Act! CRM vs. Talkdesk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Act! CRM
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Act! CRM (formerly Swiftpage) aims to empower small businesses to build and manage client relationships and leads, so the user always has a pipeline of new, repeat, and referral business under control. Users can manage their businesses with Act! CRM every day, since it’s more than a CRM – it’s designed to present everything needed to stay on top of relationships, see what’s most important and actionable, and run sales and marketing in one place.
$22
per month
Talkdesk
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Talkdesk is a cloud-based contact center platform with voice, digital channel, and workforce engagement management capabilities. Talkdesk’s key features are its customizable user interface, built-in AI automation, and its integration with numerous CRM and helpdesk applications.
$85
per month per user
Pricing
Act! CRMTalkdesk
Editions & Modules
Essentials
$22
per user, per month
Act! Premium - Basic
$37.50
per user, per month (billed annually)
Standard
$40
per user, per month
Expert
$55
per user, per month
Select - Extra Features
$79
per user, per month (billed annually)
Complete - Extra Features
$199
per user, per month (billed annually)
Advanced - Extra Features
$399
per user, per month (billed annually)
CX Cloud Essentials
$85
per month per user
CX Cloud Elevate
$115
per month per user
CX Cloud Elite
$145
per month per user
Industry Experience Clouds
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Act! CRMTalkdesk
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsFor SaaS version, discount available for annual subscription.
More Pricing Information
Features
Act! CRMTalkdesk
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
6.5
3 Ratings
17% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Customer data management / contact management9.83 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow management7.42 Ratings00 Ratings
Territory management8.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Opportunity management9.53 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)1.73 Ratings00 Ratings
Quote & order management4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Interaction tracking9.42 Ratings00 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management1.42 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
6.0
2 Ratings
22% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Case management1.92 Ratings00 Ratings
Call center management8.22 Ratings00 Ratings
Help desk management8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
2.1
3 Ratings
113% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Lead management2.13 Ratings00 Ratings
Email marketing2.13 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
4.0
2 Ratings
62% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Task management8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting3.02 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
4.8
3 Ratings
45% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Forecasting4.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Pipeline visualization4.73 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable reports5.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
3.2
3 Ratings
81% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Custom fields7.83 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom objects2.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Scripting environment2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
API for custom integration1.12 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
8.0
2 Ratings
4% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
1.8
3 Ratings
119% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Marketing automation1.83 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
2.1
3 Ratings
112% below category average
Talkdesk
-
Ratings
Mobile access2.13 Ratings00 Ratings
Contact Center Software
Comparison of Contact Center Software features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
-
Ratings
Talkdesk
8.4
435 Ratings
0% above category average
Agent dashboard00 Ratings8.4416 Ratings
Validate callers00 Ratings8.2365 Ratings
Outbound response00 Ratings8.4381 Ratings
Call forwarding00 Ratings8.6370 Ratings
Click-to-call (CTC)00 Ratings8.9345 Ratings
Warm transfer00 Ratings8.9392 Ratings
Predictive dialing00 Ratings8.6194 Ratings
Interactive voice response00 Ratings8.3270 Ratings
REST APIs00 Ratings8.1216 Ratings
Call scripts00 Ratings8.1191 Ratings
Call tracking00 Ratings8.7386 Ratings
Multichannel integration00 Ratings8.1281 Ratings
CRM software integration00 Ratings8.0336 Ratings
Workforce Optimization (WFO)
Comparison of Workforce Optimization (WFO) features of Product A and Product B
Act! CRM
-
Ratings
Talkdesk
8.7
422 Ratings
5% above category average
Inbound call routing00 Ratings8.7384 Ratings
Omnichannel inbound routing00 Ratings8.5272 Ratings
Recording00 Ratings9.3406 Ratings
Quality management00 Ratings9.0367 Ratings
Call analytics00 Ratings8.9381 Ratings
Historical reporting00 Ratings8.4388 Ratings
Live reporting00 Ratings8.8382 Ratings
Customer surveys00 Ratings8.2208 Ratings
Customer interaction analytics00 Ratings8.4238 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Act! CRMTalkdesk
Small Businesses
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Bright Pattern Contact Center
Bright Pattern Contact Center
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Google Cloud Contact Center AI
Google Cloud Contact Center AI
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Act! CRMTalkdesk
Likelihood to Recommend
2.3
(18 ratings)
8.2
(448 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.0
(2 ratings)
8.8
(36 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(7 ratings)
8.7
(264 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.8
(6 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
1.9
(14 ratings)
8.6
(130 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.0
(2 ratings)
8.1
(204 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Act! CRMTalkdesk
Likelihood to Recommend
ACT! LLC
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
Talkdesk
Despite the cost, the ease with which you are able to navigate the system is actually tedious. We have to have specialists in the business to aid in getting some of the reports and making changes to the system. Calls are delayed between us and customers as there is no tower on our continent for the system.
Read full review
Pros
ACT! LLC
  • 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.
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Talkdesk
  • We were able to replace on-premise solution with Talkdesk Cloud solution within project timelines
  • We were able to migrate region by region while keeping our existing IVR numbers to minimize the impact on customer.
  • We were able to integrate Talkdesk with our cloud CRM, AWS storage and reporting applications
  • The IVR flow changes are easier to understand and manage and to onboard any new team members to support the agents
Read full review
Cons
ACT! LLC
  • 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
Talkdesk
  • From experience, customer service is terrible, we've had 5 account executives over 18 months, extremely difficult to get timely answers to pressing issues.
  • Integration with other tools, such as ServiceNow, is not truly integration (in my opinion). There was a marked difference between what the salesperson communicated during the evaluation period and what we actually got once we purchased and implemented the product.
  • We continue to have stability issues which force our agents to restart the Talkdesk client. I frequently receive vague error messages ('something went wrong') that can be frustrating as there's no actual detail to what happened. To be fair, it has improved since we implemented the tool, but if you were to ask our agents what frustrated them, Talkdesk would be at the top of their list.
  • Being a multi-channel platform was one of the things that drew us to Talkdesk; however, the chat channel lags way behind voice in customization and reporting.
  • Lack of training resources. The 'Talkdesk Academy' is often very out-of-date. Would be nice to have actual webinars or online training (even paid training) for various functions of the tool like reporting, WFM, IVR, etc.
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Likelihood to Renew
ACT! LLC
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
Talkdesk
Renewing the use of talkdesk is a cost-effective solution for our company. By continuing to use it, we can leverage potential cost savings and efficiencies. For instance, talkdesk may have features that automate certain processes or enable better resource allocation, resulting in reduced operational costs. Secondly, renewing the contract contributes to enhanced customer service. Talkdesk likely offers specific functionalities that improve customer satisfaction and support. This could include features such as intelligent routing or real-time analytics that help agents provide personalized assistance and resolve issues more effectively. Thirdly, renewing the contract ensures seamless integration and compatibility with other systems or technologies used in our company. Having a unified system across different departments or functions enhances efficiency and reduces potential disruptions caused by incompatible systems. Moreover, there may be benefits gained from data sharing or streamlined workflows enabled by an integrated platform.
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Usability
ACT! LLC
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
Talkdesk
I gave this rating because, All in all, TalkDesk is an excellent software. For our Contact Center, it is a perfect match because of its user-friendly interface and low complexity. Navigating the Talkdesk UI is not too difficult. Using a Web Widget, the product simplifies phone answering and transfer for users. From a management/admin standpoint, the software data analytics interface has improved over the past year, giving us access to more crucial insights regarding agent efficiency and client interactions
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Reliability and Availability
ACT! LLC
No answers on this topic
Talkdesk
I have never had a problem making a phone call or an issue getting a line out. More times than not it is the customer that will have a bad connection or have a lot of noise on their end. I have had experience w/ dropped calls, but never not being able to access a line
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Performance
ACT! LLC
No answers on this topic
Talkdesk
We have never had a Talkdesk performance issue. As long as you follow the system requirements, which are MINIMAL, neither will you.
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Support Rating
ACT! LLC
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.
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Talkdesk
If Talkdesk had a dedicated phone support line I would have given this rating an overall 10. Their knowledge base is absolutely HUGE and at times very helpful. It's easy to search through and their customer support chat system works perfectly fine, but there are just some times that you need to speak to a human on the phone to ensure you are always on the same page.
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In-Person Training
ACT! LLC
No answers on this topic
Talkdesk
I was shown how to use Talkdesk and was happy with it. I learned all I needed.
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Online Training
ACT! LLC
No answers on this topic
Talkdesk
Training was simple as the app is easy to use. The phone has gone through upgrades since but it's very adaptive and doesn't require a complete session. There are articles available for self help in case something is forgotten. There are a lot of functions to talkdesk and we have not used all of them
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Implementation Rating
ACT! LLC
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
Talkdesk
Really easy to get set up out of the box. Anything I needed to understand further, I was able to just hop into the Academy and self-teach. I could then bring my team-members to those same sections so they could learn as well without me having to put together complicated SOP's / etc
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Alternatives Considered
ACT! LLC
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
Talkdesk
We were unable to easily access call metrics using WM. Since the switch to Talkdesk, we have not had to struggle with our reporting at all. All the information we need is readily available and can be exported. We are also able to modify the metrics that we need and have them compiled in different ways. The information on Talkdesk is modifiable and makes it easy for us to get the numbers that we need at the end of the day.
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Scalability
ACT! LLC
No answers on this topic
Talkdesk
We have over 200 employees in 11 states across the United States. Everyone uses Talkdesk. I believe that says a lot about the product and its flexibility. We need to be able to rely on system in order to assist our customers. Reliability and sustainability is important to our success
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Return on Investment
ACT! LLC
  • 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
Talkdesk
  • Decreased average response time on emails - due to proper forecasting by our team but of course by usage of data received from this tool.
  • Increase in quality audit scores through weekly reviews by this tool.
  • Employee morale and company survey as agents are not stressing with the easy use of this tool.
  • Reduced average handle time to ensure first response is addressed or first rings are addressed immediately.
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ScreenShots