Next Version of ACT! by Sage coming soon…
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As it is with most any software product, new versions emerge with some regularity these are often in response to customer requests. The folks at Sage are no different.
Recently I attended a closed door event to see and test the latest version of ACT!
At this time I am permitted to talk about the new product with customers only. However, I want to share with everyone what I learned at the event just as soon as I can. If you’d like to be kept in the loop, please go to: www.whatsnewwithact.com
I plan on holding an online event to share with you what is new in this forthcoming release of the ACT! Contact Management system by Sage Software.
Speak soon,
Travis
Filed under: ACT Related
I called Act! and am glad to see they added the ability to add and edit opportunity fields. Unfortunately it is only in the premier for workgroups version.
There may be an addon product to address your concerns, however the cost may justify the upgrade to the Premium version.
We made the upgrade/migration from Act 6 to Act 8 last year. It was a nightmare!
First, ACT 8 is a resource hog. Second, running it on a networked environment is not nearly as user friendly as previous iterations of ACT. Third, we were FORCED to upgrade QuickBooks for the second time in a year in order to have the ACT-QB links we needed to work efficiently.
We have no intensions on migrating to ACT 9 anytime in the near future. I am less and less impressed with Sage and the ACT product line. I converted from Gold Mine about 8 years ago, and I’m thinking about going back.
I don’t see enough fixes/changes/improvements in Act 8 to 9 to warrant spending another $129 or more Dollars. It looks like it should be an upgrade automatically included in Act 8!
I upgraded from v6 to 2005 looking forward to the increased Outlook integration. It was a nightmare! The 2005 installation was unstable and I was forced to reinstall numerous times, each time losing email llinks. I was, therefore, quick to respond to the Beta test for v8 and found it a considerable improvement - especially in improvement and in moving databases to different computers. I still am an annual support subscriber, however.
Having found, finally, peaceful waters along with “good enough” Outlook integration I am reluctant to follow the annual upgrade path - v8 is enough of a resource hog.
It sounds like you all have a host of challenges in your upgrade experiences. I can agree that while the product is far from perfect (outlook integration has always been a weakness, as well as performance) they continue to improve the product with each release. The question is often, is the improvement worth it.
The addon community has produced some point solutions which address both performance and Outlook integration.
Whatever you decide (upgrading, going to a different product), I always encourage people to setup a test environment (see August 17, 2006 post) to see how it goes, before migrating the production database. You can also consider hiring an ACT! Certified consultant to migrate it (where they will test the migration first) for you.
I can tell you, that the future version will have noticeable improvements to Outlook integration.
All the best,
Travis