Outlook Contacts vs. BCM Business Contacts

[Rogercj]

I'm just getting underway with BCM and have a few
fundamental questions:
1. BCM Business Contacts appear to be distinct from
Outlook 2003 Contacts: it took an hour to Export/Import
my Outlook data. As the saying goes, "The man with two
watches doesn't know what time it is." Which should I use
to update contact info?? Help info hints that Business
Contacts should be used for business, and Outlook
Contacts reserved for "personal information." This
suggests I should update contact info ONLY in BCM and let
the Outlook Contacts database lapse. This doesn't sound
very integrated to me...
2. In a similar vein, I need to create email groups for
an imminent email campaign. Should I do this with
Outlook Distribution Lists, or via a BCM Account and
linked Business Contacts? Is there any difference?
Using Dist Lists is easier, since I know how to do that,
but will I realize later I've shot myself in the foot
because I can't link the Lists to the relevant Accounts?

Can;t afford to waste time going down a dark alley.
Thanks.

 

[Rob Schneider]

I'm just getting underway with BCM and have a few
fundamental questions:
1. BCM Business Contacts appear to be distinct from
Outlook 2003 Contacts: it took an hour to Export/Import
Yes.

my Outlook data. As the saying goes, "The man with two
watches doesn't know what time it is." Which should I use
to update contact info?? Help info hints that Business
Contacts should be used for business, and Outlook
Contacts reserved for "personal information." This

This is what I do. Contacts for which you wish to have easy access to
the history of business "contacts" you make with those entries (email,
notes, phone logs, etc.). This for me is the main (if not only) reason
for bothering with BCM. Avoids complexity of using complext folders in
outlook which have to be maintained (filled, pruned, referred to) by hand.

suggests I should update contact info ONLY in BCM and let
the Outlook Contacts database lapse. This doesn't sound
very integrated to me...

Integration is simply they share the "desktop" space, email engine,
calendar. It's all in the eyes of the beholder.

2. In a similar vein, I need to create email groups for
an imminent email campaign. Should I do this with
Outlook Distribution Lists, or via a BCM Account and
linked Business Contacts? Is there any difference?
Using Dist Lists is easier, since I know how to do that,
but will I realize later I've shot myself in the foot
because I can't link the Lists to the relevant Accounts?

Sorry, no experience here.

 

[jeffrey]

"

Yes.


This is what I do. Contacts for which you wish to have easy access to
the history of business "contacts" you make with those entries (email,
notes, phone logs, etc.). This for me is the main (if not only) reason
for bothering with BCM. Avoids complexity of using complext folders in
outlook which have to be maintained (filled, pruned, referred to) by hand.

i am having trouble understanding what you are saying here. is it possible
to rephrase it.

i have been thinking for trying BCM, and have been following the various
threads about it. At this point i am wondering what the point is. What is
the advantage of using BCM vs. just sticking with just using Outlook for
business?

 

[Rob Schneider]

"



i am having trouble understanding what you are saying here. is it possible
to rephrase it.

i have been thinking for trying BCM, and have been following the various
threads about it. At this point i am wondering what the point is. What is
the advantage of using BCM vs. just sticking with just using Outlook for
business?

There may not be a compelling reason/advantage of using BCM vs. just
sticking with using Outlook for business. Outlook has evolved to meet
basic business needs and may be good enough to support your current work
proceses.

Frankly, sometimes I get the sense that this is just another "beta"
product from Microsoft "thrown" out to the market to see what happens. I
think it may be a "teaser" to ease small/medium sized business into the
CRM products. Surely there is also some strategy (secret to Microsoft of
course) where this product fits into their roadmap with respect to
Office and their CRM product. All that beyond me, but is discussed on
Microsoft's web site (see link below).

When I opended my Office 2003 upgrade product, I found BCM. I thought
"that's interesting, let's take a look.". I moved a few Outlook
contacts into BCM. Played around, and then decided to move all the
contacts that are "business" into BCM.

My observations/reasons for doing this (with good +, minus -, and even e)

+ BCM links all business interactions stored in outlook with the contact
and account. These interactions can be emails, notes, calendar events,
and other things. BMC uses database queries to do these match ups by
email address, amongst other things i would guess. This has made is so
that I can stop making complex set of Outlook folders which are "by
account" or "by subject". BMC presents this information dynamically and
in context. (TO some extent this reminds me of Lotus Agenda from the
late 1980's which is still unsurpased in my view of laying a data
structure on top of the data, instead of putting data into a structure).
This ability for BMC to present a dynamic view of the data is for me
the only signficant benefit. It's good enough that I've kept my
business contact data in BCM and have not moved it back into Outlook
Contacts.

+ BCM looks to be inclusive of Outlook (but in fact it's a different
application just hooked in to Outlook...I get the feeling that the
Outlook for many people will become a replacmeent for the Windows
Desktop...natural evolution).

- BMC components are slower than Outlook. But once started up it's
pretty good. It has to load software to drive the application and tyen
to queries to populate the screens. For example, when you click on BCM's
"accounts" it's very fast. When you click on BCM's "Business Contacts"
first time it's slower. This is normal since it has to return fewer
records for "accounts" than with a query for "business contacts".

- Once Contacts are out of Outlook and into BCM, I can't sync them with
my Palm anymore. Have to go buy a conduit for BCM I guess. I hear the
are now available, but I've not pursued it.

+ More default data about a contact and account is available to be used.

- it's not bug-free. Sometimes my data just disappears. It comes back
only after a re-boot of Windows XP. I'm assuming Microsoft knows about
this bug. Hvaen't taken the time to contact Support about it.

+ A lot of reports specialised to Business Contacts is available. I've
not explored any of them.

Microsoft provides their view of this product at
ahttp://www.microsoft.com/office/outlook/contactmanager/prodinfo/default.mspx

I'm still using and will continue to use it. But only in very simple ways.