Likelihood to Recommend Swiftpage ACT! would be well suited if you are using a desktop computing environment. ACT! is an old product and they were on the desktop for many years (and still are). Also, ACT! would also be well suited if you are not as concerned about implementing a CRM product that might require a little more training (e.g. if you had employees/salespeople that needed to be trained). Also, ACT! seems to be more generic than some of the industry focused products you see nowadays. For example, MethodCRM works well with non-profits that are on the cloud.
Read full review If you have a mobile workforce, it likely wouldn't be as appropriate (keep in mind we're using the desktop client, and have very limited experience with the web app). It is well suited if your business needs lots of custom processes- find a good vendor. We utilize SimpleSoft out of Ohio, and they have been excellent. Key question: think about where your business is going to be in 5-10 years, and will this CRM solution be able to grow with us?
Read full review Pros Integrated Email Marketing: For a small business, you can have a strong method to handle email marketing in an integrated non-disparate solution. Tailoring: There are no limits on what data you can store in the system and the ease of making changes can be done by a nontechnical person. User Interface: The tool is easy to get around in both the desktop (fat client) and (webclient) which both are quite similar in functionality. Integration: The tool integrates with Word, Excel, and Outlook nicely. And, it integrates with Google Mail and Contacts. There is a nice selection of third party tools available for various needs like AddressGrabber which allows for easy input of contacts from various sources such as email signatures, webpages, etc. Templates: I have enjoyed being able to store tons of various templates for letters which we use over and over for various communications like sales proposals, quotes, and nudging clients along the funnel and sales process. Automation: SwiftPage ACT! has a small business automation engine which allows for reminders and workflow to be administered by the system. It's not as sophisticated as some enterprise workflow automation solutions but for the price it's an awesome addition. Maintenance: Very rarely have a problem which needs to be dealt with and costs to upgrade are minimal at best. We hosted the system internally for the web client and implemented it ourselves initially but had upgrades subsequently done by a local partner simply due to time/cost scenario. In other words, less to have someone else do it. Read full review Saleslogix functionality can be managed to a very granular level for each individual using it. Within the users profile you can restrict access to modules, remove write permission, remove export privileges, etc. Saleslogix has one of the best sync engines I have ever seen. If you allow your outside sales reps to have their own database, they can modify customer record while off line and when they do have internet access they can sync changes in both directions. This functionality works great when you have inside and outside sales staff covering the same territory. Saleslogix can be customized using Visual Basic Code syntax. This is a positive aspect as well as a negative. Our existing Saleslogix is so customized that if we were to upgrade to 8.0 it would cost us over $20k to redo some of the customizations. Upgrades are frequently incompatible with customizations. Read full review Cons Not intuitive to use. I will have to contact support for help if I haven't used some functions in a while. It's near impossible to delete duplicates as they have to be deleted individually. This is a problem if you have more than 5000 contacts. Reporting is difficult. Read full review InforCRM has made dramatic improvements in the web client though in some cases it has been painfully slow to get the most needed things updated. An example is the slow speed of the web client. The newest update is supposed to fix this. The web client does not autosave, so users have to remember to hit the 'save' button at each screen. This is the biggest complaint of users going from the desktop client to the web client. I personally would like to see data panes (account, contact, etc.) with the capability to set up a different view for each team and/or security level that would access the data. Read full review Likelihood to Renew There are a lot of good SaaS options on the market but SwiftPage ACT still has a place in the mix today. It depends on your needs, goals, processes, and people
Read full review Because we've already made the investment in the original on-premise version, the cost per user is relatively low. The product has grown with us and we can now choose a LAN or Web client version and host the site internally, giving us total control of our data. The iPhone and iPad versions allow the sales team quick access in the field and the voice-to-text option is quite handy. SalesLogix doesn't require that our technology stack be constantly up to date which again, keeps our cost down. They are always making enhancements to the product and we can choose to update/upgrade when those enhancements appeal to us enough to justify adding the service pack.
Read full review Usability Try printing reports with each record's notes section - really awful output that you are embarrassed to show anyone. Want to add a new record to a group, ACT will present another record for the group assignment. Want to work seamlessly with email? Forget it!
Read full review It can be a bit slow at times. Its that refresh don't always need to refresh slowing down the user.
Read full review Support Rating There has been an ongoing problem with Google synchronisation which no one seems to be bothered about fixing, even though it clearly states on the website that the software synchronises with Google. When the customer-facing support team are on the phone, they are brilliant, it's the back-end development support which is severely lacking.
Read full review We utilize the support of a local-ish vendor. SimpleSoft is their name. they are great, and very responsive
Read full review Implementation Rating Delay your upgrades! ACT appears to ship out new software with virtually no checking and no concern about bad installs do to their customers.
Read full review Alternatives Considered ACT! CRM is more cost effective than like a
Salesforce , but that is for a reason, it lacks a lot of the functionality that a
Salesforce has.
Pipedrive is actually another cost effective platform I've been evaluating as a potential ACT! CRM replacement. I like it's modern day look and feel versus ACT!.
Read full review We selected INFOR CRM over
Salesforce simply because it was affordable and didn't have so many 'bells & whistles' that
Salesforce has that we were not using. We didn't realize that the compatibility with upgrades were going to be such an issue.
Read full review Return on Investment It's been easy to keep track of progress of goals with the software. This provides the opportunity to know what is working and what is not. We have had to adjust a lot of things since the Virus issue took a foothold, but it is providing invaluable to make those adjustments. Our ROI has increased at least 30%. Read full review It's a CRM, so using a CRM as opposed to not using one is typically a step in the right direction. Slightly lower TCO than other CRMs. Complete end-to-end workflows allow you to quantify and analyze every step in the business process, leading to improved efficiency. Read full review ScreenShots