Should my company migrate to BCM from ACT?

[Lauren B.]

We are a 25-30 person company. 4 of us are using ACT for sales activity
tracking. We'd like to use a program that allows for basic sales activity
tracking that could also allow everyone to 1) have an office wide calendar 2)
have an office wide contact database for basic 'phonebook' use and 3) email
integration through Outlook. For these reasons we look to abandon ACT.

BCM seems like the answer if everyone can access the same database, can use
Outlook for a shared calendar and emailing program.

Does anyone see why this wouldn't be a good solution? For example, is there
a limit on number of users that can access a shared database on a server?

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Lauren,

I don't want to project too strong of a bias here in my reply but it is
important to understand that the current 2.0 version of BCM is officially
supported by MS as a strictly peer to peer network configuration for sharing
data from one host client machine among up to another 4 shared users. BCM is
not "officially" intended to be server based though some of the more
technically inclined here have pursued various ways to achieve this with
varying degrees of success. Microsoft seems to think that most small
business only need the peer to peer sharing model and have thus designed BCM
around this limited assumption accordingly. Your 25 to 30 person described
company need for collaborative sharing more closely matches the more robust
(and expensive) Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 solution. BCM's current version
of the Sales opportunity record is horrifically limited and non customizable.
It would likely frustrate your sales activity tracking needs greatly.

I do not mean to sound so negative about BCM. I used to use ACT and I then
moved into BCM. I have since moved on from BCM into a more robust Outlook
centered solution that works very well for me. BCM is a good concept but for
a variety of reasons it is just not yet where it needs to be for real world
mass adoption. The next version of BCM (v.3.0 currently in beta release)
will not likely be ready until early '07. This next version shows some
promise of improvement but there may very well remain some limitations in its
design that could still frustrate users who wish to share data in a manner
outside of the current "one-size-fits-all" peer to peer requirement.

You are on the right track with wanting to move to an Outlook centered
solution for your organization's sharing. I can reccomend a few
altlernatives to explore that would give you the Outlook experience along
with far greater flexibility to share either via an exchange server (hosted
or in-house) or even via a web browser based access client. Check out the 2
alternatives in the links below in order to help you make a more informed
decision about what to do that you will not then regret later due to
discoveries you make down the road.

I have used the Avidian Prophet add-in and it works very well. Avidian is an
expert developer with tremendous customer support. They have one of the best
designed, easily customizable, sales opportunity records that you could find.
I now use the MX Contact solution due to its greater forms customizability.
MX Contact is designed by an Australian based developer called Exchangewise.
It is a bit more complex to learn but is still very easy to adapt to. They
provide PST & Exchange versions in addition to SQL versions. They also have
just come out with a web access version called MXContact.Net.

The links to these alternatives are as follows:

www.mxcontact.com
www.avidian.com

Best wishes,

-THP

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Additional Comment:

Lauren,

If you decide to check out the MXContact solution (which I most recommend)
there is an 86 slide Power Point presentation for download located in the
upper right of the home page. These 86 slides put forward a very clear case
for what this solution is all about. There are also various demos to check
out. I just can't say enough about how satisfied that I am since finding
this alternative. These folks at Exchangewise really seem to get the concept
of Outlook based CRM done right! You can make this app be as simple or as
complex as your needs require.

-THP

Lauren,

I don't want to project too strong of a bias here in my reply but it is
important to understand that the current 2.0 version of BCM is officially
supported by MS as a strictly peer to peer network configuration for sharing
data from one host client machine among up to another 4 shared users. BCM is
not "officially" intended to be server based though some of the more
technically inclined here have pursued various ways to achieve this with
varying degrees of success. Microsoft seems to think that most small
business only need the peer to peer sharing model and have thus designed BCM
around this limited assumption accordingly. Your 25 to 30 person described
company need for collaborative sharing more closely matches the more robust
(and expensive) Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 solution. BCM's current version
of the Sales opportunity record is horrifically limited and non customizable.
It would likely frustrate your sales activity tracking needs greatly.

I do not mean to sound so negative about BCM. I used to use ACT and I then
moved into BCM. I have since moved on from BCM into a more robust Outlook
centered solution that works very well for me. BCM is a good concept but for
a variety of reasons it is just not yet where it needs to be for real world
mass adoption. The next version of BCM (v.3.0 currently in beta release)
will not likely be ready until early '07. This next version shows some
promise of improvement but there may very well remain some limitations in its
design that could still frustrate users who wish to share data in a manner
outside of the current "one-size-fits-all" peer to peer requirement.

You are on the right track with wanting to move to an Outlook centered
solution for your organization's sharing. I can reccomend a few
altlernatives to explore that would give you the Outlook experience along
with far greater flexibility to share either via an exchange server (hosted
or in-house) or even via a web browser based access client. Check out the 2
alternatives in the links below in order to help you make a more informed
decision about what to do that you will not then regret later due to
discoveries you make down the road.

I have used the Avidian Prophet add-in and it works very well. Avidian is an
expert developer with tremendous customer support. They have one of the best
designed, easily customizable, sales opportunity records that you could find.
I now use the MX Contact solution due to its greater forms customizability.
MX Contact is designed by an Australian based developer called Exchangewise.
It is a bit more complex to learn but is still very easy to adapt to. They
provide PST & Exchange versions in addition to SQL versions. They also have
just come out with a web access version called MXContact.Net.

The links to these alternatives are as follows:

www.mxcontact.com
www.avidian.com

Best wishes,

-THP

We are a 25-30 person company. 4 of us are using ACT for sales activity
tracking. We'd like to use a program that allows for basic sales activity

[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]

Does anyone see why this wouldn't be a good solution? For example, is there
a limit on number of users that can access a shared database on a server?

 

[tmcar]

Lauren,

I don't want to project too strong of a bias here in my reply but it is
important to understand that the current 2.0 version of BCM is officially
supported by MS as a strictly peer to peer network configuration for sharing
data from one host client machine among up to another 4 shared users. BCM is
not "officially" intended to be server based though some of the more
technically inclined here have pursued various ways to achieve this with
varying degrees of success. Microsoft seems to think that most small
business only need the peer to peer sharing model and have thus designed BCM
around this limited assumption accordingly. Your 25 to 30 person described
company need for collaborative sharing more closely matches the more robust
(and expensive) Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 solution. BCM's current version
of the Sales opportunity record is horrifically limited and non customizable.
It would likely frustrate your sales activity tracking needs greatly.

I do not mean to sound so negative about BCM. I used to use ACT and I then
moved into BCM. I have since moved on from BCM into a more robust Outlook
centered solution that works very well for me. BCM is a good concept but for
a variety of reasons it is just not yet where it needs to be for real world
mass adoption. The next version of BCM (v.3.0 currently in beta release)
will not likely be ready until early '07. This next version shows some
promise of improvement but there may very well remain some limitations in its
design that could still frustrate users who wish to share data in a manner
outside of the current "one-size-fits-all" peer to peer requirement.

You are on the right track with wanting to move to an Outlook centered
solution for your organization's sharing. I can reccomend a few
altlernatives to explore that would give you the Outlook experience along
with far greater flexibility to share either via an exchange server (hosted
or in-house) or even via a web browser based access client. Check out the 2
alternatives in the links below in order to help you make a more informed
decision about what to do that you will not then regret later due to
discoveries you make down the road.

I have used the Avidian Prophet add-in and it works very well. Avidian is an
expert developer with tremendous customer support. They have one of the best
designed, easily customizable, sales opportunity records that you could find.
I now use the MX Contact solution due to its greater forms customizability.
MX Contact is designed by an Australian based developer called Exchangewise.
It is a bit more complex to learn but is still very easy to adapt to. They
provide PST & Exchange versions in addition to SQL versions. They also have
just come out with a web access version called MXContact.Net.

The links to these alternatives are as follows:

www.mxcontact.com
www.avidian.com

Best wishes,

-THP

 

[tmcar]

Sorry about the blank post. I will like to know if outlook calendar have the
functionality like ACT. I don't see it but I was wondering if I just don't
know how to use it.

1. Ability to keep a record of appointment and task when complete instead
of deleting of leaving the calendar junky
2. Ability to continue with follow-up and notes to a task or appointment.
3. Ability to jump to the contact linked to a particular appointment/task
without going to contacts and searching.
4. Ability to automatically label appointments/task with the associated
contact name during the creation of event.

These seem like such basic elements when working with business contact I
find it hard to believe that Microsoft does not include this functionality
with the product

 

[Leonid S. Knyshov]

Sorry about the blank post. I will like to know if outlook calendar have
the
functionality like ACT. I don't see it but I was wondering if I just
don't
know how to use it.

1. Ability to keep a record of appointment and task when complete instead
of deleting of leaving the calendar junky
2. Ability to continue with follow-up and notes to a task or appointment.
3. Ability to jump to the contact linked to a particular appointment/task
without going to contacts and searching.
4. Ability to automatically label appointments/task with the associated
contact name during the creation of event.

These seem like such basic elements when working with business contact I
find it hard to believe that Microsoft does not include this functionality
with the product

1. Modify view to hide certain entries.
2. Yes
3. Sort of , but from a different perspective
4. No, but autolinked appointments all show up in the business history for a
particular object (opportunity, contact, or account).

--
Leonid S. Knyshov, CEO
Crashproof Solutions, LLC - http://www.crashproofsolutions.com
MCP Exchange 2003/Small Business Server 2003
Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partner
See the tips and tricks section on my website for video tutorials on BCM
Send a smile to Microsoft (Office 2007 Beta feedback tool)!
http://tinyurl.com/m4omy

 

[Nozmo]

Regarding MX Contact, what is the best version to use if you have 2 or 3
users, want to share data, but do not have an exchange server (we could lease
a server, but that would be down the road).

 

[boe]

MS doesn't include the two most important features with BCM - ability to
view through Outlook Web Access or to sync with WM5 - right now BCM even
2007 is still a turkey.