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

What’s coming in Act! v19 – Good, bad or very ugly? #ActCRM

 

As Swiftpage is expected to release Version 19 of Act! this week, I thought I’d post a summary of what to expect with this release.

Update 13th January 2016 with first look opinion on the Act! Companion.

64-bit MS-Office Compatibility

Act! will now work with 64-bit versions of some Microsoft Office applications: 
Outlook, Word and Excel. While their marketing is making claims about Act! being “64-bit compatible”, it’s just the MS-Office integration that has changed.

It has taken a long time for Swiftpage to do this. However, I have found several disappointing bugs with the new version, with both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Office 2016.

These include incorrect handling of international data and some functions just crash and kick you out of Act!

Swiftpage have decided they don’t want to hear about bugs I uncover, so I’m not aware if they even know about these, yet. I will provide more details in a future post.

At this time, I would avoid upgrading to version 19 if Office integration is important to you.

Act! Companion mobile app*

I haven’t had access to this product to test, so I don’t know how reliable it is.
Certainly the functionality of it doesn’t come close to Handheld Contact.

Here’s a screen shot and summary from their marketing guff:

Stay connected to key Act! Premium details when on the move with Act! Companion — a native mobile app designed for your iPhone® or Android™

• Contact, activities and history are available. Users get alerted when new contacts, activities or history items are created.
• Capture notes during meetings
• Email or call your Act! Premium contacts from the app
• Do work in a social way with @mentions and simple text updates
• Intelligent notifications sent directly to the home screen of your phone keep you on task and on time

They say it will support iOS versions 9.x and up, and Android Lollipop, KitKat, and Marshmallow

Their marketing acknowledges that this doesn’t have the functionality to replace their Act! Premium Mobile product.

Update after some testing:

• When the Login fails, it gives no indication of why
• The fields are not named the same as they are in Act!, causing confusion.
• The buttons are very small and not easy to select
• Search doesn’t seem to work
• Most of my activities aren’t showing
• Notifications don’t show enough detail to let you know what the activity actually is
• The adding of History, add a To-Do with a Blank Regarding

I honestly can’t believe that anyone who uses Act! actually tested this in beta. It’s not release quality.

Additionally, It requires the v19 WebAPI, which has some serious security implications that I’ll be blogging on in the future. I don’t recommend installing or using the WebAPI at this time.

Note: This feature will only be available to Premium subscribers. Users of Pro won’t have it.

Act! Premium Contact Link*

I’m not sure why Swiftpage list this as a new feature.
This is NOT something new for v19 as it has already been available in v18 Premium

The functions included are:

• Create new Act! Premium contacts or edit existing ones. But it doesn’t correctly handle international data and only lets you add/edit a very small range of fields
• You can schedule new activities with the contacts – But only if you are scheduling To-dos.
• You can view some of the history of the contacts
• Attach the text of an Outlook email to contacts – With less functionality than the normal Outlook integration.

While it does look pretty, it is at best a proof concept idea and not ready for prime time
It’s slow, clumsy and lacks functionality available in the standard Outlook integration for Act!.
I’d guess that no-one that really uses Act! had a hand in it’s design.
Which sadly seems common for functions that Swiftpage have been adding.

It requires the v18 or v19 WebAPI, which has some serious security implications that I’ll be blogging on in the future. I don’t recommend installing or using the WebAPI at this time.

Note: This feature is only be available to Premium subscribers. Users of Pro won’t have it.

Act! emarketing improvements

Swiftpage have made the following improvements to their Act! emarketing

• Send Act! emarketing campaigns up to 5 times faster
• Campaign management improvements:
  • Get instant feedback on your current Act! emarketing service level before sending email campaigns
  • Quickly and easily see email campaign history for a given contact
  • Don’t worry about accidental sends! A send confirmation dialog will now check to make sure you’re ready to send an email campaign
• Enhanced send email campaign dialog - See live details about your contact limit, usage this month, and new recipients
• Campaign history overwrite creates and updates one history entry

The Act! emarketing product still has a very long way to go in order to match competitive products like MailChimp (which can be integrated with Act!), or even their own (seemingly forgotten) Swiftpage emarketing for Act!.

The only reason to not consider a better emarketing system is if you’re only using Act! Premium Web.
The Act! emarketing product is the only one that currently works with the web version.

Customer-­driven feature enhancements

Swiftpage’s marketing lists a section called “Customer-­driven feature enhancements”. It’s a shame that they don’t listen to customers with their other features.

• Refreshed standard reports with some minor improvements. There is hope that they’ll be adding integration with Microsoft’s Power BI sometime in the future to add the type of reporting functionality that users really need.
• Added more functions to the Web and Cloud versions, that were previously only in the Windows desktop product:
  • Scan for duplicates
  • Formatting toolbar in the Layout Designer
• Defects fixed. You can see an extensive list of fixes listed in this Act! Knowledgebase Article: What's new in Act! v19

Final Comment

All in all, it’s a pretty poor effort of an upgrade. More like an 18.5 than a v19. While there is an extensive list of bug-fixes, it seems the new functions have added plenty of bugs of their own.

I’d strongly advise holding off any upgrades unless you require integration with 64-bit Office. Sadly, those using Swiftpage’s Cloud product won’t have an option as their Cloud is likely to be updated on the first weekend after release.

Also, as I stated above, I’d avoid installing WebAPI, at least until Swiftpage chooses to address the security issues in it. They also really need to improve it’s functionality to be close to what’s been available for a long time with the Act! SDK such as UI modifications and the creation/using of custom tables.

I find it very saddening to see, after 30 years I have supported the product, that what is essentially a set of bug fixes is masquerading as a “new” version.

 

Technorati Tags: Act,!ct!,Act! CRM,ACTCRM,CRM,Office,Swiftpage,iOS,iPad,iPhone,Android,v19

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

Backup Act! CRM Data to the Cloud with @Dropbox as a Service

A couple of years ago, in an article called Taking your ACT! on Holiday, I discussed the use of Dropbox to help with off-site backups. One of the issues with this is that Dropbox only uploads the files when you’re logged into the system and that means it’s not a great option for backing up the database on your server.

A little research and some testing later, and I have the solution for you –

Run Dropbox as a Windows service

What this means is that, when Windows is running, Dropbox will also be running without you needing to be logged in to the server. The benefit of this is that Dropbox will be able to keep uploading backups created by the Act! Scheduler to the cloud.

So, how do we go about this? Well, we need to install Dropbox and set it up as a service.

Setting up

1. Log into your Windows Server as a local administrator
2. Download the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit, which you can download from:
   https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=17657 
   Note: There isn’t a later version of the Resource Kit. Don’t worry about that if on 2008
   You just need the files INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE from this kit
3. Install the Server Resource Kit or just copy the two files (INSTSRV and SRVANY) to:
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools
   Note: You only need the two files mentioned. They can be in any folder – I’ve used the location from the default install. If you change the location, you’ll need to adjust those paths in a few spots.
4. Download Dropbox from: https://db.tt/82ZOShy 

Install and setup Dropbox

1. Install Dropbox as per normal
2. Select a folder for Dropbox to use – I prefer not to use the user folder for this, so create C:\Dropbox or add a Dropbox folder to your Data folder on the local system.
   You’ll set the Act! Scheduler to save the backups into this folder (or a sub-folder)
   
   
   
3. Open the Dropbox Preferences, by clicking on the icon in the SysTray, and turn off
   • Show desktop notifications
   • Start Dropbox on system startup
   
   
   
4. Exit Dropbox from the SysTray
   
   
   

Setting up the Service

1. There are two options here, depending on which Operating System you’re using:
   • If Windows 2003 or 2008,
     Open a command prompt, change directory to
     C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit\
     and type:
     instsrv Dropbox "c:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\srvany.exe"
     If it worked, you should get: The service was successfully added! .
   • If Windows 2008 R2, open an elevated command prompt (Run As Administrator) and type:
sc create Dropbox binPath= "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit\srvany.exe" DisplayName= "Dropbox Service"
If all ok, you’ll get: [SC] CreateService SUCCESS.
2. Next open the Services applet – Start > Run > services.msc
3. Scroll to the Dropbox item in the list. Right-click and select Properties
4. Switch to the “Log On” tab
5. Click “This account”, and enter an Admin account with Full Access to the Dropbox folder. Set the appropriate password for that account.
6. Click Apply
7. Switch back to the “General” tab
8. Change “Startup type” to Automatic
9. Click Apply and OK
10. If this is the first time you have done this procedure for the administrator user, you may get an notification saying that the “Administrator user has been granted log on as service rights”.
    DO NOT START THE SERVICE AT THIS TIME.
    
    
11. Next is to set up some registry settings for the service. Open the registry editor
    Start > Run > regedit
12. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dropbox
13. Create a new key “Parameters”
14. Add a new string value “Application”, (type REG_SZ). Set the value to the path to the dropbox.exe binary.
    Find the location by right clicking the Dropbox icon on the desktop. Select Properties and copy the Target.
    .
    
15. Close the Registry Editor
16. Start the service either from Services.msc or by:
    Run > Net start Dropbox
17. If you check your Task Manager, you will find both Dropbox and srvany running
    Files saved by you or the Act! Scheduler to this folder should be automatically uploaded.

Important Notes and References

• If you want to make changes to the Dropbox preferences:
  You MUST stop the service first, make the changes, exit Dropbox and then restart the service
• These methods should also work with the desktop operating systems if you want to do this on XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8.
• Reference from Microsoft on INSTSRV and SRVANY: How to Create a User-Defined Service
• Reference from Microsoft on: How to Create a Windows Service by Using SC.exe
• There are also some third-party tools that can be more stable in a production system. I haven’t tested them, but here are three I’ve found:
  • NSSM - http://nssm.cc/
  • SRVStart - http://rozanski.org.uk/software
  • AlwaysUp - http://www.coretechnologies.com/products/AlwaysUp/srvany.html
• You should regularly check the backups as I mentioned in my original article:
  Taking your Act! on Holiday

Please post in the comments if you have any questions.

 

Technorati Tags: Act!,Act! CRM,Backup,Dropbox,SaaS,Cloud,Service,Server

New Security options for Handheld Contact

As mobile demands grow, so do security concerns, and organizations using Handheld Contact have been asking for more control over their ACT! CRM data.

Limiting features and data access is an excellent, proactive approach for organizations to protect their data. And today — thanks to popular feedback from clients — we are excited to introduce two new security features that enable Handheld Contact administrators to do just that: One-Way Sync and Export Contacts Control.

 

One-Way Sync

With One-Way Sync, a Handheld Contact administrator can disable data modifying and adding on a per-user basis. The end-user still gets to take advantage of Handheld Contact's powerful interface to access the data they need, and the organization can improve the security and integrity of their ACT! database by limiting functionality.

 

Export Contacts Control

Export Contacts Control allows a Handheld Contact administrator to disable the Export Contact feature on a per-user basis. Once disabled, ACT! data on the end-user's mobile device cannot be exported from the Handheld Contact mobile app to the device's built-in contacts app. The device's built-in contacts app is accessible by other services and third-party apps, so by disabling the Export Contacts feature, you eliminate the risk of ACT! contacts falling into the wrong hands.

 

Using One-Way Sync and Export Contacts Control

These new security features are available for you to use today and are conveniently accessible from the Handheld Contact computer application. Simply upgrade the ACT! server with the latest Handheld Contact computer application and all the associated Handheld Contact mobile devices with the latest mobile app and you're ready to go.

 

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT! CRM,Handheld Contact,Smartphones,Tablets,iPhone,iPad,Android,Blackberry

ACT! Users Celebrate: Sage sells ACT! & SalesLogix to Swiftpage

For those who haven’t heard:
Sage is selling ACT! and SalesLogix to Swiftpage
And it’s great news for all involved

Here are the relevant official releases:

• Regulatory release: Sage continues to focus its business through non-core disposals
• Statement from Guy Berruyer, Sage Chief Executive Officer: Focusing our business
• Release from Swiftpage: Swiftpage to Acquire Sage ACT! and Sage SalesLogix Businesses
• Release by investor: Accel-KKR To Acquire Nonprofit Solutions Division Of Sage Group plc
• Sage views on what this means to partners and users

As someone who has spent more than 25 years supporting ACT! and supported more ACT! users than anyone else over that time, I have had hundreds of messages and questions about this since the Friday announcement. Mainly focused on these areas:

1. How many owners has ACT! had?
2. Why would Sage sell the products?
3. Is Swiftpage a good choice for ACT! and the ACT! Community?
4. What does this mean for Mike Lazarus 

Let’s discuss these one at a time – However, as I haven’t worked in the SalesLogix space, my views are from an ACT! perspective.

How many owners has ACT! had?

From The History of ACT!, this is the 4th sale of ACT! – and, if you don’t count Pat twice, the 4th owner:

• In 1993: Contact Software International (ex Conductor Software) purchased by Symantec
• In 1999: Sold by Symantec to SalesLogix (owned by Pat Sullivan, one of the co-founders of ACT!) – later renamed as Interact Commerce Corporation
• In 2001: Interact Commerce Corporation purchased by Sage Group Plc (Best Software in the US at that time)
• And now sold to Swiftpage

 

Why would Sage sell the products?

It’s useful to understand the reason Sage wanted ACT! (and SalesLogix) in the first place … a decade ago, companies in the ERP arena like Sage, Microsoft and others believed that they could gain advantages in the small-mid business market by providing a front-office solution to complement their accounting and ERP solutions, in a similar way that solutions sold to larger enterprises had done to lock in users to a single vendor.

This essentially failed for a number of reasons:

• Sage never managed to achieve the promise of real integration between ACT! and their accounting products to a level where they could show an advantage in an SME customer purchasing both from the same vendor
• Unlike with the enterprise users, small-mid businesses do not make the decisions on their accounting and their sales/marketing solutions at the same time or from the same management needs
• Sage never fully understood that the CRM market is different to ERP in it’s use – especially for small-mid market users and for those in international markets

Also, like SalesLogix (Interact), they thought that the ACT! base would become a feeder channel that they could convince to move to their bigger products – this belies the passion that most ACT! users have for the product and the reason why both Symantec and Sage couldn’t remove the ACT! branding to replace with their corporate ones. It also failed to appreciate how the needs of ACT! users differed from those of the other products.

Sage has had a tumultuous relationship with ACT! and the community surrounding it:

• They did recognise that, in order to add functionality that users wanted, ACT! needed to be re-engineered from the CodeBase architecture that the Symantec re-write had been based on. However they made the mistake of jumping on .Net and MS-SQL well before it was ready for prime-time (most tech support issues are related to the Microsoft components rather than Sage code) and this further limited the product in portability to Mac or other operating environments.
• Most of the long-time ACT! staff were let go instead of being promoted. This created a vacuum of requisite knowledge of both the product and the users within the organisation
• With the exception of the brief stewardship of David van Toor, senior management refused to engage the users and partners with any communication about problems or the direction of the product – to me, this was the single biggest error that Sage made. Although, since the more recent promotion of Ben Lederer to the Product Management position, this has been improving as I stated in the post: Looking ahead with #SageACT! 2013
• They gave up on ACT! in many international markets such as Asia, India and recently outsourced the Australian and New Zealand market to ACT! CRM – at least this last one improved the resources for ACT! users and partners
• Sage also failed to understand the mobile needs of the users – or that the mobile users for ACT! and SalesLogix have quite different needs. ACT! has been in the mobile market longer than most (since supporting HP95LX in 1992), but Sage’s years of trying to get their Sage ACT! Connect product (renaming it several times) working has been a distraction and a failure. It was the first time I’d ever publically advised against using a product with the ACT! brand in the post Getting ACT! on your phone and again in Problems with Sage Mobile for ACT! (new ACT! Mobile Live) and, most recently in this Sage ACT! Mobile Solutions Comparison. While the newer Sage ACT! Premium Mobile interface has some good functionality (when they get it right) for Premium users who can administer an IIS infrastructure, I’d suggest that Connect should be put to rest and that Swiftpage should work with Handheld Contact to provide a complete solution.

I do not feel, as some others do, that making ACT! a pure SaaS product would have been the right answer for Sage. One of the long-time ACT! consultants, Paul Marentette, put it this way:

I'm seeing a real backlash in the marketplace against high-cost, slow response plus the restricted controls endemic with SAAS. Remember, ACT! is uniquely positioned to work well over the web, but even better in on-premise/self-hosted environments while supporting mobile and remote users with the full features and fastest response only available from a local database.

ACT! has, in fact, been available as a hosted solution (browser or remote desktop) since 2003 – and I agree with Paul, in that one of ACT!’s advantages has been the variety of remote support options and third-party integration products that are not available in full SaaS offerings. As well as the higher expense that monthly fees typically entail and the fact that ACT! was built around the mobile sales-warrior who will often need access where the internet is not readily available.

That Sage has been wanting to sell off these products should come as no surprise. Most of us arrived at this conclusion seven months ago when Sage defined ACT! and SalesLogix as “non-core” as you can see in this discussion thread (despite Sage’s denials at the time)

Sage has realised that it’s good business sense to focus on the solutions it knows best … and, like when Symantec made the same decision previously, I believe this is the right call and will be good for both Sage Group, plc and for the products they are selling.

There are some who may think that the lack of corporate backing by Sage might hurt ACT!. Sage will maintain a 16.1% stake in the new ACT/SalesLogix operations, so there still is that backing to leverage off when it has value

Is Swiftpage a good choice for ACT! and the ACT! Community?

My answer: A resounding YES!

The Friday announcement is the public statement of intent. It’s still subject to final regulatory approval (which can take from a few weeks in up to 3 months) and no specific details of their plans have been revealed.

So, what is it about Swiftpage that I find so compelling and exciting?

• Swiftpage understands the products and the market
  They have been working with the ACT! Community, as an add-on vendor, since about 2004. Senior Vice President and General Manager - Sage ACT! and Sage SalesLogix, Dan Wilzoch, pointed out:
  As an existing partner and provider of Sage E-marketing for Sage ACT! and Sage SalesLogix, Swiftpage also brings a thorough understanding of our customers, partners, products and the markets in which we compete.
• Their partners find them great to do business with and they inspire loyalty
  I should point out that, unlike other members of the ACT! community, I haven’t had a lot of dealings with Swiftpage as I don’t sell directly to end-users and my client base tends to be ACT! Consultants, Resellers and Add-on vendors that prefer communications and news via forums such the LinkedIN ACT! Fanatics Group – in fact, I previously produced add-ons for ACT! that directly competed with them, such as MergeMaster! for ACT! 5/6. My only connection with them is that I have, at times, recommended them to users via this affiliate link: Swiftpage
  But, I know from all the many resellers and users that I deal with that Swiftpage has been a superlative organisation for them to deal with. They have been responsive and supportive of users and community, alike.
• Swiftpage understands the sales and marketing mentality
  As their focus has been in digital marketing, they come from an appreciation of the needs of sales and marketing, which is quite different from those looking for an ERP or accounting solution.
• They understand the real value of ACT!
  As a long-time add-on vendor, they know that ACT!’s value is in having a great, easy-to-use, core-product with users able to build the solutions they need via the huge number of add-on products available. Hopefully, this will means they will make it easier for such solutions to be created.
• Swiftpage has been in the cloud for a long time
  While most ACT! users prefer the speed and functionality of local copies – as regional internet access improves and the market continues to mature, the benefits of having hybrid systems combining hosted (or SaaS) and on-premises solutions will be an area that ACT! is better enabled to take advantage of.
• Swiftpage is an entrepreneurial enterprise – like most of the ACT! user-base
  ACT! has always flourished best when not constrained by the controls and red-tape associated with larger corporations that try to pigeon-hole it within their broader product range.
• Swiftpage has the necessary financial backing
  Via investment from Accel-KKR, one of the preeminent private equity firms in the US. Accel-KKR has a reputation for creating high growth software companies. They would not be investing in Swiftpage if they did not think they have the skills and resources to make ACT! a big success
• They intend to make the international market a focus
  Swiftpage has a lot of activity internationally and expects the international ACT! market to be an important point of growth going forward. 
• I spoke to Swiftpage’s Chairman and Founder, Bob Ogdon, on the weekend. He reaffirmed that Swiftpage wants to reignite the energy and passion that the communities of both products still have in heavy supply. It is the intent of Swiftpage to  include the ACT! community in a very active role.  He told me that they want to make an impact and they need the key players in the ACT! community to be involved for that to happen.

One can see from this thread that the “ACT! Fanatics” in the Community are very much behind this change:
Announcement from ACT! Fanatics - ACT! and SalesLogix sold to SwiftPage

What about the future?

• They are bringing over 250 of the ACT! staff … this includes UK and US staff. Time will tell as to how many of those stay in place. There are many that I hope do just that – I won’t name those I especially think are important here, for fear of upsetting any I may inadvertently miss
• As I mentioned above, ACT! CRM is distributing in Australia and New Zealand and I’d expect this to continue. While there are some changes I might make to the local policies, I have considerable faith and trust in Michael Bryant (the long-time ACT! Consultant behind the new distributor). He knows the local market, has a considerable investment in both money and time behind the product, and has shown himself to have exceptional business and entrepreneurial skills
• I hope they listen to, and work with, the local Consultants in Europe and South America as well as looking at reigniting the markets in Asia, India and others that Sage left. Most especially, they need to understand some of the international issues that Sage had ignored. I’d be more than happy to assist them in this venture.
• I do hope they remove the artificial barriers of international regionalisation that Sage implemented (especially amongst the partners). While this is de rigueur for ERP and accounting solutions, it’s counter-productive for contact managers and CRM
• They should look at ending the annual upgrade cycle that makes more sense for ERP products than it does for CRM … good products should have their releases determined by development and QA, not by marketing, accountants and analysts.
• They should refocus on the core product – and look at the options to leverage off both on-premises and SaaS. Then promoting the third-party vars for functions they are already doing so well.
• More specific plans will be discussed and announced as the transfer proceeds to a close.

The ACT! world is going to be fun again - In fact, the only negative I can see is that searching the web for “ACT!” produces far too many unrelated results, compared to “Sage ACT!” or #SageACT on Twitter

 

What does this mean for Mike Lazarus 

Well, after 25 years supporting ACT!, including over 13,000 posts to the Sage ACT! Community site, winning the Experts-Exchange Titan Award 3 times and running the LinkedIN ACT! Fanatics Group, I can’t see myself going anywhere in the near future … but I am looking to see what opportunities this may present.

I must say that I have been delighted, humbled and a little amused by the posts in this ACT! Fanatics thread – while I don’t see the option of Pope being available, I would certainly be open to talking to Swiftpage and see how they could best leverage my skills, on-line reputation and passion for the product.

It the mean time, I’m looking to set up an ACT! Fanatics Club to provide the type of training indicated in this thread – please let me know if this would be of interest to you and worth putting the effort in?

 

Technorati Tags: Sage,Sage ACT!,ACT!,SalesLogix,Swiftpage,CRM,Sage CRM

Looking ahead with #SageACT! 2013

Welcome to the new year, I hope you all had a wonderful time over the festive season are are looking forward to making the most of your contacts in the new year.

I am feeling more positive for the direction of Sage ACT! at this time than I have been for a few years. Those of you who have seen some of my posts in the LinkedIN ACT! Fanatics Group will know that I have had some issues over the past 5 years with the way that Sage management has been developing the product and especially with their head-in-the-sand approach in avoiding any communication with the users.

ACT! is still one of the best and most loved products in its class. Its millions of users worldwide depend on its operation and ease-of-use to run and grow their businesses by maintaining and tracking the relationships we have with our contacts.

Well, last year, there was a change at the top and Dan Wilzoch took over as General Manager for the product. My conversations with him have so far been quite positive. The best sign that this is a positive change, is that, while there has been a loss of a number of staff who really knew the product and the needs of it’s users … this time they have promoted one of the ACT! stars, Benjamin Lederer, to the position of Product Manager.

For those who don’t know Ben, he’s been with Sage since 2005 (and Symantec before that) in a variety of technical, development and product management roles. I have spoken to him many times and I can tell you he knows the product. He talks to those that deal with the users and he understands how to make the technology work. I have had situations where I had explained a bug to a number of Sage staff and nothing was done. A 10 minute call from Ben for me to explain the cause I had identified and he had it fixed quickly in a patch.

His first responsibility as Product Manager will be ACT! 2013 Service Pack 1 – due January 8th.

The best thing about the management change, so far, has been that Ben has already been communicating the intended road map publicly …

For Service Pack 1, Ben has stated the following:

• Microsoft Windows 8 and IE10 certification.
  Note: IE10 works in 2 modes, Regular and Metro.In Metro (the full-screen app), Microsoft has not included ActiveX controls, so ACT! won’t have word processing or reports in that mode
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 and Windows Server Server 2012
  This includes improving the APFW installer to work in SBS environments. This will have a positive effect on any deployment that has existing 64 bit web services (SharePoint, Exchange) and reduce the setup problems after ACT! is installed
• Microsoft Office version 15 (2013)
  Note: This will be unofficial support at first. They have removed the code that would prevent you from using this product. It will still require Office to be installed in 32bit as Microsoft still hasn’t added the ActiveX controls to the 64bit version. But, this really doesn’t make a difference unless needing spreadsheets larger than 3GB and Microsoft recommends the 32bit install as I posted in a comment to this blog article
  Microsoft has added a new feature in Outlook that will create some problems. Now you can reply to emails within the preview pane. Actions performed in the preview pane do not trigger any add-ons. The Microsoft third party developer groups are looking for ways around this, but as of now no workarounds are available. If you use Outlook the way you always have, we suspect there will be no problems. If you use the preview pane to reply to messages history will not be recorded.
• Other Enhancements
  • All record type checkboxes are now checked by default in the Copy/Move Data wizard
  • Database Startup view preference can now be any relevant view
• Significant changes to the social media integration – see the Screencast demo Ben posted here
• Over 25 customer reported bug fixes

This is a big improvement on the previous management who didn’t add Office 2010 support till the next paid upgrade rather than patching it in the current build.

There are still a number of issues with international data (phone numbers, dates and currency) both in the core product and in Premium Web. I have suggested to Ben that he calls me so I can properly explain these. Hopefully he’ll take me up on the offer as soon as he has time.

I will be posting some articles soon on mobility and social media for ACT! users as well as data security and a look at how hosted or SaaS. I think these are areas that are becoming more important to all of us.

Please add a comment to this article if there’s any topic you’d like me to address in a future article or if there are specific areas you think Sage needs to improve in the product. But remember that not all feature requests can be added as I explain in the article: How Are Product Management Decisions Made?

Well, that’s all for now … I hope you all have a successful 2013 and that Sage ACT! continues to help grow your business.

 

Technorati Tags: Sage,Sage ACT!,Sage ACT! 2013,Windows 8,Office 2013

Taking your ACT! on holiday

As we approach the festive season many of you will have your minds turning to travel … some of you to warm climates enjoying beaches and swimming, while others to cooler areas that might involve building snowmen or some skiing. So I thought it would be useful to discuss a couple of important areas before you finalise your plans:

1. Have you checked your backups?
2. Will you have access to your Sage ACT! data if you need it on the road?

 

Checking your ACT! backups

• If you have not already done so, set up the Sage ACT! Scheduler to automate your backups as per this ACT! Knowledge Base article:
  How to Use the ACT! Scheduler to Automatically Back Up Your Sage ACT! Database
• If you have done this, make sure you check the Scheduler logs to be sure it’s running ok as it doesn’t notify you if it’s been failing
• As an extra precaution, use another backup utility to store the backup in the “cloud” in case of a disaster. One easy way is to use Dropbox and backup to the Dropbox folder.
• Before you go, do a test restore from your backup … use “Restore As” and restore to a different name or folder, then test you can log in and access your data. You really should do this about once a month anyway.

 

Accessing your data on the road

While most of us prefer not to think about work while we’re having our much needed rest and relaxation, for those of us in small business we know this simply isn’t a realistic wish. It’s pretty certain that when we don’t have access is when something will arise that needs your data on hand.

There are some things we need to consider to ensure that we have that data and can use it:

• For those of you travelling outside of metro areas, you might find yourselves without decent WiFi or cellular data (or the costs to access these might get prohibitive). This could mean you can’t rely on access to web browser versions of Sage ACT!. So it’s always best to have your Sage ACT! data synchronised to a mobile device (smart phone or tablet).
• If you’re travelling to another country, many of the sync links to ACT! do not properly support international country codes and dialling rules to dial in the country you’re in or to dial back to contacts in your country.

The product I use that does the best job of keeping my Sage ACT! data with me is Handheld Contact. It syncs data to iOS (iPhones, iPad, iPod touch), Android (phones and tablets) and Blackberry (phones and Playbook). It fully supports international dialling and has many other benefits that will save you time as well as taking away the stress of being away from your data so you can enjoy yourself.

For more information or assistance with this, please contact your local ACT! Certified Consultant.

Wishing you all a very relaxed, happy and safe time over the holidays and a successful and prosperous new year.

 

 

Technorati Tags: ACT,Sage ACT!,Backup,Handheld Contact,iPhone,iPad,Android,Blackberry,Xmas

Happy 25th Birthday #SageACT!

ACT! was originally released on the 1st of April 1987 – No, not an April Fools’ Joke

How many software product can maintain market leadership over 25 years?

Here are some images from the original hand drawn layout coding of ACT! – click on them to see full-size

 

This is the original computer used by Randy Haben to code the first ACT! for DOS … an AT&T 8086

I’ll be posting some more old pictures to the Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150296560008381.343995.196020083380

To see the history of ACT! timeline, see: The History of ACT!

If you would like some logos to use to celebrate this occasion, I have designed some (together with Geo of SJR) and made them available on this Dropbox page. There are various sizes so you can put them on websites, blogs, Facebook/twitter profile images, email sigs. The PNG files are transparent so will work on backgrounds of any colour.

 

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT,Sage ACT!,CRM

A Spring Clean for your system and Outlook

As many of you will know, systems slow down with use and can cause many issues in Sage ACT!. Consequently, I recommend running an occasional maintenance of your system to deal with these before they become a noticeable problem.

With March 20th being the Vernal Equinox (first day of Spring, at least in the Northern Hemisphere) I thought this would be a good time to recommend a Spring Clean routine.

Many of these function are much easier if you have installed Xobni. I highly recommend this product for any Outlook user. There is a free version (Plus) for Outlook only or a paid version (Pro) that will link Gmail, Blackberry, Android and iPhone. You should install the latest 2.x (Pro) or 1.x (Plus) on a system that meets the requirements.

Although the steps below are generally safe, some systems are corrupted to the point of irreparability. Neither GL Computing nor Xobni is responsible for any data loss or other damage that may occur. We recommend that you perform regular full backups of your system, so that if anything should go wrong you can always revert to a good copy. For more about backup, see this article for Windows 7 or this article for Windows XP.

You should back up your ACT! databases, Outlook files and system first.

Not all steps are required and the technical difficulty level of each step is listed from easy to advanced.

 

1. Before You Start: Create a Restore Point (Easy)

To create a restore point

1. Open System by clicking the Start button , right-clicking Computer, and then clicking Properties.
2. In the left pane, click System protection. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. Click the System Protection tab, and then click Create.

4. In the System Protection dialog box, type a description, and then click Create.

For more information about System Restore, see What is System Restore?

 

2. Back up Xobni Data (Easy) – Xobni Pro user

Xobni Cloud is included with Xobni Pro, which keeps your Xobni data backed up and synchronized across multiple instances of Xobni. To ensure that your data is up-to-date, please perform the following step:

In Outlook, select Xobni > Update Xobni Cloud

 

3. Apply Microsoft Updates (Easy)

Make sure that your system is up-to-date by running Windows Update. 

  Click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update. 

Apply latest service pack for your version of Office.

• Office 2010 Service Pack 1
• Office 2007 Service Pack 3
• Office 2003 Service Pack 3

 

4. Microsoft Office Repair (Easy)

Lot of issues are caused by corrupt Microsoft Office components. This can happen when one component overwrites another component, for example when multiple versions of Office are installed (say, 2007 and 2010). Microsoft recommends to keep all Office components the same version.  You may see COMexception errors in the InspectorX report in these cases. If you just installed the latest service pack in the previous step, you may skip Office repair.

To repair, please try these steps:

1. Click Start > Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs (XP) / Uninstall a program (Vista/Win7)
2. Scroll down the list and select the version of Microsoft Office you are running
3. Click the Change button 
4. Select Repair
5. Click Continue

 

5. Disable Add-ins (Easy)

In order to eliminate conflicts with other add-ins, please disable all Outlook add-ins using Inspector X:

1. Restart your computer 
2. Click Start menu > All Programs > Xobni > Diagnostics > Xobni InspectorX
   (Vista/7 users right-click to "Run as Administrator")
   If you don't have the latest version of Xobni installed, you can download InspectorX and extract the contents to your Desktop or other convenient location:
   For Outlook 2003, 2007, and 2010 32-bit: InspectorX.zip
   For the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010: InspectorX_x64.zip
   Right-click the InspectorX.exe file and select Run as Administrator
3. In Inspector X, select the Plugins menu > Disable all Plugins except Xobni

You can re-enable the add-ins you need once stability has been confirmed by using the Plugins > Plugin Manager menu option.

 

6. Repair the Outlook data files (Easy)

This is arguably the most important step (with or without Xobni)! If you are experiencing stability or indexing issues, for example, if emails or contacts are missing information, showing up as "Empty", "No subject", or "Message body unavailable", this step will help you resolve this. If you use IMAP, please see this article as well. Make sure to complete all steps.

Warning: If you are storing .pst files on a network share, do not run scanpst. It is unsupported by Microsoft and can cause irreversible data loss! 

1. Restart the computer (if you have not already). 
2. Run InspectorX: Click Start > All Programs > Xobni > Diagnostics > Xobni InspectorX
   Or, download the latest version of InspectorX:
   Most people (those with Outlook 2003, 2007, and 32-bit 2010) will need the 32-bit version: InspectorX.zip
   If you have the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010, use the 64-bit version: InspectorX_x64.zip
   Extract the contents to a folder and run InspectorX by double-clicking the InspectorX.exe file 
3. Select  Special > Automatically Repair All Outlook Data Files

   

   This process may take from several minutes to several hours, depending on your data. It is recommended not to use the computer at this point, as it is very i/o intensive. The process may appear to be not responding, so please by patient. Do not attempt to click on the buttons - it is all automatic.

4. If Xobni is currently installed, please clear the Xobni data files:  

   Select Special > Clear Xobni Data Files...

   Note: This will remove any customizations or merging, although InspectorX will create a backup copy of the Xobni folder named "xobni.bak" in case you need to revert. Xobni recommends to back up your Xobni data using Xobni Cloud, which comes with Xobni Pro.  

5. Start Outlook

6. After Xobni does the initial indexing, start a full index operation:

   Select Xobni > Index Outlook Mail

   

   If you use Xobni Plus 1.x, you may need to re-activate  by selecting Xobni > Options > Xobni Plus > Activate.

 

7. Registry Cleanup (Easy)

1. Download CCleaner
2. Install CCleaner
3. Launch CCleaner
4. Click on the Registry button on the left
5. Click "Scan For Issues..."
6. After scan is complete select "Fix selected issues...". CCleaner asks to make a backup of your registry. Choose a backup destination and click “Save.”
7. After doing so click "Fix All Issues"
8. When that is done, you can quit CCleaner
9. Repeat as necessary (at least once a month)

 

8. Scan Disks for Errors (Easy)

1. Double-click My Computer, and then right-click the hard disk that you want to check.
2. Click Properties, and then click Tools.
3. Under Error-checking, click Check Now. A dialog box that shows the Check disk options is displayed
4. Use one of the following procedures:
   • To run Chkdsk in read-only mode, click Start.
   • To repair errors without scanning the volume for bad sectors, select the Automatically fix file system errors check box, and then click Start.
   • To repair errors, locate bad sectors, and recover readable information, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.

 

9. Defragment your Disks (XP Only) (Easy)

Disks get fragmented over time, and Windows XP leaves it to the user to defragment them (Vista and 7 have automatic defragmentation). Fragmentation, in which files are not stored in contiguous blocks, will make your system slower over time and you should ideally perform this weekly.

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
3. On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.
4. Click Defragment.

 

10. Repair System Files (Easy)

In order to repair the Windows system files, please follow these steps:

1. Open a command window as Administrator:
Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt (Vista/Win7: Right-click and select Run as Administrator)

2. In the command prompt, type:

sfc /scannow

 

11. Fix mapi32.dll (Medium)

If you see MAPI errors in the InspectorX report, it is commonly because another add-ins has overwritten the default mapi32.dll. To repair this library, please follow these steps:

XP: Download and run xpmapifix.bat.

Vista/Win7: Download mapifix.bat, then right-click it and select Run as Administrator.

If you wish to run the commands manually, follow these steps:

XP:

1. Open a command prompt as Administrator:

Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt (Vista/Win7, Right-click and select Run as Administrator)

2. Run the following commands:

ren %windir%\System32\mapi32.dll mapi32.dll.bak
fixmapi

You may copy the text above, then right-click in the window to paste.

Vista/Win7:

1. Open a command prompt as Administrator:

Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt (Vista/Win7, Right-click and select Run as Administrator)

2. Copy the following commands:

takeown /f %windir%\System32\mapi32.dll
cacls %windir%\System32\mapi32.dll /g %username%:c
ren %windir%\System32\mapi32.dll mapi32.dll.bak
fixmapi

3. Right-click in the window to paste the commands.

 

12. Reinstall .NET Framework (Advanced)

Xobni depends on the Microsoft .NET framework, which may become corrupted over time. You can repair your .NET framework by removing it completely and installing from scratch. Make sure to complete the backup steps (#1 and #2) prior to starting this process.

Windows XP

1. Restart your computer.
2. Download and run the Brute Uninstaller. (Vista and Windows 7 users, please right-click to "Run as Administrator")
3. Click Start > Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs / Uninstall a program
4. Scroll down and remove each and every .NET framework entry, including service packs and hot fixes that have the word ".NET" in the program name.
5. After every trace of .NET has been removed from your machine please restart your computer.

Vista/Win7

1. Restart your computer.
2. Download and run the Brute Uninstaller. (Vista and Windows 7 users, please right-click to "Run as Administrator")
3. Click Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs / Uninstall a program
4. Scroll down and remove each and every .NET framework entry, including service packs and hot fixes that have the word ".NET" in the program name.
5. After every trace of .NET has been removed from your machine 
6. Click Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features
7. Find the product named Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 and uncheck the box
8. Please restart your computer.

Trouble removing .NET?

If you are experiencing problems during the uninstall steps, please download the .NET cleanup tool:

1. Double-click the .zip file to see the contents (or extract to a folder)
2. Double-click cleanup_tool.exe to run the tool
3. Select .NET all versions
4. Click on "Cleanup Now"

Re-install .NET:

Download and install .NET 3.5 from Microsoft's download link.

If you had .NET 4 installed, please install from this link.

Download the latest version of Xobni

Please use this link.

 

13. Create a New Outlook Profile (Medium)

If all else fails, please follow these instructions on how to create a new Outlook Profile. It's totally safe. You can always revert to your old profile. Please refer to this article for instructions. If you use Google Apps, please see this article.

 

Attachments:

• mapifix.bat
• xpmapifix.bat

Reprinted with permission (with minor changes and edits) from:
https://support.xobni.com/entries/198041-how-can-i-improve-the-reliability-and-performance-of-my-computer-without-purchasing-a-new-one

Technorati Tags: corrupt,corruption,scanpst,Outlook,Xobni,maintenance