ACT!, according to its manufacturer, Sage Software, is a customer contact and management system. Its ease of use and ability to easily integrate with multiple business solutions (including Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and Lotus Notes) has made the system very popular, attracting over 2.8 million users.

Functionality

ACT! allows users to store and manipulation all its customer details in a single location. Users can easily perform mail merges, searches, lookups, personalization projects, duplicate checking and also manage the information from the Web.

Versions

ACT! is offered in multiple formats. Depending on the size of the business and company needs customers can choose from the basic format ACT!, ACT! Premium, ACT! Corporate Edition or the software's vertical versions: ACT! for real estate or financial services.

Which to Choose

ACT! for real estate and financial services are customized for those working within that industry. The software's core product line starts with basic ACT! for individuals and groups of up to 10. ACT! Premium adds additional reporting, security, administration and scalability for any number of groups. The corporate edition is for groups needing all these functions plus the ability to use with Windows and the Web.

Competitors

There are many customer relation management (CRM) systems available from the very large and complex SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft systems, to systems favored by smaller businesses and salespeople such as ACT! and Salesforce.com.

Advantages

The ACT! system's main advantages, according to its users, are its ease of use and lower costs.

Pricing

As of 2010, the cost for ACT! would run a small- to medium-size business around $20 to $30 per user, with Salesforce.com costing approximately 2.5 times more.

Source:

Act.com: ACT! Software

The CRM Alliance: Why Businesses Choose ACT! software Over SalesForce.com

2020Software.com: CRM Software

More Information:

Act.com: ACT! Software Frequently Asked Questions