Solution for small leasing Co?

[thimk]

I am part of a 4 man small ticket leasing outfit and have the following
questions.
1. What infrastructure do we need to share OUtlook 2007 Business Contact
Manager info? Exchange Server? What else?
2. How easy it it to customize for our specific needs.
3. Can one assign specific documents to a prospect client? Can there a be a
pool of shared common documents ie marketing and sales materials?

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Thimk:

You need a PC to function as the "server" -- not a real server, just a
dedicated PC that would host the BCM master database. Exchange is great for
email, and the synchronizing of tasks and appointments but it doesn't have
to be hosted at your office -- you can use a hosting company to do that for
about $10 per user per month.

BCM is pretty easy to customized. If you don't find enough info in the Help
file, check out my Dummies book.

Yes, you can assign documents to a contact and attach them to Communications
History for each contact. Right click on the contact in a list, choose
Create, then New Linked File for Business Contact.

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

 

[thimk]

I am looking to have the BCM database hosted so it accessible from multiple
locations. ie Home, office, traveling....etc....
Perhaps the question is now, Can someone host both BCM and Exchange? IF so,
any =vendors in particular? Intermedia says no.

If not, anyone that can host just the BCM database.

SOrry, for any typos as I am typing without my reading glasses an everything
looks nice and fuzzy.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

I don't believe that MS wants to enable BCM to be hosted for remote, multiple
location access as you describe. In the seemingly limited worldview coming
out of Redmond, WA, such hosted access functionality would compete directly
with their more expensive Dynamics CRM offering. I think this omssion of BCM
remote functionality is a backwards thinking blunder by MS because rather
than compete, it would compliment and encourage greater adoption of the MS
platform. Migration from BCM to the full CRM for remote users would occur
more easily once someone is familiar with the BCM data objects, etc and their
needs grew to require it.

-THP

I am looking to have the BCM database hosted so it accessible from multiple
locations. ie Home, office, traveling....etc....
Perhaps the question is now, Can someone host both BCM and Exchange? IF so,
any =vendors in particular? Intermedia says no.

If not, anyone that can host just the BCM database.

SOrry, for any typos as I am typing without my reading glasses an everything
looks nice and fuzzy.

Thimk:

[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]

 

[Luther]

I don't believe that MS wants to enable BCM to be hosted for remote, multiple
location access as you describe.  In the seemingly limited worldview coming
out of Redmond, WA, such hosted access functionality would compete directly
with their more expensive Dynamics CRM offering.  I think this omssion of BCM
remote functionality is a backwards thinking blunder by MS because rather
than compete, it would compliment and encourage greater adoption of the MS
platform.  Migration from BCM to the full CRM for remote users would occur
more easily once someone is familiar with the BCM data objects, etc and their
needs grew to require it.

-THP

I am looking to have the BCM database hosted so it accessible from multiple
locations. ie Home, office, traveling....etc....
Perhaps the question is now, Can someone host both BCM and Exchange? IF so,
any =vendors in particular? Intermedia says no.

If not, anyone that can host just the BCM database.

SOrry, for any typos as I am typing without my reading glasses an everything
looks nice and fuzzy.
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]

a
pool of shared common documents ie marketing and sales materials?

Having discussed this directly with Microsoft, I can tell you that the
availability of remoting features is a function of the resources
required to implement such versus other possible features and the
number of users for the feature. The difference between BCM and MSCRM
is the number of users and size of the company each product is
designed for. BCM would love to provide a remoting solution to their
customers and MSCRM doesn't want to deal with customers that don't
have an IT staff. Clearly there's a gray area where a customer can
decide to use one or the other, and Microsoft would like BCM customers
to migrate to MSCRM as their companies grow, but conspiracy theories
are best left to that MI5 poster.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

I don't believe that conspiracy theories have anything to do with this. It
all comes down to how one assesses the marketplace. I believe that MS has it
all wrong. Neither the size of an organization nor whether they have IT
staff should determine which application to use. In their monopolistic
messaging to the marketplace, MS will preach this nonsense but just look at
the explosive growth of "hosted" solutions for remote data access. The
sector that is driving this most profoundly are the small business mobile
warriors such as myself. It is plain stupid for MS to have exchange but not
include BCM in such functionality. It just forces users to look elsewhere
rather than adopt the MS platform. I remain convinced that such short
sightedness is by intended design rather than an accident. There are some
positive signs that they might be starting to "get-it" with the Office Live
solution based upon SharePoint technology. Of course, true to MS
bureaucratic tradition, Office Live does not yet integrate seamlessly with
BCM data either.

Can anyone say clueless?

-THP

I don't believe that MS wants to enable BCM to be hosted for remote, multiple
location access as you describe.  In the seemingly limited worldview coming

[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]

- Show quoted text -

Having discussed this directly with Microsoft, I can tell you that the
availability of remoting features is a function of the resources
required to implement such versus other possible features and the
number of users for the feature. The difference between BCM and MSCRM
is the number of users and size of the company each product is
designed for. BCM would love to provide a remoting solution to their
customers and MSCRM doesn't want to deal with customers that don't
have an IT staff. Clearly there's a gray area where a customer can
decide to use one or the other, and Microsoft would like BCM customers
to migrate to MSCRM as their companies grow, but conspiracy theories
are best left to that MI5 poster.

 

[Luther]

I don't believe that conspiracy theories have anything to do with this.  It
all comes down to how one assesses the marketplace.  I believe that MS has it
all wrong.  Neither the size of an organization nor whether they have IT
staff should determine which application to use.  In their monopolistic
messaging to the marketplace, MS will preach this nonsense but just look at
the explosive growth of "hosted" solutions for remote data access.  The
sector that is driving this most profoundly are the small business mobile
warriors such as myself.  It is plain stupid for MS to have exchange butnot
include BCM in such functionality.  It just forces users to look elsewhere
rather than adopt the MS platform.  I remain convinced that such short
sightedness is by intended design rather than an accident.  There are some
positive signs that they might be starting to "get-it" with the Office Live
solution based upon SharePoint technology.  Of course, true to MS
bureaucratic tradition, Office Live does not yet integrate seamlessly with
BCM data either.  

Can anyone say clueless?

-THP

I don't believe that MS wants to enable BCM to be hosted for remote, multiple
location access as you describe.  In the seemingly limited worldview coming

[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]

- Show quoted text -

Having discussed this directly with Microsoft, I can tell you that the
availability of remoting features is a function of the resources
required to implement such versus other possible features and the
number of users for the feature. The difference between BCM and MSCRM
is the number of users and size of the company each product is
designed for. BCM would love to provide a remoting solution to their
customers and MSCRM doesn't want to deal with customers that don't
have an IT staff. Clearly there's a gray area where a customer can
decide to use one or the other, and Microsoft would like BCM customers
to migrate to MSCRM as their companies grow, but conspiracy theories
are best left to that MI5 poster.

I'm sure the BCM team would love it if Exchange, Activesync, Office
Live, and so on, would support BCM. If you contact those groups and
request it, BCM support would move up their list of most requested
features.