Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 Hotfix 4

This documentation applies to Hot Fix 4 for Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 for the following versions:

• Sage ACT! Pro 2011 SP1 (version 13.1.111.0)
• Sage ACT! Premium 2011 SP1 (version 13.1.111.0)
• Sage ACT! Premium 2011 (access via web) SP1 (web server version 13.1.111.0)

This hot fix requires that Sage ACT! 2011 Service Pack 1 (SP1) be installed. If you have not yet installed SP1, please do so before applying this hot fix. Instructions for downloading and installing SP1 are in the following Knowledgebase article: How To Download and Apply Sage ACT! 2011 Service Pack 1 (includes Hot Fix 1) Answer ID: 27290 Do not apply this hot fix to any other versions or builds of the software. To determine the version of the product you are using, select Help, then About ACT! from the ACT! main menu.

Important: You must apply this hot fix to all machines that share the database – especially when using synchronization. This includes all machines that contain the Main Synchronization Database (Publisher), Main Remote Database (Subscriber), and machines that have the ACT! Network or ACT! Internet Sync Services installed. All machines must have this hotfix applied for synchronization to continue. Check installed version by going to Help and About Act!. Consult with your administrator before applying this in a sync environment.

Sage ACT! 2011 hot fixes are cumulative, so the latest hot fix will include the benefits of all earlier hot fixes for this version. It is not required to install earlier hot fixes prior to installing the latest hot fix.

Hot Fix 4 for Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 is designed to resolve the following issues:

• You see that Microsoft® Outlook® takes a long time to load when the Sage ACT! address book has been added and Exchange Cache mode in Outlook has been disabled.
• You are using a localized version of Sage ACT! and see that umlauts are stripped from the content of any email that also contains a graphic.
• You are using remote database synchronization and see that record information is not being exchanged correctly when changes are entered to the same record at both the parent and the remote sites during a single sync cycle.
• You see that attachments with file names exceeding 15 characters are stripped from email messages received using the Sage ACT! Email client.
• You notice that Keyword search fails to return all expected records.
• Your database contains one or more custom entities that include spillover tables and the following error displays when running a query on one of those tables: “Ambiguous column name ‘EventsID’.
• You have edited a template in your Sage ACT! Premium (access via web) database and are unable to save the template to a public directory.
• You see that attachments with names that exceed 15 characters are stripped from email messages sent using Sage ACT! email.
• You are using a localized version of Sage ACT!, and see that the Maximize button in the Keysearch window is unavailable.
• You are using a German version of Sage ACT! 2011, and see that the word ‘location’ is translated incorrectly in the Appointment Activity Send Email invitation.
• You are using Sage ACT! with Microsoft® Windows® 7 and Microsoft Office® 2007, and see performance degrade after sending an email through Sage ACT! to a contact and then creating or clearing an activity.
• You are using Microsoft Outlook Integration with Sage ACT! and see performance degrade after sending an email to a contact, opening the calendar, and then opening the task list.
• You are using Sage ACT! 2011 Service Pack 1 with Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 and notice that the Quick Print function in Word 2007/2010 is disabled.
• You have cleared the Allow history creation for email sent from a user of this database to another user option (Tools>Preferences> Admin), but find that email sent to other users incorrectly adds files to the attachments folder.
• You are using Sage ACT! 2011 Service Pack 1 with ACT! Email and see the options to attach a file or a photo are unavailable.
• You are using Sage ACT! Premium for Web and, after using Lookup to find a group of records, you see that the Contact Detail page is blank, you are unable to page through the Contacts returned in the lookup, and returning to the Contact List view causes you to be logged out of the database.
• You are using Sage ACT! Premium for Web and are unable to change Record Creation options in the Web Client. You are using an English language version of Sage ACT!, but the new Data Chart properties display French options.
• You are using Sage ACT! with Outlook Integration over Terminal Server and see an error if more than one Sage ACT! user is logged in.
• You are using Sage ACT! Premium 2011 (access via web) with Microsoft® Outlook® integration enabled and notice that Sage ACT! is not listed as an available address book in Outlook.
• You are using Sage ACT! Premium 2011 (access via web) and see a distorted view when attempting to customize columns in the Contact List.
• You are using Microsoft  Office® 2007 with a Dutch language version of Sage ACT! and see, that when you create a quote from a new opportunity, the Excel® portion of the quote fails to populate.
• You have applied the SP1 update to Sage ACT! 2011, made a copy of your database via the File > Save Copy option, and see unexpected error messages when attempting to set your duplicate checking options in the copy of the database.
• You have applied the SP1 update to Sage ACT! 2011, made a copy of your database via the File > Save Copy option, and see unexpected error messages when attempting to delete a user account in the copy of the database.
• You  have applied the SP1 update to Sage ACT! 2011, have remote databases, have setup Outlook Contact Synchronization, and are seeing data inconsistency between the Publisher database, Remote databases, and Outlook when synchronizing.
• You have applied  the SP1 update to Sage ACT! 2011 and are now unable to use the Outlook Add-In for Sage ACT!.

Downloading the Hotfix:

Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 Hot Fix 4 (English)
Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 Hot Fix 4 (French)

More detailed information available from ACT! Knowledgebase KB27440

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

ACT! for Notes 9.0 is ready for Shipment!

ACT! for Notes 9.0 will instantly increase user enthusiasm, user adoption, deliver results and help you get more of what you value most - TIME! ACT! for Notes 9.0 is Simple Efficient and Easier to Use. Seeing is believing, so schedule your web demo, request a Free demo and check out our below videos.   Below are only a couple of reasons that ACT! for Notes 9.0 will Help Save you Time and make you more Productive. Partial List of New Features Web Search Action Buttons - integrate with endless on-line social media and reference resources, directly from your ACT! for Notes database. ACT! for Notes 9 brings you visibility to relevant contact information residing in Google News™, Weather, LinkedIn®, and Facebook right to your desktop.  You can add new or change existing searches on your own!  (see AFN 9.0 Preview below)   Contact and Company Forms  - Redesigned forms give AFN users a "360-degree view" of ALL RELATED INFORMATION including : Activities, Notes, Sales Opportunities, individual contacts at a company, account billing info, and attachments such as contracts, proposals, and much more.  (see AFN 9.0 Preview below) Enhanced Search Capabilities - A new "Output to Folder" option provides AFN users post query flexibility using broadcast e-mails, mass security, mail merges and much more!  (Click the below Play Button)  Context-Sensitive On-line Help - All End User and Administration Help information has been upgraded and placed on-line and available from within ACT! for Notes. New, Context-sensitive help has been designed to give AFN users quick assistance.   AFN users can access Help within AFN by simply clicking F1. Create an Activity from within the Calendar View - An AFN will user can quickly create a scheduled Activity document directly from the calendar view.    (Click the below Play Button)   Navigation Pane - New, easier to use Accordion style Navigation Pane. PREVIEW ACT! for Notes 9.0   (click the below Play Button)

Technorati Tags: ACT! for Notes,ACT! for Lotus Notes

SaaS/Cloud software and Regional Internet access

Regional road trips. No doubt you’ve, “been there, done that before” and experienced what a nightmare it can be to get any internet coverage. No matter what the reasons for our travels out of town may be, one thing is certain: We still need our connection to the big, busy world via our trusty iPhones or Blackberries – or in my case, both!

A short time ago, I had the pleasure of attending a friend’s birthday party on the Gold Coast of Queensland and spent 10 days there to catch up with some old friends.

I was based in Ormeau. For those who don’t know where this is, it is about 1 hour’s drive south of Brisbane (Australia’s third largest city) and is in Australian’s largest growing region.

I had a great time catching up with friends in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast (North of Brisbane).

And of course, being me, I needed to have constant and regular access to my ACT! contacts, to email, and to various other office and on-line services and forums.

I was carrying an iPhone4 and a Blackberry Pearl (both with Handheld Contact) to give me the remote access I needed and hoped to find Wi-Fi connections where convenient to sync and to access my other information.

I suffered serious regional culture shock

Now don’t get me wrong. Like most people, I love getting out of town and escaping the hustle and bustle, but coming from Sydney, I’m used to the comforts of being connected at anytime of the day or night. I’m used to having a 30Mbit connection and 3G/4G network coverage. That’s not the reality though for my regional friends as I discovered while on my road trip. Here’s what I discovered on my travels:

• Mobile access was shocking: I had to wander from street to street, just to get a measly 1-2 bars on either the iPhone4 or Blackberry. As a customer of Telstra - this country’s largest telecommunications provider - it felt way short of my reasonable expectations for adequate coverage. It could have been worse – I could have had no coverage like any other poor person with the other carriers!
• Not all regional areas have ADSL coverage: Telstra has only put in enough lines for about half the properties in this new estate so the place where I was staying only got access after a neighbour moved out – the new resident in their neighbour’s place would be out of luck.

As frustrating as it was for me venturing out into this regional area...

...These frustrations are also being experienced in metropolitan areas of Australia!

There is “business park” in Brisbane itself (Australia’s third-largest capital city), that has virtually no broadband access at all …

Read that again if you need to, because the mind boggles. Even in a city like Brisbane, a business park doesn’t necessarily have broadband internet access. You can check out: Brisbane's NBN 'will transform people's lives' to get the lowdown on that story

For now though you might be wondering how this is relevant to this blog dedicated to Sage ACT!, CRM and IT?

Well, much in CRM is about mobility… and recently a lot of the press have jumped on the “trendy” technologies of cloud based computing – both for phone/tablet access and for general access.

For those of us who have been in the computing industry for long enough, we remember that the PC was originally viewed (by IBM) as little more than a slightly more intelligent “dumb terminal” to main-frame applications. Later, as the power of PCs increased, more of the data was stored locally and out of IT control. This lead to a gradual pull-back of control via networking, and then via various remote solutions.

These remote solutions are collectively referred to as “cloud computing”:

• ASP – Application Service Provider
• On-demand software
• SaaS – Software as a Service

To be honest, I’m not sure how to really define the differences of those … other than that they are buzz-words from different decades.

They are usually accessed via one or more of these methods:

• Remote Desktop Protocol Connection (Terminal Services or Citrix)
• Virtual Desktop (VMware, etc)
• Virtual Private Network
• Browser based applications

 

Cloud-based technologies do have some benefits:

• The data is live to the remote users
• Software integration issues are largely eliminated from the client side
• It can be platform independent – although, this can depend on browsers / versions that are supported
• Key software systems are kept up to date, available, and managed for performance by experts
• Improved reliability, availability, scalability and security of internal IT systems
• A provider's service level agreement should guarantee a certain level of service
• Access to product and technology experts dedicated to available products
• Reduction of internal IT costs to a predictable monthly fee
• Redeploying IT staff and tools to focus on strategic technology projects that impact the enterprise's bottom line

But there are also some serious disadvantages:

• The client must generally accept the application as provided since vendors only fully customize solutions for the largest clients
• The client may rely on the provider to provide a critical business function, thus limiting their control of that function and instead relying on the provider
• Changes in the market may result in changes in the type or level of service available to clients
• Integration with the client's non-hosted systems may be problematic
• Accessing data to convert to another system later maybe costly or not-available
• Loss of control of corporate data
• Loss of control of corporate image
• Insufficient vendor security to counter risks
• Lack of internet access (even temporarily) prevents users’ access to their data
• What happens when the provider suffers problems? Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Salesforce and many others have been in the press during the past year for being down for periods of time. Or some, like Google for losing data.

So where does that leave potential CRM users looking for remote access via the cloud?

I wrote an article a year ago on “Supporting Remote Users with ACT! by Sage”. In selecting the best method for a specific site, there are two questions you need to ask:

1. Will the master and remote users always have reliable connection when they need access? If not (especially in the case of regional access as per the beginning of this article), then you should look at a sync-solution. The users work off-line and sync the changes with the master
   This is especially important for smartphone and tablet users who may want to do work in areas not covered by their phone carrier or Wi-Fi (eg on a plane, some buildings and areas)
2. Do you have the necessary reliable bandwidth and access to IT skills to self host or do you get it hosted by a third-party for an on-going fee? This is a bit more complex and can depend on:
   • How good is your internet connection (for host and remote)?
   • How responsive are your support options (in-house or out-sourced) if the server has issues?
   • For hosted solutions:
     • How reliable are they?
     • How good is their tech support? Do they provide a service guarantee?
     • How financial are they?
     • What happens to your connection and data if their business or service fails?
   • If the third-party host is down for a day, how much will the loss of access cost you? Will it be less if the remote users are using sync to local copies?
   • How secure is the connection? At a minimum, must use one or more of SSL, VPN, RDP
   • If you want to change application, will the hosted provider allow you to access ALL of the data in a format suitable for importing into other systems?
   • How customisable is the application? Can you integrate it with your legacy systems or add functionality that you might require?

In Conclusion:

While SaaS/cloud offering will be suitable for many users, there are some questions that you need to ask to determine if it’s the best solution for you.

I feel certain that SaaS offerings will become more viable as time goes by, but right now I’m reminded of the line that for those on the bleeding edge of technology, that “a pioneer is frequently the guy with an arrow in his back!”

Technorati Tags: ACT,Sage,Sage ACT!,SaaS,Cloud,Remote,Smartphones,CRM,SageACT!

Solutions to some of the SQL issues when installing ACT! 2011

Re-posted, with permission from Ben Hamilton

This is a set of common issues we have seen when installing SQL 2008 (which is part of Sage ACT! 2011), especially when upgrading a previous version that used SQL 2005

Remove .Net Framework 4.0 before install

The support staff in Sage Business Solutions Melbourne (bless ‘em) gave me a pointer that if “Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile” is installed it gives troubles. Therefore they suggested uninstalling it prior to commending an SQL 2008 install. I don’t know why or what but this was an important step. Note that just doing this still gave me a failed SQL install. I’d love to know more about the ‘why’ here. I’d also like to have been informed earlier instead of after me jumping up and down and making phone calls. But that’s a topic for another day. For now I’m very happy with their suggestion as it does appear to have contributed to a successful install, which is GOAL NUMBER ONE.

 

SQL Service Account

During the install you get the option to set which account the SQL Server Database Engine uses, instead of setting to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM as per Sage KB26994, leave it as the default. After the installation is complete you then go to services.msc and change it to Local System then.

 

Avoid Special characters in the path

As per Microsoft KB955666 you can’t use a ‘number’ or ‘pound’ (#) sign in the path name. Now I did NOT have a pound sign in the path, but there was a space in one of the folder names and a ‘plus’ sign (+). So taking to heart Microsoft's admonition, I copied the installer to a folder C:\SQL2008ExpR2\*.* and ran it from there.

 

Various other issues and resolutions

• “MsiGetProductInfo failed to retrieve ProductVersion for package with Product Code = ‘{4AB6A079-178B-4144-B21F-4D1AE71666A2}’. Error code: 1608.. ” See here and here.
• “Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential causes.” See here.
• “Error: 15209, Severity: 16, State: 1. An error occurred during encryption.” See here.
• Attempting to open registry subkey Software\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\Inst​alled
  Attempting to get registry value DW0200
  Submitted 1 of 1 failures to the Watson data repository
  Refer here, here and here.

Hope this helps someone short cut the time to resolve their SQL install.

Please add Comments with any other issues and resolutions you might find when installing SQL 2008 (especially when upgrading from SQL 2005)

Technorati Tags: ACT,Sage,Sage ACT!,SQL 2005,SQL 2008

Finding the hidden functions of ACT! with your Consultant

Part 4 of The Seven Day Blogging Challenge - Share a photo I took this week and tell you about it.

I have thought about today’s Challenge post for a while and, with this blog being about ACT!, there was not much I could think of to take a picture that would be relevant.

So I’ve taken a screen shot of a menu that describes how proper use of ACT! will benefit you:

If you can’t find these functions in your copy of ACT!, I suggest you speak to your ACT! Certified Consultant. These are the people who do more that the break-fix support you might get from a vendor support contact.

A good ACC will take the time to understand your business and the workflow of your operations. They will then assist you in designing ACT! in the best possible way to achieve your goals using functions within the product or some of the many powerful add-ons that extend it’s use.

The ACC can then assist with planning and implementing your installation roll-out including importing your data, connecting to other systems and training your users and administrators to properly get the maximum benefit from the product.

An investment in a good Certified Consultant will generate a Return many times in better managing your contacts

When looking at the ACT! Certified Consultant list, you may find many in your area. So here is an article on how you should go about picking the right one for you: How to pick the right CRM consultant

Should you have any questions on this, please let me know by posting the comments here.

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

Problems with Sage Mobile for ACT! (new ACT! Mobile Live)

Part 3 of The Seven Day Blogging Challenge - Write a blog post on the same topic as one my most popular posts

Well, the most popular posts previously have been:

• Why I prefer Blackberry over iPhone for business
• Getting ACT! on your phone

So I thought I would do another on mobile CRM with Sage ACT!.

I have always supported ACT! as a mobile product … both with sync to laptops and remote offices and with sync to PDAs and smartphones. Over the years, I have purchased new devices along this path to use, test and support other users:

• An HP95LX in 1992 for ACT! for HP95
• Apple Newton in 1995 for ACT! for Newton
• Handheld PC running Windows CE in 1997 for ACT! for Windows CE
• Palm M505 in 2002 for ACT! for Palm OS
• Blackberry in 2000 here I used Companion Link
• Another Blackberry in 2003 using Handheld Contact
• Since then, I have used various devices using Blackberry, iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Windows Mobile operating systems.

I believe in the benefits of being able to access and enter my ACT! data wherever I am and understand the problems that mobile users have.

Since 2003, I have been using Handheld Contact. But I have still tested other products to be satisfied that no other product is better for me to switch to.

Despite ACT! for Palm being the best PDA/smartphone solution for ACT!, the ACT! developers have concentrated on products linking to the native address books and losing much of the functionality that real ACT! users should want. Without this, they may as well be using Outlook for their CRM.

They have had “ACT! Mobile Live” in beta and release for around three years and recently renamed it as “Sage Mobile for ACT!”. It still has many of the bugs and issues I reported in the first beta.

So I thought I’d let you know why I really don’t think users should consider it for their use.

• The country code is not supported in phone fields - this means:
  • You can't dial international numbers
  • You can dial any numbers when travelling overseas
  • You can't enter contacts with international numbers
  • It causes problems if also using ACT! for dialling/faxing with other services
• If sync's with Exchange, Outlook or Google, changes to the outlook profile will either delete records from the ACT! database or duplicate them ... results can be inconsistent
• Some activity types are incorrectly handled causing data changes back in ACT!
• Some activity time-zones cause activities to move
• No formatting of fields
• Not a multiuser service... so can't work with web or hosted environments
• No tracking of History on calls, emails and sms made from the phone

There are a number of other bugs and functional omissions but as the challenge (as mentioned top of this post) is for a limited number of words, I’ll do a longer post on this later.

Considering Handheld Contact is only $50 more, I think the choice is a no-brainer

Technorati Tags: ACT!,Sage,Sage ACT!,CRM,Blogging,Mobile CRM,Blackberry Vs iPhone,iPhone,Sage Mobile

How Are Product Management Decisions Made?

Part 2 of The Seven Day Blogging Challenge - Answer one question I think people visiting my blog may have.

Recently I have been trying to explain to users in a couple of forums why the feature they want might not be likely to make it into the product. For a couple of examples of this, see:

• "ACT! for MAC" on the LinkedIN ACT! Fanatics Group
• "Merge - Combine - Copy Opportunities" on the Sage ACT! Community Site

So I thought I might try and explain simply how I see the product management decision process. However, please note that I’m not actually privy to the process used by Sage (or any other company other than my own) and am only going by the experiences of what I’ve seen and heard.
Update: Members of the Sage team have confirmed that “this is directionally close” to the process as used

First, all the requests are split into two areas:

• Bug Fixes and improvements – defects where the product does not perform as designed or intended as well as compatibility with other new systems and usability
• New Features and Enhancements – functional improvements to the actual design of the product

For each of these, a priority must be allocated. The priority would depend on a number of factors:

• How many users would be affected by the bug or benefitted from the enhancement
• If it’s a bug, it is data damaging or prevents the use of a primary function of the product
• Also for bugs, can the issue be replicated in-house to determine the cause
• For enhancements, would it just be a nice-to-have for current users or would it sell more product by being part of the decision making points of potential users
• Is there a competitive need for the request – are other products in the market doing it
• Are there manual workarounds or third-party products that could deal with the request now
• How will the request integrate or interfere with current code and user interface design
• How they fit into market trends/visions that they want to focus on
• Usability and compatibility with adjacent products

Then, for each, a time-frame and cost must be determined. For this, a specification document must be created with much thought being given to looking at all the possible scenarios, data types and values that are considered likely. This is done by consulting users and developers for their input.

Finally they can decide which to approve now, delay for a future version or discard. Obviously, the higher the priority, the higher the allowable cost would be for it to be approved.

So, in order to have the best chance of getting your requests addressed, you should try and put it in terms to answer as many of the points mentioned.

I would write more, but the challenge limits us to 400 words….

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,Sage,Sage ACT!,Product Management,Development

The Seven Day Blogging Challenge – Part 1

Twitter contact, Andrew Emmett, is doing a Seven Day Blogging Challenge. He challenged other bloggers to join him and I have decided to accept.

Here are the 7 topics that Andrew has challenged us to write about.

Starting Saturday I will write one blog post a day, each with 300 to 400 words about:

1. What the purpose of my website is, who I am and why my blog is unique.
2. Answer one question I think people visiting my blog may have.
3. Write a blog post on the same topic as one my most popular posts.
4. Share a photo I took this week and tell you about it.
5. Embed a legal YouTube clip that I either found today or created myself. Then tell everyone about the clip and related information.
6. Create a blog post on a subject I’ve never blogged about here before.
7. Share hints or details of what I intend to write about in the future.

This experiment promises to be an interesting diversion for the norm and I do hope I can think of some useful and interesting items for you on each of these topics.

One of the opportunities this challenge presents to me is the requirement to write a piece every day and to make it a specific length. As  those who read this blog would know, my posts tend to be of a technical nature and I haven’t thought about the length of each article or have a set time that I must post. I write when I think of something deserving of a post and as long as I need to properly explain each topic. I also tend to use the articles as a permanent knowledge base on items I get asked rather than the typical “web log” style of most blogs.

The general aim of this site is to help ACT! users, resellers and consultants get the most from the product. Unlike other ACT! related blogs, I have tried not to simply create content of a marketing or promotional nature. I love ACT! and have have dedicated the past 23 years to the product – but I also experience many of the frustrations that users feel when certain functions don’t operate as well as they should or where the Product Management and development teams have missed the mark and I try to warn users of these also. Hopefully, this “warts and all” approach helps us all use ACT! better and encourages Sage to continue to improve it.

Now that I’ve completed Part 1, I need to think of a question you might have for Part 2.
Any suggestions you might add to the comments area would be most welcome.

Technorati Tags: ACT!,Sage,Sage ACT!,Blogs,Blogging

How should ACT! resellers/VARs deal with Microsoft install issues?

I'm sure this must be a question concerning every ACT! consultant/reseller ... but, which a number of them have asked my opinion on this, I've not seen any public discussion on it. I'd also be interested in the views of end-users as to what they believe would be fair.

The last time I was shown the figures, around 80% of install support incidents by Sage North America were not due to ACT! code, but were related to Microsoft issues - in the operating system, .Net Framework, SQL Server or Office. Note: If someone at Sage has a more current figure, please let me know

I’m not sure how long ago this happened, but I recently noticed that Sage Australia (and I assume similar in other regions) excludes many areas that fail from their install warranty. While the box says that install issues are covered under a 30-day warranty, it then refers you to the website for Getting Started Support – Free for 30 Days where you can see the majority of install issues that sometimes plague users are specifically exempted.

On one level, this is understandable, because it is sort of unfair that Sage should be responsible for supporting and repairing issues with products and components produced by Microsoft. On the other hand, it could be argued that Sage chose to use those technologies as a basis of the product and that they should provide that support.

The big problem that this raises is how should a Consultant/VAR handle this support? If you are installing a product that costs $300-500 and an OS, SQL or .Net issue requires 4-8 hours of work to resolve, how can you justify charging the user for this time?

• If the installer doesn’t charge, then they lose money to sell the product
• To charge may make a user feel less than happy at having to pay 4x the cost of the product
• Telling a non-technical user to deal with Microsoft, may also not be the best for customer satisfaction

Is a notice to users, in advance, that such a charge may be necessary the right choice? Would this tend to scare off some potential users?

Obviously this would be different for larger user sites where they would be more aware of the complexities of commercial software as well as being able to spread the cost over a larger number of seats.

As I’ve said, I’d really like the thoughts of users, resellers and even Sage staff on this topic. Please post any thoughts you might have to the comments as I think the sharing of ideas is likely to help everyone come to an amicable solution to this problem.

Technorati Tags: ACT!,Sage,Sage ACT!,CRM,Support,SQL,.Net

GL Computing wins @ExpertsExchange Titan award – 3rd time!

Experts-Exchange Titan 2010 

For the 3rd consecutive year, GL computing has earned a spot as a Top Expert in the 7th Annual Expert Awards.

From a competitive field of over 30,000 qualified experts worldwide, GL Computing's Mike Lazarus has been awarded the:

Titan Award - 2010

From Experts-Exchange: “Thank you for sharing your unparalleled, inconceivable, and brilliant knowledge with the members of Experts Exchange, without you Experts Exchange would not be the #1 IT resource in the web.”

Mike has won the Titan Award in 2008, 2009 and is the only Experts-Exchange Certified ACT! Sage

It is truly gratifying to have received this award, along with those others I’ve been honoured with recently.

Sadly, I still get no acknowledgement from Sage for the effort I put in to support users - including over 9,400 posts to their own ACT! Community Site and hosting the ACT! Fanatics Group.