Nucleus research for ACT! 5

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After go-live, make sure users are conforming to the new processes
Just because you’ve installed new software doesn’t mean the users are going to
actually adopt it on a daily basis, as intended. It requires discipline to prevent them
from falling back into their old habits. Don’t allow them to return to manual paper
based systems or their familiar old Excel tools. Make sure you do your part to train
and provision the end users. Provide everyone with books on how to use ACT! or
whatever other teaching and incentives they need. As one user put it: “They are
not taking their Excel spreadsheets and typing into it and e-mailing it to marketing
or sales management. That’s not accepted.”
One way is to make sure they are compensated through the ACT! application.
Remember, also, that the system should be making their lives easier. You should
demonstrate the value of the application to the sales force. As one user noted: “If
it’s helping them, they’ll do what they need.”

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FINE TUNING TIPS
In talking to ACT! customers, Nucleus discovered that after initial deployment,
successful implementations required additional procedures to get the most from
the application. All systems have their nuances, and the better users and
administrators understand them, the better chance they have of getting the best
return on investment from their software.
Stay on your technical toes
Just like all applications, ACT! isn’t a static thing. Users’ needs change, glitches are
discovered, patches issued, and the vendor regularly releases upgrades. It’s easy
to fall behind on bug fixes – including security, access control, data integrity and
performance patches. Always stay ahead of the technical curve, which also will

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help you get the most from your investment. End users also might be downloading
software on their PCs and laptops that might be incompatible with their work
applications. They might also start toying with the system. Don’t find out the hard
way what to avoid – down time means lost money and lost opportunities.
Pay attention to known technical glitches by checking the ACT! Web site. Talk to
other ACT! users about their experiences. Also, keep internal staff as trained and
up to date as possible in the intricacies of the system.

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When doing an upgrade, treat it as if it were a new version installation. Don’t
assume one version of ACT! is identical to the next. Different versions of ACT! can
present different challenges. For instance, one user implementing to a Web-based
version of ACT! had to upgrade the workgroup server. Everyone also had to
upgrade from Internet Explorer 6 to 7 to boost performance. However, in this
company, IT staff still had to do manual patching and troubleshooting as well,
which took several months to complete.

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ACT!: not just for contact management
The primary purpose of ACT! is to be a core contact and customer management
application that holds customer data for easy retrieval. But, the software’s
usefulness doesn’t end there. For instance, one user created several special tabs
that hold various types of data about customers beyond basic sales information.
This includes full client account data — such as information on a contact’s spouse,
their investment history, the number and types of accounts held, and even their
sales forms attached for quick access. It also lists birthdays, all accounts opened
on a given date, and it can also be used to do mass mailings.
ACT! can be used to help create accountability and see which units in a company
aren’t being productive. Activities such as marketing campaigns can be tracked
and measured. It also automates customer follow-up processes so that nothing
slips between the cracks. In fact, for some users, ACT! provides a core operational
application. For one customer, “It’s a daily management tool.”

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Go beyond the reporting capabilities in ACT!
One of the most essential benefits of CRM software is the ability to do forecasting
for sales revenues. Companies need as much actionable forecasting data as they
can get in an easy-to-digest format, such as a dashboard. ACT! has its own
internal report writing feature, but can also embed third party reporting tools if
needed. Go to management and see what specifically they want measured and
then fine tune the metrics embedded in ACT!. For instance, you can configure the
opportunities list around very specific criteria, such as by probability of close or by
a date range. Additionally, this can be without necessarily needing technical
support.

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One user expanded the reporting beyond just essential customer-related
information. The reports included information about the devices customers were
using in the field and the last contact with those customers.
Don’t hesitate, if need be, to export data to other systems for reporting or other
tasks. To ease such processes, ACT! links directly up to Microsoft desktop
applications such as Excel. One customer said they rarely use out-of-the-can reports, but rather export the data from ACT! to Excel to slice and dice information
for long-term trend spotting. “ACT! is great, but you can’t manipulate it like you
can Excel,” as one user noted of the ACT! business intelligence capabilities.

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Protect the family jewels
A sales application is not always seen as a company’s backbone the same way as
an accounting system is. Nevertheless, for the sales department, lack of data
availability or actual loss of data can be catastrophic, resulting in down time and
lost sales. A couple of users said that because ACT! is mission-critical, or essential
to the company, it’s necessary to do complete data backups. Preferably, the
company will replicate with a server that is at a different location than the primary
server, in case of a major environmental disaster, that regrettably, might take
down the main ACT! database. As one customer put it: “As with any critical data, it
is important to backup the ACT! databases daily, and I would recommend having a
well-defined plan to restore the main and remote databases.”

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Treat customer management like a marriage
Consider your company’s interaction with ACT! to be a long-term relationship. The
application’s scalability and flexibility will allow it to remain the contact and
customer management system of record over the long haul. The longer you use it,
the greater your return on investment will be. With that in mind, keep finding new
ways to exploit ACT! and keep it relevant for your ever-changing needs.
􀂃 “It’s an evolving process. It’s a fluid system. We made progress the first year
when we loaded in the leads, and that was a huge accomplishment. Then, the
second year we wrote custom reports. Now, we’re putting in training and
procedures in place so that if I leave, someone else can inherit the system. It’s
a long term commitment with you and your consultant.”
􀂃 “We have 45 people and 18 of those are regular ACT! users. It’s a very
customised system and customising it is easy to do. So it can grow as you
grow.”

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CONCLUSION
Nucleus found a single repository of customer information is potentially an
invaluable asset in a company. Properly installed, maintained and exploited, ACT!
can function as a mission-critical sales tool. As one user put it, “Our customer list
is the most important thing we have and ACT! has given us tremendous
improvements in it.” ACT! can also serve as a stepping stone to educate users in
basic sales processes. If the company grows and needs to expand to more users
and requires more reporting, compliance, marketing, customer service, or other
features, users might consider upgrading to a more sophisticated and feature-rich
CRM application. In the meantime, ACT! offers a relatively quick and easy way to
support basic discipline around customer-facing processes, while boosting reporting
and productivity capabilities. Customers reap all these benefits without the
potential risk of a more complex and costly CRM application.