Sage Software Launches New ACT! by Sage 2007 (9.0)

Sage Software unveiled the new ACT! by Sage 2007 product family comprised of ACT! by Sage 2007 (9.0), ACT! by Sage Premium for Workgroups 2007 (9.0), ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2007 (9.0) and ACT! for Palm OS® 2.0. Sage Software, for the first time, is announcing a simultaneous upgrade of the entire ACT! product family, enabling users of the number-one selling contact and customer manager to utilize the latest ACT! features from their desktop, laptop, Web browser or Palm OS device.

With the most flexible deployment options, ACT! supports on-line and off-line access to centralized customer data for corporate sales teams, small businesses and individuals. New and improved ACT! 2007 features include direct integration with Microsoft® Outlook®, enhanced user productivity, simplified administration and field-level data security.

“Long recognized for enabling millions of end-users to achieve their dreams and aspirations, Sage is excited to see businesses of all shapes and sizes rapidly adopting ACT! Premium capabilities which are specifically designed to help sales teams and other customer management teams maximize their organizational performance,” explained Joe Bergera, ACT! senior vice president and general manager for Sage Software. “In order to continue providing the industry’s most compelling value proposition for our expanding addressable market, we built ACT! 2007 with the most diverse set of deployment options, application integrations and feature enhancements in its 19 year history.”

ACT! Premium tier products are designed to offer teams and workgroups additional functionality in the areas of centralized administration, advanced opportunity tracking and advanced data security.

“There is no process more intimate to an organization than its sales process,” said Mary Wardley, Vice President of Enterprise Applications and CRM Software research for IDC. “In an economy of ever increasing competition and decreasing margins, internal efficiencies and productivity within the sales function are under scrutiny. Implementing a tool such as ACT! at the corporate level introduces the concepts of shared customer data management and process automation at a time when they are well needed.”

ACT! can be customized for specific business environments and also offers turnkey integration with common business applications such as Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes®, Peachtree by Sage, Sage MAS 90 ERP, Sage MAS 200 ERP, QuickBooks®, and Palm OS, Pocket PC and BlackBerry® handheld devices, among others. Select new and improved features for the standard and Premium-tier ACT! 2007 products include:

Direct Integration with Outlook

Use Outlook E-mail While in ACT!: ACT! opens the Outlook new e-mail message form when users want to send e-mail, send a letter in e-mail, conduct an e-mail mail merge, or send an e-mail by clicking on hyperlinks. Users can also send e-mail to an ACT! Group or Company.(1)

Populate E-mail Address and Create an ACT! History from Outlook: When sending e-mail using Outlook, ACT! will automatically populate the e-mail address in the To, CC, and BCC fields and attach a history to the matching ACT! contact.(2)

Automatic Outlook Calendar Sync: Automate when Outlook calendar synchronization occurs, even when the database is not open.(3)

Create ACT! Contact from Outlook E-mail Message: Contact Name and E-mail Address fields are automatically filled in. Populate 10 additional pre-defined fields such as Company, Address, and Phone Number. ACT! checks for duplicates.(2) (ACT! Windows products only)

User Productivity

Split-Panel Note Preview: View entire contents of a Contact, Group, or Company Note while scrolling for another note using the option of a split-panel within the Notes tab.

Specify Linked Contact/Company Fields: Specify which fields are linked between Contact and Company Records. When a field changes on the Company Record, ACT! prompts users to change that field for all contacts linked to the company.(4)

Last E-mail Field: Identify last e-mail send date from Contact Detail view. Last E-mail field updates any time an e-mail history is created whether using the ACT! E-mail Client integrated with Lotus Notes or Outlook Express, or through direct integration with Outlook.(5)

Advanced Keyword Search: Go to the exact location of a keyword. Locate and highlight terms in Contact, Group, and Company Detail views, and, open notes, history, activities, or opportunities in which they are contained. (ACT! Windows products only)

Administration and Data Security

Password settings: Set rules such as Password Expiration Options, Password Complexity and Password Re-use to help protect valuable contact information.

Field-level security: Restrict access by user or team and grant read-only access or no access to certain fields. Add users to a team and permissions are updated.(6) (ACT! Premium products only)

Secure Notes, History and Opportunities en Masse: From the Contact Record change security access of notes, history, and opportunities en masse. Select multiple notes, history, and opportunities and make them all public or private.

(1)During setup, users must select if they want to access Outlook e-mail through the ACT! E-mail client or direct integration with Outlook.
(2)Requires Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002, or 2003. ACT! must be added as an address book to use this feature.
(3)Requires Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002, or 2003.
(4)Not all fields can be linked and linked field types must be compatible.
(5)Requires Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002, or 2003. Requires Lotus Notes 6.5. Requires Outlook Express 5.5 or 6.0.
(6)Only certain fields can be designated as read-only or no access