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

To Cloud your #CRM or Not to Cloud. For that is the question

How to make users feel that using cloud can like trekking through a Brazilian jungle.

I’m guessing that many you might be aware of the issue with Amazon’s S3 cloud storage service which led to massive outages across the internet.

So far, Amazon has not given an indication as to the cause.

 

The only news on their site at this time is that the problems have been resolved: https://status.aws.amazon.com/

But why did it take down so much of the internet?

Yes, many applications were down for some hours. Buffer, Slack, Trello, and a great many more were unusable (or barely usable) during the time that Amazon had their outage.

According to the Synergy Research Group’s 2017 report, Amazon Web Services owns more than a whopping 40 percent share of the global public cloud services market.Other providers, such as Google, Microsoft and IBM are small players by comparison.

So maybe you can understand that when Amazon coughs, we all get colds.

What does this have to do with CRM?

Remember: There is no cloud, it’s just someone else’s computer

More and more, the major (and not so major) CRM providers have been pushing users to move their data to the vendors’ cloud systems. Even Swiftpage has been doing this with Act!.

Of course, there is a big advantage to the vendor to push for these subscriptions – They don’t have to add any real value to the product in order to keep getting your money. A case in point for this is the lack of any new serious functionality in Act! v19. Something I blogged about, here: What’s coming in Act! v19 – Good, bad or very ugly?

Although, more recently, the vendors have even put their on-premises products on the subscription model (Microsoft’s Office 365 and Swiftpage’s Act! are examples of this strategy to get users paying every year. They’ve both overly inflated the pricing of the “outright purchase” or “perpetual” licenses. They’ve also come down hard on the users who would consider buying outright, by making some features only available on subscription and (as Swiftpage says they’ll be doing for Act!) refusing to provide bug-fix updates within the version you purchased.

What are the advantages and disadvantages to you?

 

Advantages of cloud implementations:

• No need for server hardware CAPEX
• The IT costs can be reduced
• Maintenance, upgrades and support are handled by the vendor
  • This can be an issue when they update their version and break things that you use
• Can be easier to access from anywhere – This requires extra work for on-premises
• You, or your IT, are responsible for security if you make it available externally.
• There used to be a reduced upfront cost for the cloud, when compared to on-premises. But, with more vendors moving their on-premises versions to subscription, this is nolonger an advantage

 

Advantages of on-premises implementations:

• Retain 100% ownership of your data
  • How well do you trust the vendor to stay in business?
  • What happens to your data if they close?
• Retain 100% of the integrity of your data
  • About 6 months ago, Salesforce lost 4-5 hours of client data in May 2016
    The outage was caused by a problem with the database. So the folks at Salesforce restored the database back to the time before the problem occurred, four hours earlier, which deleted the previous data, Salesforce explained in a report on its Salesforce Trust page.
• Retain 100% of the security of your data
  • In 2007, a salesforce.com employee fell victim to a targeted phishing scam and was tricked into providing admin credentials to the perpetrators.
  • Last year, LinkedIn, had 117Million accounts hacked with details up for sale
  • Also last year, Yahoo disclosed a hack of more than 1Billion accounts
  • Does your cloud vendor use two-step authentication?
    If not, run (don’t walk) away to use something else.
    Hacks will get more common. If your vendor hasn’t made this a priority, they simply do not care about your data and you shouldn’t be giving it to them
• Less susceptible to external connectivity
  • Not all areas have great internet access
  • Because Handheld Contact for Act! stores the data on the device, I regard it as the best solution for Act! users with iPhones, iPads, Androids or Blackberrys
• Less susceptible to an issue like the recent Amazon one
• Sometimes greater functionality is available in the desktop version
• Often a wider range of integration possibilities
• Ability to customise your CRM solution with add-ons or custom written code that might not be possible in a cloud version

 

How about a hybrid solution?

One of the areas that Act! does best at, is the hybrid solution of using both delivery systems.

This can be a useful compromise:

• You still need your own IT – In-house or out-sourced
• You might still be susceptible to the security issues above … at both sides.
• You can pull your data out in any way you choose
• You are not constrained by internet access and can use the data via an app on your phone or laptop even when out of range.
• Access to both sets of integration and customisation options.
• You’d barely notice an outage from Amazon or the software vendor

 

After all this, what’s best for you?

And that’s really the question to ask. Each person will have a quite different view on this.

• You need to properly document your needs. This article might help: What’s the best CRM?
• You should try to find a VAR or Consultant who’s unbiased in this area so they can look at YOUR needs, rather than selling you something when there were better options. For some assistance in this area, read: How to pick the right CRM consultant for you

Please add a comment to this post with any thoughts you might have on the subject.

 

Technorati Tags: Act,Act!,Act CRM,CRM,cloud,security,smartphone,mobile crm,Swiftpage,LinkedIn,Hacked

Sync up to 45K contacts from #ActCRM to your mobile device with @HandheldContact

Introducing HHC+

Sync up to 45 000 contacts from your Act! database to Handheld Contact on your mobile device!

For those Handheld Contact customers that need more than 15,000 contacts on their mobile devices, we finally have a solution for you. Over the last two years HHC listened and increased the normal sync limit from 7000 contacts to the 15,000 limit where it is today, and that has proven sufficient for most of our subscribers.

However, we know some customers still require more, and for those people we're offering "HHC+" starting later in January for both IOS and Android device users. HHC+ will include an upgrade to an additional 15,000 contacts for only US$20 more per year, or an increase of 30,0000 contacts (for a total of 45,000) for only US$35 more. Australian and New Zealand pricing to be available soon.

One of the key changes we had to make to the mobile client was the ability to filter the export of the HHC contacts to the native address book, which you will soon be able to do through our new "Searches" feature. In other words, create a saved Search, do the lookup, and export those contacts (or updates) to your device's address book.

We caution some users with older devices (eg. iPhone 3 and 4) that increasing their sync contacts from 15,0000 to a total of 45,000 can cause some performance issues. Newer devices that we've tested have not demonstrated any degradation in performance.

We’ve recently upgraded Handheld Contact with some new features, if you haven’t checked out the: New versions of Handheld Contact for Act! CRM

Please contact your Act! consultant or GL Computing if you have any questions on obtaining the new versions or on anything else regarding Act! or Handheld Contact 

 

Technorati Tags: Act!,Act! CRM,ActCRM,Act! v19,Handheld Contact,Android,iOS,iPhone,iPad,mobile CRM,tablet

New versions of Handheld Contact for #ActCRM and a special

Handheld Contact is very pleased to announce new releases for Android and iOS (iPhones and iPads).

* See the bottom of this article for a special December-only offer

This is a list of functions that have been added, or are planned to be added very soon to both OS versions:

User Interface enhancements to further replicate the Act! experience on the mobile

NEW Home screen for easy access to popular Handheld Contact features.

NEW “Searches” feature that allows mobile users to create look-ups with up to ten fields, and save them for later use.

Send e-mail blasts from Handheld Contact to your Searches and let Handheld Contact effortlessly create History records for you.

NEW “Favourites” button that allows users to quickly access the contacts they call most, while preserving the Act! History tracking they’ve come to rely on

Download free app for Business Card Scanning (Camcard.com) to creates contacts in native address from a photo of the business card, and then use the new HHC Contact Importer to import that new contact into Handheld Contact, and then sync to Act!.

You can also use the new HHC Contact Importer to capture any contacts that are only in your native contact list on your iPhone/iPad, and import them into Handheld Contact, which will then create a new record for them in ACT once the syncing process has taken place.

History items now give you a warning to check the details before saving.

NEW Reschedule button has been added to Activities.

When dialling extensions, you can choose if you want a 3-second pause before automatically dialling extensions, or if you’d like to tap to dial the extension. This can be changed under Settings > Contacts > Extension

Monthly calendar fills screen width-wise on portrait mode.

Task List date filter has been moved from settings to the Task List, accessed via a funnel icon.

When scheduling an Activity, the Timeless button is easier to press on some devices.

Have a look at these videos, to see these in operation:

Handheld contact v3.0 for Android

Handheld Contact v7.0 for iOS (iPhone and iPad)

Special Offer for December Only

‘Tis the season for giving!

 

With the new releases of Handheld Contact, the biggest upgrade in years for HHC users, what better way to say thank you to new Handheld Contact customers than to bundle their subscription with the new “Act4outlook” – a terrific enhancement to your desktop integration of Act! & Outlook.

Act4outlook is an Actcessory designed to enhance your Act!-Outlook integration needs, while breaking the shackles of the performance sucking Act!/Outlook Address Book. Finally you can disable the Address book integration between Act! & Outlook, without compromising the email History attaching your business relies on. Act4outlook passively attaches all outbound Outlook email to the appropriate contact History quickly, and provides enhanced options for creating contacts & activities from your Outlook inbox.

Act4Outlook includes the following features:

• Send Outlook contacts to Act! by simply right clicking one or more contacts from your address book.
• Send an email from Outlook (even with Act! closed), and it will be attached to the matching record in Act! within a second.
• Disable the Act-Outlook address book integration that so often slows down computers, and get all the functionality back with Act4outlook. Select an email and automatically convert it to a Contact or Activity, but in a way that is faster than ever before.
• Link Contacts to Companies, Groups, or Opportunities after sending to Act.
• Send one or more Activities to Act! from your Outlook calendar.
• Select an email in your inbox, and click on "Go to Contact", and Act4Outlook will find the matching contact in your Act! database.
• Act4outlook reduces duplication by keeping track of previously imported activities. If an activity is updated in Outlook with new data, simply re-send the activity to Act which will update the previously imported Act activity.
• Attach one or more email messages directly to Contacts, Groups, Companies, or Opportunities. Linking the email to more than one type of record at a time does not create a duplicate entry in the Act attachments folder.

More information on the Act4outlook page

That is why we're offering all Handheld Contact customers this new Actcessory for FREE with each new subscription from now until the end of this year.

For clarity, any Handheld Contact customer that either signed up new or added a new subscription (excluding renewals) in December 2016 will be eligible for this promotion, and receive Act4outlook for free (a $25USD value).

Happy Holidays from your friends at Handheld Contact and GL Computing

 

Technorati Tags: Act!,ActCRM,Handheld Contact,Mobile CRM,iPhone,iPad,iOS,Android

Some Handheld Contact for Act! tips #ActCRM

 

Recently, I’ve been asked a few common questions about Handheld Contact, so I thought I would put them all in this single article.

First, a couple of worthwhile articles to read:

• How it works and ensuring your data is up-to-date
  http://support.handheldcontact.com/knowledgebase/article/View/133/6/syncing-how-it-works-and-ensuring-your-data-is-up-to-date
• Technical and Security Overview:
  http://support.handheldcontact.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/118/0/technical-and-security-overview

 

How to upgrade to the current version of Handheld Contact?

 

Updating the HHC console on the PC/Server

If there is a later version, here are the steps needed to update the PC/Server HHC console:

If you are unable to access Handheld Contact on the PC or server, go directly to http://www.handheldcontact.com/downloads.php to obtain the latest installer for your version of Act!

1. Open Handheld Contact on your computer or server.
2. Once you are in Handheld Contact click on Help-->Check for Updates
   A pop-up should be displayed on the bottom right of the screen.
   If it says:  "Download available click here to download" click on it.
   If the pop-up does not appear, see above to obtain upgrade install file.
3. You will be taken to the Handheld Contact Downloads page (mentioned above).
4. On the downloads page click on the Act! version that matches your installed database.  If you do not know this, open Act! first and click on 'Help' and choose 'About Act!'.
5. Download file "HHC-3_x_x_x.exe" (for Act! 12.0/2010 to Act! 14.0/2012) or "HHC-4_x_x_x.exe" (for Act! 15.0/2013 and higher) and save it to the desktop.
6. Once the file has been downloaded close the Handheld Contact application on the Desktop/Server (if it is still open).  It cannot be running while the upgrade is started.
7. Find the HHC-3_x_x_x.exe (or HHC-4_x_x_x.exe) file and run it.  When prompted, choose yes to update 3.x.x.x (or 4.x.x.x) to this version.
8. Once the install has completed, click Finish and Handheld Contact should open automatically.
9. Then click Maintenance-->Synchronize Users, select the checkbox beside all users accounts and then hit Sync Now. This will take some time to send the current Act! data to each of the devices.

Updating HHC on the mobile device

Apple iOS - Includes iPhone and iPad

In order to upgrade the software on this device, you must do it through the 'App Store'.

1. Open Safari.
2. Go to: www.handheldcontact.com/ota 
   This will redirect you to the Handheld Contact app on the Apple App Store.
3. You can also go directly to App Store and click on 'Updates'.
   Click on Handheld Contact Professional, then click on 'Update'.
4. Enter the Apple ID and then the download/upgrade will begin.
5. No reboot is required.

Android

Upgrading Handheld Contact will be performed through Google Play.

1. Go to www.handheldcontact.com/ota on your device's default Internet browser
   This will re-direct you to Handheld Contact on Google Play.
2. If not, go directly to the Google Play Store and search for 'Handheld Contact'. 
   From there you can press 'Upgrade'.
3. You may be required to enter your username/password for Google Play.
4. No reboot is required.

Note: For Android users there is an option for 'Allow automatic updating'.  This is found within the Google Play Store when viewing Handheld Contact (after installation).  If this option is selected, then the upgrade will take place automatically.

BlackBerry 10

1. On the BlackBerry 10 device, open the Browser icon.
2. Go to: www.handheldcontact.com/ota 
   This will re-direct you to the Handheld Contact app on BlackBerry World.
3. Select Download/Upgrade button in the top right to begin the process of upgrading.
   This will overwrite the previous version installed.No reboot is required.

What are the default fields that sync with Handheld Contact?

Below is a listing of all the default fields that sync with Handheld Contact Professional.  You have the ability to add up to 42 more custom fields.  The total number of fields that will sync are 73.

Company First Name Last Name Title Department E-Mail Personal Email Phone Extension Fax Phone Home Phone Mobile Phone Pager Alternate Phone Alternate Extension

Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 City State ZIP Code Country Spouse Home Address 1 Home City Home State Home Zip Code Home Country

Web Site ID/Status Last Results

How many characters can sync in a field between  Act! and a handheld device?

When making changes in Act! and syncing to the device (or back to Act!), Handheld Contact has some character limitations (including spaces) that must be met.  Please see below.

Syncing from ACT! to device:

• Activity Regarding Field - 256 characters.
• Activity Details Field - 985 characters before truncation - HHC will show "(Truncated)(RO)" - 'RO' meaning Read Only.
• Notes - 1500 characters.
• History Regarding - 256 characters.
• History Details - 985 Plus HHC will show "(Truncated)(RO)" - 'RO' meaning Read Only.
• Contact Character Field - 450 character MAX due to Act! limit.  Go to Tools - Define Fields to determine field max limit.
• Contact Memo Field - 236 characters before truncation - HHC will show "(Truncated)(RO)" - 'RO' meaning Read Only.
• Contact Location Field - 128 characters.

Syncing from device to Act!:

• Activity Regarding Field - 256 characters.
• Activity Details Field - 1000 characters.
• Notes - 1000 characters for iOS devices, 1500 for Android/BlackBerry devices.
• History Regarding - 256 characters.
• History Details - 1000 characters for iOS devices, 1500 for Android/BlackBerry devices.
• Contact Character Field - 450 character MAX due to ACT! limit.  Go to Tools - Define Fields to determine field max limit.
• Contact Memo Field - 236 characters.  Handheld Contact on device does not limit what can be entered into the field but if you exceed the max, the contact changes do not sync into Act! and no errors are produced.

Most Common Issues with Handheld Contact

 

Desktop/Server (console) application:

1. Error message when syncing: "Communication with sync engine failed! The syncing process has been aborted! HHC Service is not running or doesn’t have the required permissions". Click here for solution.
2. Message Queuing Service is not installed.  The error message is "Unhandled Exception occurred: Message Queuing is not installed or running on this PC".  Click here for solution.
3. Logon Error when attempting to sync.  Error is "The user: {ACT NAME} failed to log on to the ACT! database: {DATABASE NAME}".  Click here for solution. 
4. Cannot get beyond "Act! Administrator" screen on set up. Click here for solution. 
5. Upgrading the desktop software.  Click here for solution.

iPhone/iPad:

1. Getting caller ID on device by exporting Contacts. Click here for solution.
2. Handheld Contact on the iPhone/iPad unexpectedly closes.  Click here for solution. 
3. Close Handheld Contact and restart it properly.  Click here for solution.
4. The Contacts, Task List and Calendar icons are not available on the device.  Click here for solution.
5. Syncing with both iPhone and iPad.  Click here for solution.
6. Upgrading the device software.  Click here for solution.

Technorati Tags: Act!,CRM,iOS,iPad,iPhone,Android,Blackberry,Handheld Contact,HHC