Our primary competitors are traditional contact and customer management solutions and entry-level CRM solutions such as Microsoft Business Contact Manager and GoldMine®. ACT! continues to be the market leader in this space and wins deals due to its reputation, breadth of coverage, and the strengths highlighted below.
When it comes to larger corporate accounts, ACT! competes with Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In those deals, ACT! wins when customers realize the unique needs of a contact and customer management solution coupled with the value of convenience and price. ACT! competitive strengths include:
• Ease of Customization/Personalization: ACT! can be customized/personalized to fit any business model, with little technical knowledge required, including field types, activities, layouts, and templates, as well as dozens of preferences.
• Ease of Use: ACT! is exceptionally easy to use and is recognized in the industry. Ease of use functionality includes single views with filters and tabs, suggested workflow, intelligent defaults, and consistent interfaces.
• Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): ACT! has the lowest TCO in the industry. Not only are the license prices low, but the overall cost of deployment is low as the product is designed to be implemented and configured without extensive IT involvement or outside consultants.
• Lookups and Search Capability: Data is easily accessible through dozens of search options and robust keyword search. Searches can be saved to populate groups and companies. Competitors have limited searching capability that do not let you search on all fields.
• Deployment Options and Seamless Interfaces: Salesforce.com claims on-demand is the best approach, but on-demand is only a deployment model. ACT! users can select from multiple deployment options that carry the same customizations and data. They have the flexibility to run their business the way they see fit, with control over their data and the freedom to change their deployment method as business needs evolve.
• Mail Merge Functionality: Unlike competitors, merging letter and e-mail templates to contacts is done with just a few clicks. Other products require additional steps and installation of components before letters can be merged.
• Group and Company Management: With ACT!, users can track groups and companies with Notes, History, Activitis, and Opportunities for all contacts belonging that group or company for a more comprehensive view of relationship information.
