CRM Software Industry News

New ACT! Add-on solutions simplify conference scheduling, graphic management, presentation development, quote and invoice and remote database creation tasks

Scottsdale, Ariz. – April 24, 2006 – Sage Software announced today that Alexander Vikhorev, Exponenciel, Equisys, Inc., Infinite Conferencing and RemoteTechGuy are new ACT! Add-on partners for the ACT! by Sage contact and customer management product family . The new partners have collectively released eight new products bringing the number of available ACT! add-on solutions to over 60. ACT! add-on solutions complement and expand the ACT! user experience by offering innovative productivity tools that simplify financial, marketing, project management, reporting and shipping tasks, among other key business activities.

“The ACT! product family consistently evolves to meet the needs of individuals, small businesses and corporate workgroups,” said Joe Bergera, ACT! senior vice president and general manager for Sage Software SB, Inc. “ACT! add-on partners develop a diverse collection of applications that can help millions of ACT! users further leverage the power of ACT! to improve their productivity and critical business processes.”

Sage Software reviews all ACT! add-on solutions to ensure they integrate with ACT! and enhance the ACT! user experience. New ACT! add-on solutions include:

Automatic Field Calculations by Exponenciel
Adds automatic calculations to ACT! contact, group or company layouts using over 50 mathematical, date/time, string and financial functions.

Conference Scheduler for ACT! by Infinite Conferencing
Schedules Web and phone conferences and automatically generates e-mail invitations using ACT! contacts. Dial-in numbers, entry codes and addresses are automatically included with invitations and added to the ACT! calendar.

Excel ® Templates for ACT! by Exponenciel
Merges contact information into Excel spreadsheets and automatically attaches it to an ACT! record.

Excel ® Templates with Quote/Invoice Maker for ACT! by Exponenciel
Creates quotes and invoices in Excel from ACT! opportunity fields and automatically assigns a unique number to each document.

PicturePlus for ACT! by Alexander Vikhorev
Drag and drop pictures into ACT! and minimize database size by linking picture fields to all file types. Users can insert images directly to ACT! using a scanner or digital camera and view pictures in full size or open them in the program of their choice.

Presentation for ACT! by Alexander Vikhorev
Use the ACT! custom report engine and templates to generate on-the-fly Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentations.

RDBWiz by RemoteTechGuy
Automates the simultaneous creation of remote databases and walks users through all tasks required for setting up synchronization without opening ACT!. Users can copy and edit sync sets and automatically upload databases to an ftp site for easy distribution.

Zetadocs PDF by Equisys, Inc.
Creates PDFs from any application and automatically sends and stores them in the history tab of an ACT! contact record.

ACT! by Sage
ACT! is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 32,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment options to help improve productivity and increase sales.

ACT! by Sage is part of Sage CRM Solutions, the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and mid-sized businesses that also includes Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com or call 888-855-5222.

ACT! Add-on Partner program
From front-office marketing solutions to back-office integration with other productivity solutions, ACT! add-on products help users integrate needed business functionality with ACT! so they can be more productive and run their businesses more cost efficiently.

ACT! add-on partners design solutions that help further extend the functionality of ACT! for individual users and ACT! workgroups. A complete list of ACT! add-on solutions and pricing is available at www.actsolutions.com .

Developers within the ACT! Add-on Partner Program receive access to the ACT! software development kit, product development guidance and have the opportunity to participate in product marketing programs. Interested developers are encouraged to visit www.act.com/partners/addons.

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First ACT! vertical industry solution delivers complete features of the #1 contact and customer manager with industry-specific customizations for real estate professionals

Scottsdale, Ariz. ?May 1, 2006 ?/strong> Sage Software announced today the availability of ACT! by Sage Premium for Real Estate 2006, the first ACT! vertical industry solution built upon the #1 selling contact and customer management solution? functionality for selling professionals and corporate workgroups. ACT! Premium for Real Estate equips residential real estate agents and brokers with industry-specific tools to help cultivate quality referrals, effectively market properties to prospective buyers and sell more homes. Real Estate features include customized layouts, activities, sales letters, reports and one-click access to local multiple listing service (MLS) systems, 1 among others.

Today? product release continues expansion of the ACT! product family, which includes over 2.5 million registered users and more than 32,000 corporate account customers. ACT! offers diverse data access methods for small and mid-sized businesses that include online, offline and mobile device options as well as compatibility with leading accounting packages such as Peachtree by Sage and over 60 ACT! add-on solutions.

?CT! has a phenomenal following across multiple sales disciplines,?said Joe Bergera, ACT! senior vice president and general manager for Sage Software. ?ailoring ACT! with real estate specific capabilities was a natural progression. Thousands of registered ACT! users indicate real estate as their profession. Our research into their most-often customized functions and our collaboration with industry experts to develop additional productivity tools has resulted in a ?est-of?features package that raises the bar for prospect and customer management applications in the real estate profession.?

The National Association of Realtors?(NAR) reports an addressable audience of more that 1.2 million real estate professionals who can benefit from purpose-built productivity tools. A 2005 REALTOR?Technology Study indicated that 87% of NAR members surveyed indicated that selling is easier with advancements in technology. 2

?his is a well-timed vertical industry introduction for a product such as ACT!,?said Sheryl Kingstone, CRM industry analyst for Yankee Group Research, Inc. ?onsidering the continuing proliferation of data sharing through Web and mobile devices and the maturing trend of industry-specific solutions, there is much more value customer management tools can continue to deliver.?

Purpose-Built Real Estate Specifics

ACT! Premium for Real Estate combines easy implementation and an intuitive user interface to help real estate professionals:

Centralize and organize buyer, seller and vendor information for instant access;
Grow relationships into sales through prospecting and marketing communications;
Prioritize work to stay on top of appointments and tasks;
Manage leads in a timely manner from initial inquiry through close;
Report sales progress from a complete view of customer interactions; and
Link to Palm OS?or Pocket PC handheld devices for mobile data access.
ACT! Premium for Real Estate leverages the flexible ACT! database framework to enable a variety of industry-specific customizations including:

Real Estate Custom Layout ?/strong> Custom data layout includes fields for standard contact information as well as quick-glance buyer interests including price range, square footage, number of rooms, residence type and location.

Real Estate Custom Activities ? Manage call, meeting and to-do activities plus more than 20 customized activities including prospecting, marketing, listing, open house and closing tasks.

Real Estate Custom Activity Series ? Track a series of events or a standard set of processes using nine customized activity series that include active/new/prospect listing, active/new/prospect buyer, open house, expired listings and for-sale-by-owner listings.

Real Estate Custom Letter Templates ? Standard ACT! letter templates such as prospecting and thank you letters plus 30 customized real estate templates including letters to buyers/sellers, lead follow-up, open house follow-up and referral letters.

Real Estate Custom Report Templates ?/strong> More than 40 standard ACT! reports plus six report templates to help track, measure and analyze real estate specific activities.

MLS Access ? One-click access to MLS sites from within ACT! using an active Internet connection. Search for properties and attach relevant listings to the appropriate ACT! contact to keep a history of house listings sent to clients.

ACT! for Real Estate is available for $469.99 MSRP in the ACT! Estore at www.act.com and by phoning 888-ACT-2006. Organizations with five or more users can contact ACT! Corporate Licensing at 888-855-5222 or one of the more than 600 ACT! Certified Consultants located at www.act.com/certifiedconsultants. Customers can upgrade to ACT! Premium for Real Estate from ACT! by Sage 2005 or earlier versions for $299.95; upgrades from ACT! by Sage 2006 are $199.95, and upgrades from ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups 2006 are $99.95.

ACT! by Sage
ACT!, first introduced in 1987, is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 32,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment and customization options to help individuals, selling professionals and corporate workgroups improve productivity and increase sales.

ACT! by Sage is part of Sage CRM Solutions, the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and mid-sized businesses that also includes Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com or call 888-855-5222.

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Three new ACT! Add-on solutions enable dashboard sales performance analysis, Web site lead management and account management for individuals and sales teams

Scottsdale, Ariz. ?May 3, 2006 ?/strong> Sage Software announced today that its ACT! Add-on partners ASDS Computer, eGrabber Inc. and Topline Results Corporation have each introduced new add-on solutions for use with the ACT! by Sage contact and customer management product family . The add-on partners have respectively built new account management, Web site lead management and sales performance analysis applications using the ACT! software development kit. More than 60 ACT! add-on solutions are currently available to complement and expand the ACT! user experience, offering innovative productivity tools that simplify key business activities.

The ACT! add-on partner?niverse is comprised of expert developers who tap into and expand on our core functionality,” said Joe Bergera, ACT! senior vice president and general manager for Sage Software. “While our program attracts new developers at a rapid pace, it is equally important to note that current partners continue to expand the range of solutions they deliver on the ACT! framework. Indeed, the commitment of?ur many?xisting add-on partners demonstrates that?ur 2.5 million?sers?alue the innovative third-party?olutions built on our framework.”

Sage Software reviews all ACT! add-on solutions to ensure they integrate with ACT! and enhance the ACT! user experience. New ACT! add-on solutions include:

Topline Dash Administrator by Topline Results Corporation

Centralizes, filters and organizes key ACT! activity, opportunity, notes and history information in a real-time interactive dashboard view for sales team performance analysis. Managers can receive periodic dashboard reports via email and drill down into key performance indicators (KPIs) for all sales representatives.

Web Response Grabber by eGrabber Inc.

Automates lead processing by importing information from Web site e-mail forms. Includes features for checking duplicates, creating auto responses, scheduling follow-ups, removing bounced e-mails and distributing leads among sales representatives.

AccountCenter by ASDS Computer
Enables account-based viewing and management of ACT! contacts with commands for automatically creating linked companies from contacts. A ‘create contact from company’ dialog box auto-fills company field data and a dynamic company navigator provides selection of a current lookup list view or company tree view, among other functions.

ACT! by Sage
ACT! is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 32,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment options to help improve productivity and increase sales.

ACT! by Sage is part of Sage CRM Solutions, the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and mid-sized businesses that also includes Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com or call 888-855-5222.

ACT! Add-on Partner program
From front-office marketing solutions to back-office integration with other productivity solutions, ACT! add-on products help users integrate needed business functionality with ACT! so they can be more productive and run their businesses more cost efficiently.

ACT! add-on partners design solutions that help further extend the functionality of ACT! for individual users and ACT! workgroups. A complete list of ACT! add-on solutions and pricing is available at www.actsolutions.com .

Developers within the ACT! Add-on Partner Program receive access to the ACT! software development kit, product development guidance and have the opportunity to participate in product marketing programs. Interested developers are encouraged to visit www.act.com/partners/addons.

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New Sage Migrator enables easy, flexible and cost-efficient migration paths within Sage CRM Solutions product family and from competitive systems

Nashville, Tenn. ?May 8, 2006 ?At Insights 2006, its annual business partner conference, Sage Software announced a comprehensive migration strategy for its Sage CRM Solutions product family anchored by the new Sage Migrator to enable ACT! by Sage data migration to Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. The Sage Migrator is also designed to help users of competitive CRM offerings, who are unhappy with the performance of their current systems, transition to a Sage CRM Solution and benefit from the product family? diverse implementation choices and flexible capabilities as their business needs change. Migration from Goldmine to all Sage CRM Solutions was introduced as the first in a series of competitive migration paths.

The Sage Migrator also helps Sage CRM Solutions business partners develop a migration service competency with packaged migration solutions that open up new customer acquisition opportunities.

?he Sage CRM Solutions portfolio covers the broadest addressable market of all CRM vendors, and the new Sage Migrator helps our customers expand the value of their CRM investments. As our customers?businesses evolve, they can expect simple and flexible migration to the appropriate CRM product in the Sage portfolio,?explained Dave Batt, general manager of Global CRM for Sage Software. ?nd since change is inevitable in today? business climate, the Sage Migrator also allows customers of competitive CRM products to migrate to the most appropriate Sage CRM Solutions product.?/p>

?RM, as both an organizational strategy and as applications functionality, is very fluid,?noted Mary Wardley, Vice President of Enterprise Applications and CRM Software research for IDC. ?rganizations that have traveled the CRM path realize this and desire products and business partners that can help them build an environment that accommodates change and at the same time leverages their investments - in time, money, and intellectual capital. Tools like Sage’s Migrator are an important step in supporting these goals.?/p>

Migration Without A Migraine

Moving information from one CRM system to another has historically been complicated by the number and types of different data sources involved. The Sage Migrator uses advanced technologies such as Web services to ensure data accuracy, maintain low total cost of ownership and address the full spectrum of user scenarios, regardless of format or data source. The Sage Migrator addresses:

First generation CRM adopters who recognize the need for a CRM system and need to migrate their data from several disparate sources;
Current CRM users who have outdated CRM systems that do not support their evolving business needs in a functional or cost-effective manner;
Current CRM users reluctant to upgrade or re-architect their existing systems due to uncertainty created by vendor consolidation and their need for better business process integration;
Sage Software customers looking to migrate easily across the Sage CRM Solutions product family for more advanced CRM capabilities as their businesses grow.

?oday? announcement reinforces our strategic focus on customers: With Sage, customers can choose a CRM solution that meets their needs today with the confidence of knowing they can readily grow into more advanced solutions as their needs evolve,?stated Batt.

Sage? global CRM strategy, first introduced October 19, 2005, takes advantage of the company? strong local presence in countries around the world, where sales, service, and support capabilities serve 4.7 million businesses and work with 23,000 business partners and 40,000 accountant partners. By centralizing the development of key functions such as localization, integration and migration, Sage can deliver stronger and more flexible products to local markets faster.

The Sage Migrator is priced from $495 to $1495, per time-based user licensing, and is available now for Asia Pacific, North American and European customers with the following migration packs: ACT! (version 6, 7, to Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix; and Goldmine (version 5 and 6) to ACT! by Sage, Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix.

Sage CRM Solutions
Sage CRM Solutions is the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and mid-sized businesses and includes ACT! by Sage for individuals, small businesses and enterprise workgroups; Sage CRM that provides hosted and on-premises CRM for small and mid-sized businesses; and Sage CRM SalesLogix that provides full suite, customizable CRM for mid-sized businesses and small enterprises. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com or call (800) 643-6400.

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Contact and customer management solution increases communication with prospects and customers, adding approximately $5.5 million to annual sales revenues

Scottsdale, Ariz. – May 22, 2006 – Sage Software announced today that Calvis Wyant Luxury Homes, a Scottsdale-based builder of high-end homes, is using ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups to manage customer marketing activities and maintain subcontractor and warranty records. Calvis Wyant has implemented ACT! as its core communication system, holding critical information for each department, which is vital for streamlining communication and reducing costs that can be incurred when managing multiple projects. The company estimates that its use of ACT! helps generate an additional $5.5 million towards annual sales revenues.

“ACT! provides us with the competitive advantage of well-managed, timely and frequent customer interaction,” said Margaret Kelly, director of marketing and administration for Calvis Wyant Luxury Homes. “With ACT!, we can target potential customers when they are most likely to fit a buying cycle. For example, we track land purchases in ACT! and schedule our marketing efforts to these prospects using the activity alarms function.”

Customizations Fit Builder’s Precise Needs

Calvis Wyant realized a need to centralize and organize the growing company’s records with ACT! after attempting to network its employees using Goldmine ® , Microsoft ® Outlook ® and Daytimer. The company chose Action Consultants & Trainers, part of the ACT! Certified Consultant community, to implement a customized version of ACT! that tracks specific details including homeowners association information, lot and permit numbers and utility provider information.

Calvis Wyant also uses ACT! to automate marketing activities such as brochure, letter and postcard mailings to manage ongoing communication with prospective buyers. Employees use ACT! to further strengthen their relationships with current customers. Warranty and subcontractor information is attached to each record so customer service representatives can respond to any customer inquiry with the most up-to-date information and achieve faster issue resolution.

“Calvis Wyant previously tried to share customer data across its organization using alternative systems. None of these delivered the ease of use, customization and data sharing capabilities in a way the company required,” noted Debora Boyle of Action Consultants & Trainers. “By centralizing data in ACT!, employees have gained a complete view of all activities associated with each customer and prospect, and the company continues to increase home sales while building stronger relationships along the way.”

ACT! by Sage
ACT!, first introduced in 1987, is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 32,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment and customization options to help individuals, selling professionals and corporate workgroups improve productivity and increase sales.

ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups 2006 – for workgroups of up to 50 networked users 1 is available by contacting ACT! Corporate Sales at 888-855-5222 and from more than 600 ACT! Certified Consultants located at www.act.com/certifiedconsultants

($399.99 MSRP, upgrade $259.95 MSRP)

ACT! by Sage 2006 – for individuals and small teams of up to ten networked users, available at popular software retailers, e-tailers and direct resellers or by contacting Sage Software at 888-ACT-2006 or www.act.com/estore ($229.99 MSRP, upgrade $149.95 MSRP)

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ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups, with range of online and offline deployment options, continues rapid customer growth to outpace comparable market alternatives

Scottsdale, Ariz. – June 5, 2006 – Sage Software announced today that more than 35,000 corporate customers have selected an ACT! by Sage contact and customer management solution as of the six-year period ending March 31, 2006. The latest ACT! corporate account figure, by comparison, eclipses the 22,700 customers currently listed by salesforce.com. 1 Sage Software attributes the continuing advantage that ACT! measures over market alternatives to the ease-of-use, low cost and flexible online, offline and mobile deployment options offered by the ACT! product family.

“With ACT!, individuals, small and mid-sized businesses and divisions of large corporations can benefit from a fully modernized sales productivity solution at a low cost of ownership,” said Joe Bergera, senior vice president and general manager for Sage Software. “The ACT! product family provides a broad range of access methods so that our expanding range of customers can work how they want from wherever they want, experience rapid time to productivity and achieve a strong return on their investment.”

ACT! created the contact and customer management software category in 1987 and today, in addition to more than 35,000 corporate customers, is also the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users to organize, access and manage their critical business information. ACT! corporate customers are defined as those with 10 or more licenses purchased from the ACT! corporate sales team, since its formation in 2000.

ACT! by Sage Product Family
Solutions within the ACT! product family allow on-the-go professionals to access data and contact and customer management functionality in virtually any business environment. ACT! Windows products include links to popular Palm OS® and Pocket PC handheld devices as well as the ability to access information via Citrix® or Terminal Services. 2 The ACT! product family includes:

ACT! by Sage – for individuals and small teams of up to ten networked users

($229.99 MSRP, upgrade $149.95 MSRP)

ACT! Premium for Workgroups – for workgroups of up to 50 networked users 3

($399.99 MSRP, upgrade $259.95 MSRP)

ACT! Premium For Web – enables remote and on-premise user access to real-time, centralized ACT! data via a Web browser. 4 Integrates with ACT! Premium for Workgroups to enable a seamless online/offline solution

($399.99 MSRP, upgrade $259.95 MSRP)

ACT! Premium For Real Estate – builds on the core contact and customer management features of ACT! while equipping residential real estate professionals with industry-specific customizations and features

( $469.99 MSRP; upgrades from ACT! 2005 or earlier $299.95, upgrades from ACT! 2006 $199.95, upgrades from ACT! Premium for Workgroups $99.95)

ACT! for Palm OS – operates as a native application on an individual’s Palm OS handheld device to enable access, adding and updating of pre-defined and custom data fields, 5 notes and history, activities, calendar information and sales opportunities

($99.99 MSRP, upgrade $69.95 MSRP)

HandHeld Contact for ACT! – allows BlackBerry 7520™ handheld device users to access and manage complete ACT! databases remotely using wireless technology

(ACT! Add-on solution with Sprint subscription service: $24.95/month, $239/year)

ACT! by Sage is available from popular software retailers, e-tailers and direct resellers or by contacting Sage Software at 888-ACT-2006 or www.act.com/estore. ACT! Premium products are available by contacting ACT! Corporate Sales at 888-855-5222 or by locating an ACT! Certified Consultants at www.act.com/certifiedconsultants.

ACT! by Sage is part of Sage CRM Solutions, the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and mid-sized businesses that also includes Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com.

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ACT! by Sage and Peachtree by Sage available for instructional use by 389 regional SCORE small business counseling and training chapters

Scottsdale, Ariz. ?June 13, 2006 ?Sage Software announced today that it has formed a nationwide strategic alliance with SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business,?a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The alliance makes ACT! by Sage contact and customer management and Peachtree by Sage accounting solutions available for instructional use to 389 regional SCORE offices that provide free assistance and learning seminars to over 350,000 entrepreneurs annually. Sage Software is also linking each SCORE office with local ACT! and Peachtree certified consultants for training and consulting opportunities.

SCORE CEO Ken Yancey says, ?CORE is pleased to form an alliance with Sage Software, a leader in providing software and business solutions.?Yancey adds, ?he ACT! and Peachtree software will help SCORE counselors provide clients with additional tools and resources that can help them start and grow their business to success.?

SCORE has a network of 10,500 counselors, including 1,300 online counselors, who provide business advice on how to write business plans, manage cash flow and grow existing businesses. Business owners can access SCORE counseling services via face-to-face sessions or online, as well as attend business training workshops. SCORE hosted 117,480 workshop clients and conducted 93,691 online consulting sessions in its fiscal year 2005.

?ccording to the SBA, the 27.4 million small businesses in the United States represent 99.7 percent of all employers,” noted Doug Meyer, President of Sage Software, Small Business Division. “We are clearly in the right place by aligning with SCORE, given that we share the common mission of enabling small business success. Unique to SCORE are its thousands of counselors who offer real-world experience gained from owning their own businesses. Putting ACT! and Peachtree in their hands for best practice sharing is a natural fit.”

ACT! created the contact and customer management software category in 1987 and is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 35,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment and customization options to help individuals, selling professionals and corporate workgroups improve productivity and increase sales. For more information visit www.act.com or call (888) ACT-2006.

For 30 years, Peachtree accounting products have served the needs of growing small businesses that rely on their accounting to give them the insight they need to make better business decisions. Peachtree helps small businesses efficiently manage and streamline their accounting and business management operations by providing powerful accounting with strong analysis tools and operations management features including tight integration with Microsoft ?Office and comprehensive reporting functionality. For more information visit www.peachtree.com or call (800) 228-0068.

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Integration with accounting and ERP systems provides complete view of business processes, builds stronger customer relationships and increases sales revenue

Scottsdale, Ariz. ?July 5, 2006 ?/strong> Sage Software announced today that Brown & Sharpe, Inc., a manufacturer of coordinate measuring machines, is using ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups to build its sales pipeline, increase sales revenue and manage customer relationships. Brown & Sharpe has integrated ACT! with its accounting and ERP systems to enable sales forecasts and better manage aftermarket revenue through the identification of cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Prior to implementing ACT!, the company? data was located in a variety of different places including disconnected regional databases and employees?handwritten notes. Brown & Sharpe has consolidated data in a centralized ACT! database to ensure it is current, secure and will not be lost should any sales force turnover occur.

Complete View of Sales Opportunities

Brown & Sharpe discussed several technology options with its sales force and learned that many employees already had a strong commitment to ACT!. Recognizing that user adoption is a common implementation challenge, Brown & Sharpe worked with DesignR1 , an ACT! Certified Consultant, to customize ACT! Premium for Workgroups to support the company? specialized business processes. All customer information is now stored and organized in a single ACT! database that is integrated with the company? proprietary accounting and ERP systems.

The ACT! integration capabilities enable Brown & Sharpe employees to access estimates, invoices and payments for each customer, and help sales representatives approach prospects and customers with the most up to date information.

Brown & Sharpe also worked with DesignR1 to link ACT! with its ERP system and create an automated response process that generates a contact and follow-up activity in ACT! when customers log on to the company? Web site. A nightly process creates records ?including serial number, ship date, model numbers and quantities ?for all of the products shipped that day. Sales representatives use the records to identify potential aftermarket sales opportunities; a business that is as profitable to Brown & Sharpe as its original equipment sales.

?CT! was the ideal choice for Brown & Sharpe in part because a significant number of the company? sales representatives were personally using individual versions of the solution, and also because the system simplifies database consolidation,?explained Rainer Hoffmueller, managing director for DesignR1 . ?erging data into a centralized ACT! database and integrating with their accounting and ERP systems helped employees gain and share access to critical information, resulting in more profitable customer relationships.?

ACT! by Sage
ACT!, first introduced in 1987, is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 35,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment and customization options to help individuals, selling professionals and corporate workgroups improve productivity and increase sales.

ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups 2006 ?for workgroups of up to 50 networked users* is available by contacting ACT! Corporate Sales at 888-855-5222 and from more than 600 ACT! Certified Consultants located at www.act.com/certifiedconsultants ($399.99 MSRP, upgrade $259.95 MSRP)

ACT! by Sage 2006 ?for individuals and small teams of up to ten networked users, available at popular software retailers, e-tailers and direct resellers or by contacting Sage Software at 888-ACT-2006 or www.act.com/estore ($229.99 MSRP, upgrade $149.95 MSRP)

ACT! by Sage is part of Sage CRM Solutions, the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and medium-sized businesses that also includes Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com or call (800) 643-6400.

*Actual number of users and contacts supported will vary based on hardware and size and usage of your database. The 50 user limit is based on performance tests using minimum hardware requirements and is a recommendation. You must purchase one license of ACT! per user.

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ACT! add-on solutions leveraged to enable ACT! functionality on BlackBerry?devices and enhance sales dashboard reporting

Scottsdale, Ariz. – July 25, 2006 – Sage Software today announced that Mediware, a leader in developing clinical information systems for health care organizations, is using ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups to improve cross-divisional product sales, drive sales representative accountability and track the sales pipeline of the company’s three divisions. Mediware has 41 employees using ACT! and has implemented Handheld Contact for ACT!, an add-on solution that enables ACT! features on BlackBerry handheld devices, for use by its mobile sales representatives.

Mediware also uses the Topline Dash Manager ACT! add-on solution to monitor which accounts sales representatives are calling into and when they are meeting with customers. The enhanced tracking capabilities have increased sales representative accountability with more accurate activity reporting and performance metrics.

“We wanted to make it easier for any sales rep from any division to cross-sell products,” said Christine Gofron, sales administrator for Mediware. “ACT! provided the perfect framework to build the relational sales processes and reporting procedures. Our entire team is more productive as a result.”

Employees from Mediware’s medication management, blood bank and operating room divisions all work within one central and secure ACT! Premium for Workgroups database. The sales team uses ACT! to build and share a history file of difficult selling situations so they can refer back to notes when situations warrant. Marketing employees use ACT! to generate email campaigns and record a history of each email sent to its respective ACT! contact record. Employees can also work with data in a Microsoft ® Excel ® spreadsheet using the one-click export to-Excel feature.

Customized Data Extends To The Field

Mediware’s sales representatives work across the U.S. making it difficult for management to touch base with each daily. Mobile representatives previously had to log in at night and catch up on entering status for each customer. ACT! now allows everyone to update their sales opportunities anytime, while they are in the field.

The company has built custom tabs in ACT! to track pertinent information specific to their products, markets and sales pipeline needs. This ability enables their sales teams to be more effective and enables management to more closely monitor the business.

Simplified Database Administration

Mediware’s sales administrator was tasked with implementing ACT! for the organization including customized opportunity management and sales pipeline features for the company’s team of sales representatives based on a specific strategic selling process. She had never worked with a contact and customer management system but found ACT! to be user friendly and capable of administering without any IT training.

“When I found out I could administer the whole thing myself, my job satisfaction increased dramatically,” explained Gofron. “I taught myself data import and custom layout, then wrote and presented a training manual for our staff. I now have two operational databases on the server – one for our sales team and another for testing new customizations before I roll them out to everyone.”

ACT! by Sage

ACT!, first introduced in 1987, is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 35,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment and customization options to help individuals, selling professionals and corporate workgroups improve productivity and increase sales.

ACT! by Sage is part of Sage CRM Solutions, the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and mid-sized businesses that also includes Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com or call 888-855-5222.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Blog

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Centralized contact data and dynamic reporting provides non-profit a view across organizational activities and supports its strategic plan

Scottsdale, Ariz. – August 31, 2006 – Sage Software today announced that Pathways Home Health, Hospice and Private Duty, a community-based, not-for-profit healthcare organization, is using ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups to centralize information on referral sources who drive the organization’s activities and community leaders who assist in achieving the organization’s mission. Pathways is using ACT! to identify the most valuable referral sources, and manage targeted mailings and phone outreach to key decision makers.

“ACT! has made an enormous, positive impact on our ability to record and retain information about our referral sources and community leaders, and provides us with a centralized database that is widely and more easily accessible by all of our employees,” said Sandra Coolidge, RN, Director of Community Relations for Pathways. “As a manager, I have more in-depth knowledge of employee contributions, which helps me focus my staff’s efforts on the areas most related to our strategic goals.”

Valuable Information Stays Within The Organization

Prior to implementing ACT!, Pathways did not have a central repository for managing information about its referral sources – such as doctors, hospitals and elder care facilities – and community leaders that give valuable input and influence the organization’s goals. Pathways could only store basic contact details for these individuals in its clinical database and on simple spreadsheets. Additionally, employees kept personal files but could not easily share this information with one another. Pathways wanted a way for employees to collaborate while ensuring that key details were documented and remained within the organization when employees left.

Pathways worked with Contactivation, an ACT! Certified Consultant, to customize ACT! for the homecare organization. Contactivation and Pathways created fields within ACT! to track community education coordinators’ activities, physician preferencesand the types of services most often requested. Contactivation also created customized mailing capabilities using the Groups function in ACT! so that Pathways can track these communications and ensure that appropriate audiences are targeted for each mailing.

Pathways has a task force that meets each month to identify ACT! customization and training needs, ensuring that ACT! is maximized to continually drive value for the organization.

Strategic Reporting Keeps Non-Profit On Track For Success

Pathways also uses ACT! as a reporting system to identify opportunities for improving operations, communications and productivity. The organization generates a monthly dashboard report that tracks how many education activities, such as community and professional presentations, each staff member has completed.

Pathways can also categorize and analyze referral sources to identify where its business is coming from. For example, the non-profit can categorize all referrals for a particular month based on the multiple individuals who contribute to the referral process. Pathways can then target education and communication efforts to the most appropriate people.

“ACT! was the optimal choice for Pathways because easy customizations allow the application to evolve with the organization and adapt to its processes,” said Karl Dumas, president, Contactivation. “Now, the quality of Pathways’ information has improved and the time required to generate comprehensive reports has decreased significantly.”

ACT! by Sage

ACT!, first introduced in 1987, is the preferred choice of over 2.5 million registered users and more than 35,000 corporate customers to organize, access and manage their critical customer information. ACT! delivers powerful contact and customer management capabilities with flexible deployment and customization options to help individuals, selling professionals and corporate workgroups improve productivity and increase sales.

ACT! by Sage is part of Sage CRM Solutions, the only family of CRM products designed specifically for the needs of small and mid-sized businesses that also includes Sage CRM, SageCRM.com and Sage CRM SalesLogix. For more details, visit www.sagecrmsolutions.com or call 888-855-5222.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Blog

Filed under: ACT! | No Comments »