Act! CRM vs. WinMan ERP Software

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.

Incentivized

Winman ERP is well suited to our business and we have not felt the need to look further. The great strength for us is the MRP facility but each business is unique and must make it's own assessment. The accounting side just works - nothing to add here.

• 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.

• MRP - our inventory forecasting is done within Winman using the MRP facility. This allows us to place timely orders with our suppliers.
• Inventory transfers and value uplifts (to reflect actual landed cost) are simply catered for and fully integrated into the accounting system.
• Integration with our website ensures that accurate data flows throughout the whole process.

• 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.

• Having used Winman ERP for a long time now it fully suits our needs.

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

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!

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.

My few queries are answered promptly.

Delay your upgrades! ACT appears to ship out new software with virtually no checking and no concern about bad installs do to their customers.

As with any business project, a clear plan with clearly defined outcomes is key.

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!.

Incentivized

Having used Winman ERP for many years through various iterations we have not felt the need to look elsewhere

• 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%.

Incentivized

• The key thing is to be able to do more with less people, removing as much repetitive work as possible.
• More automation allows us to grow the business whilst being able to concentrate on core competencies that cannot be automated such as product development, branding and marketing.
• Inventory planning is simplified through the use of MRP. Top level skus are readily converted into POs for timely component procurement which means we have the best opportunity to fill sales orders.