Future Features of BCM???

[Guest]

Ok, with my last post we were able to confirm that BCM does have a future and
that we shouldn't dump BCM at this point.

So the follow up questions are:

1. What functions/features are going to be improved or fixed in the future
version?

2. How will this be integrated more cleanly into Outlook?

3. Will Outlook and BCM be merged into the same database? or will they
always be separate, trying to figure out a way to connect.

Geoffry

 

[Patricia Cardoza [Outlook MVP]]

1. PDA Support is included.
2. BCM now works with Exchange Server accounts (in cached mode only).
3. BCM is faster (not lightning speed mind you, but faster)

Really the integration into Outlook isn't any cleaner. Other than the fact
that BCM is more stable.

They will never be the same database.

I'll try to add more to this thread later.

--
Patricia Cardoza
Outlook MVP
Author - Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
Lead Author - Access 2003 VBA Programmer's Reference
Author - Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft OneNote 2003

http://blogs.officezealot.com/cardoza
http://www.cardozasolutions.com

 

[Luther]

Also in BCM 2:
4. integrated with Microsoft's new accounting app.
5. Import and Export now appear to handle everything in BCM.

 

[Guest]

hmm, just enough for me to stay.

1. PDA support is a good thing, can it integrate the whole Account vs
contact thing?
2. I am not an exchange user today, but what new functionality would I have
if I had exhange (I am suppose to move from IMAP to exhange in 3 months)
3. My database isn't huge so speed wasn't an issue yet.
4. Better Outlook integration is what I think everyone is looking for, even
though all the above is required too, but I just assumed those would happen.
What is the reason that MS is not providing better Outlook integration, do
one of these products have a short life ahead of it?

 

[Patricia Cardoza [Outlook MVP]]

The PDA support will offer both Accounts and Contacts along with some
business history. It's mildly configurable. Meaning you can specify that
you want to transfer X number of business history items to your PDA so you
can carry them with you. It's not a full "Pocket BCM" as it's really just a
view of the BCM data, but you'll be able to sync contacts and accounts and
some history.

As for the Exchange support... you don't really gain anything BCM wise, but
without V.2, you wouldn't be able to use BCM with your Exchange account
unless you installed a patch and hacked your registry.

--
Patricia Cardoza
Outlook MVP
Author - Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
Lead Author - Access 2003 VBA Programmer's Reference
Author - Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft OneNote 2003

http://blogs.officezealot.com/cardoza
http://www.cardozasolutions.com

 

[Luther]

4. Better Outlook integration is what I think everyone is looking
for,

even though all the above is required too, but I just assumed those
would happen. What is the reason that MS is not providing better
Outlook integration, do one of these products have a short life
ahead of it?

I'm not sure what you mean by better Outlook integration, but
here are a couple of things to consider.

(1) Release 2 of BCM is happening with the same Outlook as
release 1, so BCM can't count on any additional hooks in
Outlook to provide better integration. I expect the next release,
if it comes out with a new Office, will have better UI integration;
e.g. BCM might be able to customize the right-click menus.

(2) Some people would like BCM to use the regular Outlook
Contacts folder, but that would mess things up for people
who use Outlook for more than running their business. Some
users like to reserve the Outlook Contacts for friends and family,
and not have friends and family show up in their business
reports.

I also expect that as BCM gets more popular, 3rd parties will
provide add-ins, and so on, that address the needs of users that
don't fall in the mainstream.

 

[Guest]

Luther,

Thanks for the response,

I'm not sure what you mean by better Outlook integration, but
here are a couple of things to consider.

Better Integration simply means, when you set an task for a contact in BCM,
that the task will pop up and know who the task was actually about, which
doesn't happen right now.

e.g. BCM might be able to customize the right-click menus.

I don't think I care about this very much, I care much more about knowing
who the contact is from.

(2) Some people would like BCM to use the regular Outlook
Contacts folder, but that would mess things up for people
who use Outlook for more than running their business. Some
users like to reserve the Outlook Contacts for friends and family,
and not have friends and family show up in their business
reports.

I do not understand why this is a limitation, I have several regular contact
folders now where I separate out personal, business and charity contacts.

I also expect that as BCM gets more popular, 3rd parties will
provide add-ins, and so on, that address the needs of users that
don't fall in the mainstream.

That is the last thing that I want, some 3rd party add-in that I will have
to figure out where the problem is. If anyone was interested in that, they
would have just gone the Maximizer, Act, or Goldmine path in the first place.

I hope that you aren't implying that a level of Outlook integration where a
task knows where it came from is outside of the mainstream. I would bet that
a majority of BCM users would expect that as part of a MS integrated product
suite.

Geoffry

 

[BigDog]

Outlook uses contact classifications for separating types of contacts.
Why create a new database for this separation. I can filter on
classification. And, I can have the same contact classified as a
Business and Friend.

A consolidated database is truly the best integrated solution.

 

[Guy Lapierre]

(2) Some people would like BCM to use the regular Outlook

Contacts folder, but that would mess things up for people
who use Outlook for more than running their business. Some
users like to reserve the Outlook Contacts for friends and family,
and not have friends and family show up in their business
reports.

I am one of those. I like very much that this is the case.

 

[Tim Peterson via OfficeKB.com]

BigDog,

You have it exactly right. Doing the Outlook separate "Folder-Mania" is
NOT the only necessary way to separate different types of contacts (ie:
Personal vs. Business, etc.) Whoever designed this "Requirement" into BCM
should stand back to see the forest for the trees. Categories can do a
wonderful job of sorting. Better integration between Outlook and BCM in
the future should encompass something as basic as allowing the same contact
data base and not require you to manually re-copy from one folder to the
other without any synchronization. This is just plain cumbersome!

-THP

 

[BigDog]

Tim,

I am positive that it was never a "requirement".

The reason that it is a separate database is because it was designed
and developed by a different are within Microsoft. It is so easy to
develop and deploy a system from scratch then try to integrate it with
an existing system creating and integrated solution.

I see a lot of companies doing this. Oracle Corp does it all the time.
Instead of a matrix style development company they may be set up as
stove pipes. each area has their own budgets and overhead. It is very
hard to develop integrated solutions this way.

As consumers, we need to take a stand and say enough! We won't stand
for it anymore......

I won't stand for it. I won't try to work around BCM's
limitations and poor design. I uninstalled it as soon as I found out it
was not an integrated solution. I was actually very surprised
(disappointed) about this especially when it is packaged with OutLook.

 

[Tim Peterson via OfficeKB.com]

Big Dog,

Well said! I couldn't agree more. I had more problems and glitches than
anyone should have to tolerate when I attempted to use BCM.

-THP

 

[Luther]

I won't stand for it.

So you keep telling the newsgroup, month after month after month. Over
a million people find BCM good enough to use every week.

It's time to stop being so SAD and move on, mate.

SAD: Software Affective Disorder
A form of depression occurring to certain software users, especially
when the individual is incapable of getting a life.

 

[BigDog]

Luther,

I have moved on. I uninstalled the SW.

I feel that people should understand how to work around the problems
that they are encountering and you all do a great job of this.

I on the other hand feel that they need to understand why they are
having these issues to start with. Most of the issues boil down to the
(poor) design of the SW and lack on integration to existing
applications.

Both discussions will provide them the ability to understand the big
picture.

 

[Tim Peterson via OfficeKB.com]

Luther,

I too have definitely moved on ... by removing this horribly designed
(still Beta functioning) software and finding an alternative with the
Avidian Prophet 2004 application at: www.avidian.com. I truly wanted BCM
to be an integrated solution for me and I enjoy keeping in touch with this
forum. You among others certainly stand out as someone knowleageable as a
resource for answers and work arounds. I admire your tenacity. I just
continue to marvel at how much need there appears to be with this add-in
application nearly 2 years after it's original release. I believe
Microsoft is really missing the boat on this user segment by perhaps
assuming that everyone will step to their full CRM tool. I will continue
to monitor but I remain at peace with my current decision to move-on
WITHOUT any "SAD"-ness!

-THP

 

[Lewis Yildirimturk via OfficeKB.com]

Avidian Prophet is worse than BCM.

I tried both. At Prophet:

- the system search function for the emails are very very slow.

- the searched & found results do not stay hyperlinked in the system,
everytime you go to a contact, you need to search again which takes too
much time.

so do not waste your money and time at this moment. They may be
improvements in the future I hope.

 

[Notlev]

Reading this thread (future features are realy relevant if I should stick
with the product now) leaves me wondering what your plans are in terms of
mail merge.
In standard Outlook i can create e.i. word templates that will merge with a
contact.
But in BCM I can only do this by defining a campain (of one person).

Also I need to journalise documents under a contact, just like e-mails.

What are your plans in this directions, and what is the timeframe?

 

[nre503]

I have the same needs, i.e. mail merge without starting a campaign, and
having the history of activities (phone log, completed TO DOs, appointments)
with each contact.
It appears this has not yet been resolved in BCM, so how do i move all this
data to the contacts folder in outlook. (Which i am also learning is
necessary as i am switching to blackberry)
Any thoughts would be helpful.
Nanci