Sage - ACT! 2009 review

Rex

Sage - ACT! 2009 review

Rex

ACT! seems to have been around forever, with the latest implementation the eleventh in the long, long, history of this popular contact management package. Despite which it goes on getting better, with plenty to tempt new buyers and upgraders in the recent 2009 update.

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Think of ACT! as a kind of big address book, much like the Contacts folder in Outlook, but a lot more powerful. That's because when using ACT! you can record every communication you have with customers, suppliers and other contacts to build up a much clearer picture of who they are and your relationship with them.

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The software also includes tools to manage diaries, organise marketing campaigns, analyse activities, create and run reports and so on, with the data held in a SQL Server database which can be shared with up to 10 users on a local network, if required.

Another big plus with ACT! is close integration with Microsoft Office such that you can use familiar tools such as Outlook and Word to communicate with customers and other contacts, yet still take full advantage of what the Sage software has to offer.

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On the downside ACT! has never been a particularly easy application to get to grips with. That, though, hasn't stopped it becoming a best seller, especially with smaller companies, as the package can be had for less than £200 and only needs a reasonably well specified Windows XP or Vista PC. Installation is easy too, with a single setup routine to configure both the ACT! software and the supporting SQL Server Express database, at the same time taking care of integration with any Office applications found on the host PC.

Talking of which, one of the key features of the 2009 release is even closer links with Microsoft Outlook. For example, you can now attach multiple emails, from different senders, to contact records and use Outlook's message processing rules to automate the procedure, if required.

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New ACT! activities can also be created from within Outlook emails while, on the calendar front, there's a new one-click button to synchronize data held in ACT! and Outlook formats. Enhancements to calendar printing have also been made, making it possible to print calendars with the same filters used to view the information on screen.

A number of task automation features previously only available in the Premium edition of ACT! have also been migrated to the standard 2009 package. Among them is a scheduler to automate backups and other maintenance tasks such as copying calendars between ACT! and Outlook. Furthermore it's now possible to exclude message attachments to reduce backup times.

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Other useful new features include being able to search for a contact using part of a name or title and switch between searches without having to re-type the parameters every time. You can also view recent contact lookups by type, date and so on; a small yet long overdue and very useful new option.

Two versions of the package are available: the Standard edition we reviewed which lets you share data across small workgroups and ACT! Premium (from £295 + VAT per user) for larger deployments.