ACT Consultants Help Determine Which System is Right for You
For years, ACT! software has been the leader in customer relations management. ACT 2010 brings an even greater number of features and additional functionality to the sales room and the boardroom. If you’re a business owner it’s often difficult to determine which version of ACT 2010 will provide your enterprise with the best return on investment. This is one of many areas where ACT consultants can help.
ACT certified consultants have achieved the highest level of excellence in selecting, integrating, and managing ACT 2010. The best ACT consultants have also had years of experience in the CRM field, and understand the special needs of various industries. Obtaining ACT help from consultants before your software purchase can lay the groundwork for an imminently successful implementation.
ACT 2010 is available in the regular version, the Premium version and the Premium for Web version. All three versions allow you to organize contacts and leads using a variety of features, such as over 60 pre-defined fields, extensive notes and history, and the ability to track appointments, opportunities, and task lists.
When it comes to managing daily responsibilities, all three versions of ACT 2010 enable you to manage calls, meetings, and tasks, see multiple calendar views, and schedule recurring events. The differences between the versions come into play with group scheduling, managing resources, and synchronizing with Outlook.
The features involved in tracking sales opportunities are constant across all three versions of ACT 2010 software, with the exception of customization of fields and types. Otherwise, there is a graphical sales tool, a feature called “Instant Quotes,” pre-formatted sales reports, and the ability to export data into Excel.
Communication features include mail merge via letter and email, address verification, customer correspondence history, and Outlook integration. Depending upon the version of ACT 2010 that you choose, you may also access an email client.
All three versions of ACT 2010 give you a suite of tools with which to manage your business, although the specific features vary from version to version. They all have a variety of search capabilities and an interactive dashboard, as well as advanced reporting features. The Premium and Premium for Web versions of ACT 2010 are designed to accommodate large teams, and include special security features and password rules.
ACT consultants can meet with you and analyze the needs of your company and industry, and then recommend which system you should license. Equally important, ACT certified consultants can perform a complete implementation so that your company can get the best possible return on investment. They can also conduct specialized training, system administrator training, on-site support, extensive customization, and data recovery. Moreover, many ACT consultants are remote sales force automation experts and can demonstrate each option so that your sales force can access the system remotely.
There’s no doubt that ACT consultants can effectively serve the interests of your company by offering recommendations, customization, and support.
ACT Consultants Play Pivotal Role in Maximizing ROI
Today, millions of individuals and tens of thousands of companies are using ACT! software solutions to organize contacts and leads, manage daily responsibilities, track sales opportunities, communicate more effectively, and gain insights into their businesses. With options for deployment in a Windows environment, in mobile computing, and in a Web-based interface, ACT 2010 software is a critical tool for helping a wide variety of businesses succeed.
Yet those companies that achieve the best return on their investment make it a point to use ACT consultants in their software implementation. That’s because ACT certified consultants can perform a variety of services that ensure that the software’s effectiveness is maximized for your company’s specific needs.
In essence, ACT consultants meet with you and your team to explore cost effective options to increase the performance of the ACT 2010 software. This translates to less effort on the part of your employees while increasing productivity. They can help increase business performance by providing:
Specialized Training: Although ACT 2010 is superior software, staff training is a crucial component of any systems integration. ACT consultants can determine which components are most useful to your company and conduct extensive staff trainings that will enable your employees to get the most out of ACT 2010. The best ACT consultants offer both on site and online trainings, and offer free follow-up phone support. They can also train your in-house trainers so that new employees can easily come up to speed and consistently and effectively use ACT 2010 software.
System Administrator Training: ACT consultants can train your system administrator in best practices, and will focus on the most useful ACT features for your company. When your system administrator is trained, you will have your own in-house expert.
On-Site Support: If you don’t have an in-house IT department, ACT certified consultants can save you time and money by maintaining your system for you. Service techs can both install and maintain the software on your system.
Customization: ACT consultants can upgrade your ACT software and customize your ACT 2010 to ensure that it provides the highest functionality for your specific business. For example, ACT consultants may be remote sales force automation experts and can integrate your software with handheld devices, providing remote access to your databases.
Data Recovery: Although no business ever dreams that they’ll need data recovery experts, if a worst-case scenario comes to pass, ACT certified consultants can work their magic, recover your data, and minimize your downtime.
There’s no doubt that ACT 2010 provides more features and functionality than previous versions of the software. But in order to get the best return on your investment, it pays to turn to ACT certified consultants to guide you through your purchase, integration, customization, training, and – heaven forbid – data recovery. Experienced ACT consultants have extensive software knowledge and understand the needs of various industries so that they can provide you with the computer system that performs.
Calculate The Value of Free Laptop Deals
Let’s do a little basic arithmetic and try to determine whether free laptop deals are indeed a deal and further are actually free. If we agree to sign a two year contract for mobile broadband at a price of 25 pounds per month the total costs involved will be 600 pounds over the duration of that contract. And if that same amount of mobile broadband were to be contracted for without the inherent cost of free laptop deals that same amount of mobile broadband download would cost approximately 350 pounds. So what is the extra 250 pounds for? That is the price you are actually paying for your “Free” laptop. So now we must determine whether or not the laptop computer being offered is worth 250 pounds. Frankly they are not. Most companies offer a basic netbook not a full fledged laptop computer and as convenient as these little computers may be they are simply worth less money. If there is any area where one should not rush in and sign on the dotted line it is that of mobile broadband. The wiser option is to use pay as you go broadband for a test run of service and mobile broadband coverage. Even with pay as you go dongles your expenditure will be relatively small. At present they cost between 10 and 20 pounds depending on which broadband provider you opt for. And… dongles for laptops can be used on your home desktop computer just by plugging them into USB ports.
