Act! vs BCM

[Jerry Fortenberry]

How does Outlook 2003 Business Contact Manager compare to Act! ?? Will BCM
allow accessing a common database ?

 

[Rob Schneider]

I don't know about the Act! product.

BCM is a single-user application. The database is a MSDE (local user
SQL Server equivalent). THere is no provided way to move data to a
database server, or share with others. Perhaps there are 3rd party
products available now or in future. I understand, but don't know
details, that Microsoft has a full-function multi-user CRM product
available in some countries--perhaps yours. Check www.microsoft.com/crm

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[Doug]

Jerry,

I have been a long time user of ACT and I have been
thinking about moving to BCM. From what I can tell, BCM
does a nice job of tracking things. Automatic attaching
an email to a contact record is great. With ACT, you
need to do this manually. ACT is slow, file attachments
not always work. ACT is showing its age and needs a new
release soon. BCM is a very good, but basic contact
manager. It does not work in an exchange enviroment. If
you need the basics of contact managment along with the
nice features of automatic email attachments to a contact
record BCM is it. With BCM, you must have the entire
office suite of 2003. BCM only ships with the small
business version or the professional version. ACT is
very good at keeping any details on anything. The
syncing ability is awesome on the palm. BCM only has
syncing to a palm device thru a 3rd party. I'm sure more
is on the way. If you see the boards here, there are
some issues with BCM that also make it not quite ready
for prime time.

 

[drgrafix]

Doug...

You seem to be fairly knowledgeable with regard to ACT! so maybe you
can clue me in on how to do something.

In ACT's Contact list, you can highlight a single contact and jump to
that contact's file, I believe it's called the "Contact Info" screen?
In that screen are a number of pre-set generic fields up on the top of
the page. Is there a way that a user can customize the fields
displayed? For instance, if you wanted to create a permanent field
called "Type of Business" and then have the ability to edit the
drop-down list... can that be done?

I also wondered why, when using Outlook 2002 to Import ACT! files,
almost all my contacts came through with the contact name even though
they were listed by company and not contact in ACT!?

I should note that when importing ACT! files into Outlook 2002, the
only options you have are for "older" versions of ACT! like 4.0 and
6.0 is not listed. Unlikely as it seems, it did work though, and
currently it's the only way I can sync my contacts from my desktop to
my PPC PDA.

I'm kinda' torn between sticking with ACT! v.6.0 and upgrading to
Outlook 2003 and the BCM, although you seem to think that the BCM is
still in the teething stage... right?

Mike