How do I synchronize contacts in Outlook with business partners?

[Vanessa]

I'm thinking about using Outlook + Business Contact Manager to manage my
business contacts and sales leads. How do I synchronize that information so
that when I add a contact, it shows up in my business partners' and sales
teams' Outlook as well?

Thanks.

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Vanessa:

Everyone sharing a BCM database can see all the information in that
database. Each user can take an "offline" copy of that database with them
when they leave the office and then synchronize using a VPN away from the
office or wait until they come back to the office and synch up. When they
synch, all the data they changed is merged into the master database and vice
versa.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[Russell]

Lon,

I want to use Business Contact Manager to manage my sales opportunities but
the help text says that Business contact updates are not updates to Outlook
contacts. This represents a problem for me as I also use Activsync to sync
those contact details onto my Windows Mobile device. Is there a sensible way
of keeping them in sync or would the business contacts be sync'ed with my
mobile device anyway?

Thanks

Russell

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Yes, you can use CompanionLink Express to synch BCM info to your Windows
Mobile device. It works quite well.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
www.pinpointtools.com

 

[Vanessa]

Hi,

This is very helpful. Just to clarify, though, in terms of sharing a
database, we are never in an office together (everyone works remotely), so
our computers aren't ever "networked" (wired together on a system). In that
case, is it still simple to sync the contacts?

Thanks again!
Vanessa

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Vanessa:

You would need to put BCM's "master" database on a PC in the office with a
VPN connection so your remote users can connect. They can create an Offline
copy of the BCM database on their PC. If they want to synch it to a handheld
from their PC, they can do it with CompanionLink or Pocket Mirror.

HTH,
Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
www.pinpointtools.com