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Which Contact Management Software?

© Faith Sloan

Last month I provided you with a primer on contact management. This article compares the features of two most popular and feature rich solutions: GoldMine, and ACT!

The joy of GoldMine, a product of Goldmine Software, Inc. at http://www.goldminesw.com/, is that it is designed for group collaboration. The information stored in the contact management database is accessible to all members of your group using their own computer. Your secretary, management team, sales staff and others can all have access to data stored in one place! You can place different levels of security on the contact database.

It also combines contact management, day and time planning, sales automation, workflow automation, sales forecasting and analysis, and mail list management with group calendaring, database design, data synchronization and e-mail messaging.

What really got me excited about the product is the ability for team members to share calendars, contacts data, and create targeted e-mail. You can send and receive all your e-mail through GoldMine and have outgoing or incoming messages automatically link to the corresponding contact record!

GoldMine can be learned on your own but GoldMine Software also provides training which is valuable in itself as it enables you to tap into the power and complexity of the complete product.

GoldMine uses a Dbase database engine but can also be integrated with your existing Oracle or MS-SQL Server database product. You can port your existing data into GoldMine. This will allow you to use your existing data without having to re-type your contact entries.

Check out GoldMine Software, Inc at http://www.goldminesw.com and read the PC Magazine review at http://www8.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/inf...

As written in the above-referenced review: "No other contact manager has such a variety of functions: synchronization at the field level by several routes (including the Internet), performance analysis, creation of branching telephone scripts, and more..."

Symantec's ACT!, at http://www.symantec.com, is a standalone contact manager software package which is lacking on the internet integration capability. But it is definitely a tool which small business owners and SOHO business owners can find of tremendous value. What it brings to the table is its ability to let users share calendar information over the Internet, by e-mail, or over a local area network.

ACT! also has a customizable form design wizard which allows you to create your own entry and display forms according to your specific needs. You can either use their built-in word processor or integrate it with MS-WORD or Corel's WordPerfect software package.

I find their searching and indexing feature rather slow and cumbersome but it does work.

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