focused on bringing new customers in the front door. That’s critical for growth especially if you just starting our breaking out of a slump. Landing new accounts is not enough. Keeping current customers happy and doing more business with them matters as well. Analyse your customers in Act to find cross-selling opportunities such as:

• Analyse your most profitable accounts. Some customers are more profitable than others. Use 80/20 analysis to identify the outliers in your profits. How can you reduce the burden generated by a high maintenance client?
• Document client review activities. Some sales professionals are good at “farming”: growing an existing account over time. To encourage this practice, ask staff to document their efforts to network and meet other people at the company. If this activity is neglected, you may lose the account if a single manager or executive leaves. Don’t wait for a problem to happen at a loyal customer before you pick up the phone.

What The Other CRM Experts Aren’t Telling You.

Why aren’t you landing more major accounts? You probably lack one of three disciplines: sales goals (you are not shooting high enough), sales strategy (you have no idea how to land the big fish) or process (you do not have the right techniques or tools). I can help you with the last of these … However, no technology can fix the other problems associated with landing big sales.

Contact me to discuss ways we can use Act! to improve your company’s sales processes and efficiency.

If you would like to help other Act! users, please post your best strategies for landing the big deals as a comment to this post.

How To Improve Customer Service With Act!

Keeping a customer engaged with your business is one of the best ways to keep your business in good health. Once your company grows beyond a few people, consistent customer service becomes more difficult. One person may consistently go the extra mile with customers while others neglect the basics. Find out how to use Act! to improve your customer service and keep customers coming back for more.

Customer Service In The News: Complaints, Competition and Attention

In a world where low prices grab our attention, does customer service matter? The answer is yes. A brief review of the press highlights the consequences of customer service.

• Avoid negative word of mouth. A quick look through your Facebook news feed, Yelp or Twitter will turn out at least a few complaints about companies. In our era, disappointed customers tend to vent their feelings quickly. A British study found: “One in four social media users in the UK has used platforms to complain within the last three months.” Preventing such complaints by improving your service standards is well worth the effort.
• Easier To Do Repeat Business. If a customer has a good experience, they are more likely to do business with you again. Take note of this example from the hotel industry: “When Leslie Ciminello arrives at the Hotel 1000 in Seattle, she knows milk and cereal will be waiting in her room’s refrigerator. Lactose-free milk and gluten-free cereal that is. It is one of the small but significant ways the hotel has kept her coming back.” (Hotels Go to Extra Lengths for the Repeat Customer). If you neglect customer service, you may be left behind by competitors eager to grow.
• Earn positive attention. Would you like your company profiled in The Sydney Morning Herald? That was a benefit American Express earned by providing top customer service. The best part? The customer service in question was delivered to someone who cancelled their service. Gaining good press even when a customer leaves you – that is a significant benefit.

It is clear that excellent customer service makes a difference. How exactly can you improve customer service? Just asking your staff to impress is one approach. What should you tell them to do? You can use Act! to devise the details of your customer service program and continue improving.

Improving Customer Service With Act!

Use the following techniques to improve customer service with Act!. Tailor these methods to the value of your customer. In the Hotel 1000 example above, they are looking for business travellers who spend significant time in hotels. Such customers deserve extra attention.

1) Identify your top customers for extra care

Your employees have limited time so you cannot afford to treat all customers in the same way. Establish a few criteria (e.g. easy to work with and highly profitable) and then make a list. These are the customers who will garner extra time and attention.

Act! Application: Add an ID/Status, Favourite check or other field for your top customer records indicating “Gold Customer” (or whichever term you prefer), so you can find those customers easily with a search.

2) Set up recurring processes to review customer feedback

McKinsey & Co is one of the world’s most successful consulting firms. Client feedback is a core component of the firm’s success. According to Herbert Henzler’s book “Pushing the boundaries: Recollections of a McKinsey consultant”, the firm’s engagement performance review is varied out every three months and includes:

What was the quality of the analyses? Did you make good use of McKinsey resources? What was the client feedback? What was the team members feedback? Which improvements were necessary and how could these be implemented?

By using this process, individual consultants and their management never go long without taking customer feedback into account. For managers, records in Act! will give you additional input to consider in assessing your staff. If your team know you will review Act! as part of your management process, they will be more likely to use it.

Act! Application: Write short Notes or History after each customer service interaction in Act!. That way, you will have the opportunity to provide feedback to your staff.

3) Design long-term customer service improvements

Some customer service issues are trying to improve in an ad hoc fashion. For instance, you may have to use a new vendor to enhance the quality of your packaging. With limited resources, how do you decide where to focus your quality improvement efforts? Take a closer look at Act! for customer service failings and opportunities.

Act! Application: Create a method to list any unresolved customer complaints or those that required management involvement to obtain a solution. Use this information to look for systemic improvement opportunities.

4) Understand why customers leave

All good things come to an end, and that includes customer relationships. When customers leave, ask your staff to find out why they left. Once you collect data for a few months, schedule a meeting to review the findings. Look for ways that improved customer service could make a difference. As a starting point, consider the most common customer service complaints according to Business Queensland:

• Faulty product. It is not enough to understand that the product broke – seek for more information so that you can make improvements.
• Incorrect descriptions of the product. If customers cannot trust you on the basics such as size and weight, how long will they keep doing business with you?
• Poor client service. This can be reduced by implementing a rotation program.
• Slow delivery. Fast delivery service from companies like Amazon have increased customer expectations.
• Inadequate response to information requests. This factor covers inquiries about account status, delivery status and beyond.
• Rude staff. Even if your product is perfect, rude or rough treatment may be all your customers remember.

Your next step:

Meet with your sales team this month to review customer service levels. Use the four points outlined in this article to prepare examples for the discussion. If you find insufficient information in your customer files or disorganised information, implementing Act! may be the solution. Contact an Act! Certified Consultant to help you implement it.

Act! Version 20 – What You Need To Know

This month, Act! Version 20 comes to the market. If you are an existing user, should you upgrade to the new version? It all depends on your technical needs. Here are some reasons why the new version will make your business life more comfortable. It is a combination of improving reliability, enabling mobile work and bringing marketing and sales closer together.

Tip: Most of these improvements are only applicable to Premium Subscription users.

1) Track Your Business Results Easily With Act! Insight

Producing complex business reports each month is a huge pain for many in the sales. What if you could quickly check on the status of your sales pipeline each day? That’s what you can accomplish using Act! Insight. At a glance, this new feature offers the ability to see reports on sales by product, forecasted sales and won vs lost sales.

Tip: If you manage a sales team or own a business, Act! Insight is especially useful. The “Business Health” summary gives you precise data on your company’s operations and health. Make it a daily habit to check on these metrics, and you will avoid nasty surprises at month end.

Tip: Many of the Insight graphs are improvements on the current Dashboard function. However, at this time I have been using both Views of data as I have built some Dashboards that I have not yet been able to replicate with Insight.

2) Speak Your Notes and Listen for Answers By using Amazon Alexa

Survey after survey tells us that entering data into your CRM is a chore. That problem will start to come to an end because Act! will now support Amazon Alexa.

You might recall the scene in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where they spend some time in 1986 San Francisco. Scotty, the chief engineer, has to use a PC and he picks up the mouse and tries speaking into it – “Hello Computer.”

Having picked up flip-phones, tablets and other devices from this program, it does seem natural for us to continue to realise the best ideas of their writing team.

Introduced in 2014, the Amazon Echo device is the primary to interact with Alexa, a voice-activated assistant. While you may not have an Amazon Echo in your office yet, the device offers exciting potential – the ability to ask for reports and add data by speaking will save you plenty of time. It’s true there are some limitations with voice recognition (e.g. ensuring control over confidential client data). However, the technology is likely to be a godsend for those who hate to type or merely prefer to speak. If you were already interested in voice recognition, now you will have an opportunity to use the technology for business.

Tip: A current list of commands available can be accessed at this Knowledgebase Article:
What commands are available for use with the Act! Premium skill for Amazon Alexa?

Tip: At this time, this function is not supported in Australia / New Zealand. I am still trying to determine the reason for this and an estimate of when it will be.

Tip: If you decide to invest in Amazon Alexa, you can use it for much more than Act!. You can use it to play music, check bank account balances (depends on whether you have a bank).

3) Improved Mobile Experience – Act! Mobile Companion

In the past, mobile apps were not that powerful. You had to open up your computer to do real work. Act!’s improved mobile app, Act! Companion, is available for Android and iOS, is starting to address that problem. You can quickly schedule follow up appointments with prospects and log your calls easier.

You can now call and email contacts directly through the Act! Companion. That means no more time copying and pasting phone numbers from emails on your phone. Even better, Act! Companion gives you your recent history directly on the mobile app. That means you can prepare better for sales meetings faster and stay coordinated with others in your company. Act! Companion also has map support so you can get to your appointments on time.

Note: Act! Companion is included with the subscription version of the product. If you are on the fence about whether to sign up for the subscription version, it’s worth it to get Act! Companion.

4) Improved E-commerce Integration

Does your company run an e-commerce store? If so, many of the operational processes are likely automated such as shipping and generating invoices. In the midst of that automation, there are three reasons why integrating Act! with your e-commerce provider is a smart idea. First, this integration gives your sales staff the ability to lavish extra attention on high-value customers. Second, you can use e-commerce data such as a customer’s purchase history to inform your Act! marketing campaigns. Third, you can use that data to carry out analyse your business operations (e.g. avoid running out of popular items and better understand your margins).

Act! supports integration with a variety of the most popular e-commerce platforms: BigCommerce, Ecwid, Etsy, Shopify, Volusion, and WooCommerce. Additionally, it can also bring in sales history from many common accounts products.

5) Improving Act!’s Subscription Product

As with other software products, the subscription version of Act! continues to improve. For example, the mobile app – Act! Companion – is included in the subscription, as is Act! Insight. If you have not already switched to a subscription license, the improvements offered through version 20 are an excellent reason to switch now. If you use the subscription version of Act! in conjunction with a cloud offering, you do not have to worry about losing your data due to a computer failure – it is all stored on secure servers.

Tip: Switching to a subscription license means that you will receive a steady stream of updates

6) Improved Microsoft Outlook integration

Microsoft Outlook remains one of the world’s most popular email applications. If you are comfortable using Outlook, rest assured that Act! continues to improve its Outlook integration. For you, that means a more stable experience and reduced issues. You can focus on selling instead of keeping your software operational. Whether you use Microsoft Office 2010, 2013 or 2016, Act! is compatible with each version.

I have personally found that the Outlook integration in v20 is more stable than it has been for some time. Swiftpage has also stated that some Outlook integration improvements are being worked on and scheduled to be included in v20.1.

What if your company uses G Suite, Google’s professional set of services for calendar, email and other applications? Don’t worry. Act! integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Contacts. For more information on the Google integration, see this article:
How to set preferences for Google and Gmail Integration in Act!

7) Optimised Emarketing Workflow

Act! users who are leveraging the power of Act! Emarketing can now manage campaigns through an intuitive, optimised workflow within Act!. Users can quickly and easily execute campaigns and track results from five newly designed views – Overview, Options, Create, Send and Track with full-screen Call Lists – all fully integrated within Act!

8) Better working experience for Apple users

Apple users are used to a seamless user experience. Act! version 20 delivers on that expectation by adding support for the Chrome for Mac web browser. As a result, you now have more flexibility to use Act! on your Apple computer. Apple users also have the option to use the Act! Companion on iOS devices like the iPhone. Version 20 also delivers a better Act! / Office for Mac integration.

Note: This still requires a local or cloud-based Window server

9) Dozens of “under the hood” quality improvements

Any piece of complex software accumulates bugs over time. The important question is what efforts are carried out to solve those problems. Mail merge, reports, company views and errors with contacts are just a few of the fixes that will make Act! version 20 easier to use. All told, these improvements save you time. To receive a steady stream of updates, make sure you sign up for the subscription version of Act!.

Resource: Curious to know more about all the technical fixed that went into Act! version 20? Read What's new in Act! v20 for further details.

Planning Your Next Move With Act!

The latest version of Act! brings a variety of new analytics and automation features to the table. Like any piece of software, you may not use every feature every day. Instead, ask yourself a different question: what if I could make my week 5% more productive by using this software? For your field staff, the improved Act! Companion app may mean the difference between staying late at the office on a Friday and getting home on time.

To find out if Act! version 20 is right for your business, contact me to request a free assessment. We will go through a few short questions and find out if it will add value to your business.

Click here to get in touch with me – Or post a comment to this article