Anyone use ACT?

[Boozer]

I need some sort of CRM and ACT has worked for me in the past. However, unlike in the past I need to make the database available to not only myself and one other person here in my office locally but I also need it to be available to my other sales person who is located in another state.
Have any of you used ACT in a situation like this? I'm thinking I can keep the main data file on my server that my guy in Texas has acces to 24 hours a day and that should work, but I'm not sure if it is that easy. Anyone know? If you have used ACT in this type of situation how well did it work for you?
I found another product called Salesforce.com that is web based but it is also a lot more expensive then ACT. Anyone have experience with Salesforce.com?

[ViB]

I've used salesforce....its good, but most applicable (cost effective) when your sales team is 5 people or greater.

[BshyBvrGirl]

We use ACT. It's on our network server in a shared file. Basically you can set it up for each salesperson to have an account name and password. Your out of state sales guy should have no problem accessing it.

[riverracerx]

I usually use Crest, but ACT works good too.
http://a1468.g.akamai.net/f/1468/580/1d/pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/149531/200.jpg

[ekbearly]

We use ACT. The latest version has a web-based add-on so your guy can access your local db online similar to salesforce.com.

[shrek]

When I was in outside sales, I managed all of my customers with ACT, and I loved it. It also worked very well in the application that you are referring to........It is really made to have multiple people accessing the same database.....
Shrek

[C-2]

I use it on a stand alone basis as a contact manager only (which is great), but it's a freakin resource hog. It intergrates with so many programs, it just kills everything when you crack it open.

[RiverToysJas]

I used to have 4 ATC's, now I just have a 250R and a 70......or is that not the same thing? :)

[2Driver]

I managed US Operations and had my staff on ACT for a number of years. It was ok but managing the database became a part time job for my staff or you need to go web based. Still it didn’t do all what we needed
Here is what we did:
Believe it or not MS Outlook is the most under used tool in the industry. You can't believe what you can do with it if you take the time to fully utilize it. It will take some light programming but nothing a good scholar or consultant couldn’t figure out. If they tell you it won’t work then they don’t know MS Outlook like my guys did. Seeing it was already on the server at our company for e-mail and calendars it was a snap to program outlook as a sales and contact tool, and no hard coding was needed which made I.S. happy. It did everything we needed it to do and more and the data was live so anyone could see live data if you were on line either at work or tied in remotely. It also ran off line and syncd the second you hooked into e-mail. We were a 200 million dollar software company so we had to have a robust sales and service management tool. You don't have to know how to code to create what we did but it wasn't a snap either. If you want I can point you toward some Ref manuals we used.

[racecar.hotshoe]

I need some sort of CRM and ACT has worked for me in the past. However, unlike in the past I need to make the database available to not only myself and one other person here in my office locally but I also need it to be available to my other sales person who is located in another state.
Have any of you used ACT in a situation like this? I'm thinking I can keep the main data file on my server that my guy in Texas has acces to 24 hours a day and that should work, but I'm not sure if it is that easy. Anyone know? If you have used ACT in this type of situation how well did it work for you?
I found another product called Salesforce.com that is web based but it is also a lot more expensive then ACT. Anyone have experience with Salesforce.com?
Dang Boozer being all office man....and shit :D

[GHT]

I used ACT but we went to storing everything on Outlook now. I still have ACT on my system and continue to use it. I liked it.:D

[Boozer]

I managed US Operations and had my staff on ACT for a number of years. It was ok but managing the database became a part time job for my staff or you need to go web based. Still it didn’t do all what we needed
Here is what we did:
Believe it or not MS Outlook is the most under used tool in the industry. You can't believe what you can do with it if you take the time to fully utilize it. It will take some light programming but nothing a good scholar or consultant couldn’t figure out. If they tell you it won’t work then they don’t know MS Outlook like my guys did. Seeing it was already on the server at our company for e-mail and calendars it was a snap to program outlook as a sales and contact tool, and no hard coding was needed which made I.S. happy. It did everything we needed it to do and more and the data was live so anyone could see live data if you were on line either at work or tied in remotely. It also ran off line and syncd the second you hooked into e-mail. We were a 200 million dollar software company so we had to have a robust sales and service management tool. You don't have to know how to code to create what we did but it wasn't a snap either. If you want I can point you toward some Ref manuals we used.
I'd be interested to take a look at some manuals and see what I can do. We use outlook already so it may not hurt to give it a try. I added ACT to my shopping list but wasn't planning to pick it up until some time next week. Maybe I can make this outlook deal work over the weekend instead.

[AZJD]

I've used salesforce....its good, but most applicable (cost effective) when your sales team is 5 people or greater.
Likw VIC said salesforce is good for call reports and such but ACT is more like a database. It's not as micro manager friendly!

[BajaMike]

ACT is very good and integrates nicely with Outlook. Just load it on a server and the remote users could access it through a VPN client (like Microsoft VPN or better yet Cisco VPN client) or use the web based version.
Also, Office 2003 Professional has an add on to Outlook called "Business Contact Manager" that is very good.
:idea: :D

[2Driver]

I'd be interested to take a look at some manuals and see what I can do. We use outlook already so it may not hurt to give it a try. I added ACT to my shopping list but wasn't planning to pick it up until some time next week. Maybe I can make this outlook deal work over the weekend instead.
I'll make a couple calls to find out. This was a fairly large technical manual and not the manual that came with the product. My guys were not programmers but rather pretty astute guys that just took the time to figure it out.

[OCMerrill]

We also use ACT! for our business and personal. Link it with our palms, and it synchronizes with all computers on my small network real well.
The latest version I just purchased "ACT! by Sage 2007" (9.0) is the latest creation by them. Runs a little slower than previous versions. FYI.
I have used ACT for over 15 years. Like second nature now.
Chose over Outlook because Outlook can catch a cold where Act seems very secure.

[2Driver]

Building Applications with Microsoft Outlook Technical Reference by Microsoft Press
Programming Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange by Microsoft Press (Thomas Rizzo)
Have fun! ;)