Ol 2003 & BCM

[randy l.]

I own a small business, five other employees, and have used OL since the 98
version. I use it for email, contact management etc.

I tried ACT, Maximizer and at least one other program which I can't remember
now. I always came back to OL for whatever reasons and I seem to be able to
limp along with it as a Contact Manager. I have made the decision to upgrade
to Office 2003 and know that OL 2003 has the BCM option.

From the posts I've seen in this ng I am unsure whether to include BCM with
OL 2003 or not. I'm not trying to start a firestorm, just a discussion. My
question, based on what I've written is, should I include BCM with my
purchase or not?

It wouldn't add much to the purchase price and I don't want to miss any
"tricks" but there is the inevitable learning curve. Would I be making a
mistake if I didn't have it thrown in? Thanks.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

You are likely to be disapppointed, because BCM offers no direct way for you and your five employees to share its data. That said, since BCM is included in the Professional and Small Office Edition of Office 2003, you might go ahead and get one of those packages and try it to see if it does at least a few things that will help your business. Personally, I think the email tracking alone is an excellent feature for a standalone user.

More BCM answers at http://www.slipstick.com/bcm/bcmfaq.aspx

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Outlook and Exchange solutions at http://www.slipstick.com
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming: Jumpstart
for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Guest]

Randy, I am one of those that is having problems with BCM... but if the price for you is not a big issue then I will get it... Maybe they will come up with solutions to the issues that you have been reading... BCM aside OL 2003 is great much better than their previous version and their Junk Mail filter works great for us we have it on the highest setting and it has cut our junk e-mail by at least 90% and for us that in itself is reason to get it. Plus, you do not need to install BCM, it comes on a separte CD from which you install it, if you want...

 

[randy l.]

Small Office Edition is what I planned on getting. The six of us have never
shared information before, so why now? Kidding a little. Each of us does his
or her own thing and our information sharing is done verbally, or
occasionally with a quick note.

My question really centers around me. Will the addition of BCM help organize
in me some way that OL alone cannot? If it turns out to be a "can't live
without" I'm sure I can buy another copy for others. I have one outside
salesman that might be able to use it also.
You are likely to be disapppointed, because BCM offers no direct way for you
and your five employees to share its data. That said, since BCM is included
in the Professional and Small Office Edition of Office 2003, you might go
ahead and get one of those packages and try it to see if it does at least a
few things that will help your business. Personally, I think the email
tracking alone is an excellent feature for a standalone user.

More BCM answers at http://www.slipstick.com/bcm/bcmfaq.aspx

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Outlook and Exchange solutions at http://www.slipstick.com
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming: Jumpstart
for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

Only your own usage will tell, but I think there's a good possibility that it will. Email tracking is automatic, and the message data persists in the BCM database even after you delete the message from your Inbox or Sent Items, so that's a great help in tracking, without the need to clutter up the Journal folder. Plus, it's relatively easy to also link messages, appointments, etc. that you have with your staff to talk *about* your clients. You can even use BCM to track all the correspondence you have with your staff members themselves.

And that's before you get into the Opportunities feature for tracking sales opportunities.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Outlook and Exchange solutions at http://www.slipstick.com
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming: Jumpstart
for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[randy l.]

I appreciate your comments. I think I'll get it and see where that leads me.
Only your own usage will tell, but I think there's a good possibility that
it will. Email tracking is automatic, and the message data persists in the
BCM database even after you delete the message from your Inbox or Sent
Items, so that's a great help in tracking, without the need to clutter up
the Journal folder. Plus, it's relatively easy to also link messages,
appointments, etc. that you have with your staff to talk *about* your
clients. You can even use BCM to track all the correspondence you have with
your staff members themselves.

And that's before you get into the Opportunities feature for tracking sales
opportunities.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Outlook and Exchange solutions at http://www.slipstick.com
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming: Jumpstart
for Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[James Chellis]

I recently heard rumors that a third-party add-on that will allow BCM
sharing is in the works. Will post here if I hear more.
Cereba