So now...

Which Version?: ACT! Pro or ACT! Premium

Overview: You have two options to choose from when selecting which ACT! is right for you.

Sage ACT! Pro
Sage ACT! Premium

* View the system requirements for all 2012 versions.

Because we are one of the largest resellers in North America, we can offer you a better deal than the one ACT! is currently offering.

or call
713-661-5200 for more details.

Key Differentiating Features

This abbreviated chart helps you decide among the options. Instead of focusing on all of the amazing features that you will find in ACT (see that chart next), this chart lists only the major differentiating factors to help you understand the differences when making your selection.

First see if any features are missing from the version you are considering and then check for scalability.

See what each of the previous version introduced...

Introduced with ACT! 2011/Version 13

1. Sync Outlook Calendar AND Contacts with ACT! - Finally there is a true synchronization between ACT! and Outlook. Think of the cool implications for your phone syncs... for keeping the rest of the company informed (if others are using Outlook for their Calendar). Works with Web or desktop installations.
2. Automate Key Activities - Smart Tasks are like virtual assistants that can automatically send emails on your behalf or schedule a single or multiple activities based on certain criteria. They are kind of like Activity Series that are automated.
3. Get New Leads - Sage Business Information Services for ACT! allows you to get free research on your clients and prospects. Get a subscription and you can find out even more information and even download Contacts from Hoover's directly into ACT!. No data entry!
4. Direct Import from MS Excel - No more need to save as a text file type (*.csv or *.txt). You can import straight from an Excel file.
5. Security for Email History - New security feature prevents email history from being added to internal User records (no personal emails to an internal employee are attached to the ACT! database).
6. Filter by History Type - Now you can filter the display on the History tab by ANY history type to exclude types like Deleted Contacts or Field Changes. You can also narrow the display to only display Meetings or one of your Custom Activity types.
7. MS Office 2010 Compatible - As new PCs are shipping they are coming loaded with Office 2010 (Outlook and Word). ACT! 2011 is compatible with this new suite of software from Microsoft.
8. Back and Forward Buttons are back (no pun intended) on the Global Toolbar.

Introduced with ACT! 2010/Version 12

1. Customizable Opportunities - Almost infinitely customizable... add fields to the Opportunities table, add fields to the products table, or modify the layout to include (or exclude) anything you like.
2. Swiftpage integration is built-in to give you capability for mass e-mail, drip marketing, and surveys (though it is still a fee-based service).
3. New look and feel - they didn't just change the color of the icons... they really worked at making it easier to use... while keeping the same feel for their upgrading customers
4. New Web Info tab for quick internet access to Maps, Driving Directions, Facebook, LinkedIn, Web sites, etc.
5. New Relationship tab to keep track of how your contacts are connected (who referred who, who is the project manager on this project... while they were the end-user on another project, etc.)
6. ACT for Web now works with Word.
7. Send and receive iCal Invitations (Outlook Meeting Requests) or vCards.
8. Some ACT Administrator features: Simplified install, automated answer file for silent install, easier registration process, user-defined currency settings, and ability to create up to 50 remote databases simultaneously.

Introduced with ACT! 2009/Version 11

1. Lookup dialog has been reworked to make it easier... and more powerful.
2. Lookup, Previous expanded so that it now remembers your last 9 lookups.
3. Remember <Multiple Contacts>? It is now replaced with a plus sign and an actual name for any activity or opportunity scheduled with multiple contacts: +Susan Clark
4. Unlimited display of users in any Calendar view. (No more limitation of only 10 users in a Calendar view, but hey, if you try to display 50 users, the calendar may be difficult to read.)
5. One click access to copying the ACT to Outlook calendars (or vice-versa)... or automate the updates. The setup is also easier in the new Setup Assistant.
6. Quick Attach feature in Outlook, quickly attaches any e-mail to the contact in ACT! based on the e-mail address.
7. Create an ACT! activity from an Outlook e-mail message.
8. Determine how your will record history of an e-mail on-the-fly (not just how you set it up in Options).
9. Use rules to attach incoming messages in Outlook.
10. Enhanced administration features, such as Setup Assistant, double-click (idiot-proof) installation of remote databases, ability to exclude attachments from a backup for quicker backups, expanded scheduling options (e.g., sync every 2 hours), and detailed progress bar during synchronization for better troubleshooting.
11. ACT! Scheduler is now available for ACT! by Sage users (not just for Premium users).
12. Desktop and/or Web access at one price. Licensing is user-named base. Want to view your database on the desktop and from your web server? No problem. It's all the same license now.
13. Speed - Launches faster, switch views more quickly, speedier attachment syncs.

Introduced with ACT! 2008/Version 10

1. Dashboard - The all-new ACT! Dashboard gives you a visual (and customizable) overview of key performance activity and opportunity indicators of your business.
2. Multiple Contacts/Opportunity - You can associate multiple Contacts per Opportunity (for those committee decisions).
3. Customizable Opportunity Fields - If you own the Premium version of ACT!, you can define the Opportunity 1-8 fields as Date-type fields, if you like.
4. Editing in List View - You can enter and edit data in the Contact List, Group List, or Company List views (similar to the way that you could edit in versions 6 and earlier).
5. Groups and Companies Security - If you own the Premium version, you can assign Limited Access for Groups or Companies (my favorite). Now your users don't have to see all the Groups or Companies that others have created, you can limit what each user sees.
6. Advanced Queries for Groups and Companies - You can create Advanced Queries for Companies and Groups that allow you to do lookups based on company or group field data.
7. Easier lookups for subgroups and divisions - Now you see a tree-view display in the Group/Company selection dialogs, making lookups of subgroups (or divisions) a lot faster.
8. Ability to Create Duplicate Group or Company Names - Now if you want a "Sales" group under Joe and a "Sales" group under Jane, it's no problem.
9. Duplicate Checking - By First and Last Name and also dup checking for Groups and Companies
10. Attach shortcut - You can attach a shortcut to a file on the network instead of attaching the actual file and copying it to the \Attachments folder.

Introduced with ACT! 2007/Version 9

1. Direct Link to Microsoft Outlook® e-mail. No more ACT Email Window interface.
2. New menu command (Write, Email from template) to quickly send a form e-mail (with graphics if you like) without going through the e-mail feature.
3. Notes, History, Opportunities, Secondary Contacts and Documents now inherit the Contact Access security of the Contact Record. For example, if the Contact is Limited Access, then all their Opportunities will have the same Limited Access. If you don't have rights to see the contact, you won't see their opportunities in Opportunity List view or on the Company record.
4. Field Security by user with Full access, Read-Only access, and No Access (Hidden).
5. Regulate password usage through a global password policy. You can require employees to change passwords every set number of days, define the complexity required of passwords, and set password re-use limitations to ensure your data is secure
6. Define which fields are linked between the Company and the Contact records.
7. Last E-mail System field keeps track of your email correspondence
8. View multiple notes at once and preview the critical ones using the new split-panel notes feature
9. Enhanced query and lookup capabilities (better keyword searches, current lookup indicator displays in the status bar and ability to edit existing queries)
10. Scheduled database maintenance (Check and Repair)
11. Scheduled syncing of Outlook calendars with ACT!
12. Speed...I promise...it is so much faster, you can't believe it. Testing shows over 60% faster than 7.0. Calendar views now open faster than version 6.0

Introduced with ACT! 2006/Version 8

1. Enhanced Feature Sets
   • Tree View for Groups and Companies - (The tree view is back!)
   • View all Group and Company Associations - You can now view the contacts membership in Groups or Companies on the Groups tab, whether they were manually added or dynamically added using a query.
   • Add or Remove Groups/Companies from the Contact's record - Add or remove one or many contacts with ease.
   • Change the Activity Organizer - Easily update or change who an activity is scheduled for, even after the activity has been scheduled.
2. Increased Compatibility
   • Lotus Notes Support - Attach inbound emails to contacts, create new contacts and activities from e-mail sender, create contact histories on the contact record when sending emails, while still using Lotus Notes.
   • Citrix/Terminal Services Support - Multiple users from different offices can access the same ACT! database, without the need for VPN access.
   • Accounting link to QuickBooks, Business Works and Simply Accounting.
3. Improved Data Security
   
   • Field-level security by user.
   • Database expiration has now been extended from 90 to 365 days with one last chance to do a one-way sync even after the remote database has expired.
   • Custom user permissions allow the administrator the ability to provide some administrative functions to remote users to back-up, restore, and perform database maintenance. They can also restrict user's ability to delete contacts or export to Excel.
   • Only attachments related to the sync set will sync.

Introduced with ACT! 2005/Version 7

1. Groups
   • Easy creation and maintenance - save lookups as groups; groups can be based upon a query or static membership. Because queries can be based on fields, you may never have to manually update (add or remove) groups again.
   • Increased levels - 15 levels of subgroups.
2. Companies
   • Similar to groups - same properties; easily convert a group to a company.
   • Company record - updates to certain company fields can be pushed to contacts; automatic association.
   • Easy creation - create a company from a contact; create a contact from a company.
3. Opportunities
   • Complete view - opportunity list view; opportunity lookups.
   • Consistent entry of data - product list; multiple sales processes.
   • Track more information - multiple products and user fields; automatic histories as opportunities move thru stages.
   • Easier reporting - export to Excel; create quotes; more report templates.
4. Calendars and Scheduling
   • Fully customizable - custom activity and priority types; database events.
   • Activity security - calendar delegates so only authorized users can schedule on your behalf.
   • Direct Link to Microsoft Outlook e-mail (no more ACT E-mail window).
   • Automatic synchronization of Outlook calendars with the Premium version.
5. Synchronization
   • Easy to set up - reusable queries to establish what contacts sync to what users; inductive user interface "walks you thru".
   • Reliable - recover from broken syncs; schedule your syncs.
   • Consistent - security is enforced; true parent to child relationship.
6. Security
   • Record Level Security by users or teams for Premium versions
   • Field Level Security - by field for basic ACT! and by field by user in ACT! Premium
   • Password Management - ability to create rules for password length, complexity, re-use, etc.

or call
713-661-5200 for more details,
or try our Select Your ACT! Version Wizard to help you decide what you need.

Don't Forget ACT! 2012 Training Manuals