As we stretch our dollars, one investment you can stretch is ACT! 6.0.
There are pre-existing conditions to make this work.
1) Don’t upgrade to Windows Vista or Windows XP 64 bit
2) Don’t upgrade to Office 2007
3) Continue reading the article. I found a solution
By now, you have seen some of ACT! 6.0’s shortcomings including:
1) No phone support is available from Sage
2) No more new licenses can be acquired
3) Synchronization and VPN access won’t be effective
4) You cannot add custom tables. For example a sewing manufacturer would still manage equipment service records and serial numbers in separate system or spreadsheet
5) Integrating ACT! 6.0 with Outlook had its share of problems because you had to manage an intermediary program
6) Sales forecasting has severe limits. For instance, I cannot do a lookup of opportunities with a 75% chance of closing in the next 30 days. Instead I have to build a custom report and extend it to paper output.
7) Security is easy to breach and does not offer much variety
So, how in the world can I use still ACT! 6.0 to maintain a competetive edge when others have upgraded to the latest technology ?
There is a product still available called “WiredContact for ACT!”. It turns ACT! 6.0 into a web-enabled application, and they were able to extend ACT! 6.0’s lifespan by adding these benefits:
1) It’s web-based so remote access is available and you can secure it so none can export the ACT 6 database
2) You can lock down field level and contact level security by team or user
3) It works with Web-enabled PDAs such as a Blackberry. No, I haven’t tested an iPhone. I remain a fan of Blackberry over iPhone
4) I can extend custom tables for equipment manufacturers, insurance providers, ad agencies etc.
5) It offers in own tool to send out e-mail complete with mail-merge capabilties for one or 1000 contacts
6) I can extend the opportunity reporting and lookup capabilities
7) I can lock the database down so no one can delete contacts, notes, history or even access certain reports
I can dynamically change the screen based on which user logs in to WiredContact
These are just some the benefits WiredContact offers to help you extend the life out of ACT! 6.0. Expect to invest $300 per license and you don’t have to change ACT! 6.0’s structure. It just connects to the ACT! 6.0 database with its own control panel. Professional services to customize WiredContact with extended features could range from $1000 to $3000. ACT! 6.0 and WiredContact run concurrently.
As the economy recovers and your CRM needs to expand; then, you can head into two directions. You could upgrade to the SQL versions of ACT! (Version 2005/7.0+), or you can say, “This web stuff is cool, and WiredContact has its own system, WiredContact Enterprise, which expands your database capabilities because you’re not limited by the ACT! 6.0 architecture’s limitations.
Imagine intgegrating accounting data with your customer service and sales department. Meanwhile, the PCs and PDAs are easy to setup because its browser-based. WiredContact allows you to create a competetive edge when when it comes to CRM.
