“ACT Received Horrid Reviews, is the 2008 Edition Any Better?” Part 1
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A question from a www.WhatsNewWithACT.com subscriber who wonders if he should upgrade.
DISCLAIMER: This was going to be a single post, but then I realized I needed more space…”don’t clog the blog”…so here is part one of two.
I seriously considered Sage ACT!, but the 2007 version received horrid reviews, particularly from long-time users. I’m curious as to whether you feel the 2008 edition has addressed those extensive criticisms - and specifically how.
-Larry
Larry, you make a good point. As the old saying goes, “a bad word travels faster than a good one”, right? Especially on the Internet.
I would say the majority of comments are from legacy (pre SQL Verison) ACT users, those who have been loyal for years. (I’ll address the others shortly). ACT became a critical tool for their business success, and they faithfully upgraded with relative ease year after year.
Needless to say, they didn’t take very well to the changes with the SQL technology introduced 3 years ago (ACT 2005). I believe there to be 3 main reasons for this:
1.) User interface changes. With the new technology come new opportunities and new challenges for the software developers. The user interface did a good job emulating the experience known for years in previous versions, however it didn’t preserve all, and introduced additional clicks for certain functions when compared to the legacy version.
2.) Speed. Everything s-l-o-w-e-d down when compared with legacy versions of ACT. This was due to SQL and .NET Microsoft technologies required to run ACT, this required hardware upgrades for many. Since 2005 version, these speed concerns have been addressed (for the most part), and hardware has gotten faster. However, running with two other Microsoft technologies, can still be tricky.
3.) Converting legacy databases. ACT loyalists would buy the upgrade, hit next a few times at the installation prompts, open the database (which would automatically convert), and they were (for the most part) off and running. Not so with SQL version of ACT, it was no longer a conversion, it was a m-i-g-r-a-t-i-o-n, and not just the database itself but all the supplemental files that make the system so effective (layouts, templates, reports, etc) this means that their experience would be much different than previous upgrades. Many didn’t plan their upgrade…er uh migration…afterall it should be even easier than the last installation, with all this new SQL technology, right? The truth is, this is a very elaborate process, involving quite a few steps, and should truthfully be done by someone who does it for a living, afterall it is your business, right? [I even wrote an ebook "from the trenches" outlining what must be done to prep and migrate successfully...and full of disclaimers :-)]
In tomorrow’s post I’ll talk about new users, Sage’s response to the criticism from where I sit, and what I think about 2008 release (should Larry buy?). In the meantime, feel free to make your comments below.
Until tomorrow,
Travis
PS: Want more details on ACT Database Software?
Checkout my no frills review
at http://www.WhatsNewWithACT.com
Filed under: ACT Related, upgrading
Well Travis, you’ve gone and pushed my button with this history lesson. I’ve been loyal to Act since version O-N-E…
Spending ten years with a medical software firm that needed to migrate from DOS to windows to SQL, I truly feel as if Act has for the most part done a “down and dirty” upgrade process and been quite happy to stick it to us loyal users.
I expect I’m not the only long term loyalist who feels betrayed by buying an upgrade that only and barely fixed the bugs from the last version.
While it may be time to move to Act 2008, I too will be overly cautious in this decision.
Jim-
One thing I appreciate about long term ACT users is their passion for the product. You seem to be a genuine reflection of that.
While I understand you as a loyal subscriber and visitor to this blog, if you are considering upgrading (and haven’t already read this post), I would strongly encourage you to review the following:
http://actblogger.com/2007/06/28/mustask/
Since you are so familiar with the product, it makes sense that you wait until the product releases and test the new version before purchasing, so that you have a good understanding of what the software will do (user interface and functions) prior to purchase and putting it into your production environment. Makes for a smoother migration.
Others are newer to ACT and know they want to move forward so purchasing now (saving money), and implementing later is a common approach.
I also am a long time user of ACT. I have ‘05 on only one of my computers and am running 6.0 on the others. I had so many problems with the newer version, I didn’t want to confuse my employees and I thus far not even considered upgrading to an unproven version.
Jim,
Thank you for your loyalty with ACT! The complexity of ACT! with the introduction of SQL to the product has increased complexity and system requirements drastically. One of the biggest challenges to creating a successful ACT! experience is navigating through the complexity and getting the product installed properly from the beginning. Yes there are bugs but from the ones i’ve seen have been minor and certainly not show stoppers. Most of what i’ve seen are due to improper installs like the end user never made an exception in their antivirus program and it was scanning every message inbetween ACT! and SQL server making ACT! dog slow then blaming ACT! for the slowness. Many end users are in the year 2000 hardware mindset also thinking they can run XP, Outlook, ACT!, SQL server, play a music in the background and solitaire when its slow in the office all in a 512MB Windows footprint. This only works if you don’t value your time much. Yes retailers in a fit to be competitive strip systems down to bare bones to advertise the lowest price only to the end users dismay that they can’t do half of what they really wanted to do with a properly equipped system. The larger question is how do we help end users install an application like ACT! in compex, possibly resource challenged environments so that they are both happy with both speed and security. Extra debug time isn’t always the answer either as every Tuesday Microsoft releases new patches that could break anything that did work before. Ultimately the goal as Travis mentioned is to provide a system and I agree with that wholeheartedly.
Gary-
“Proven” is the key word. It needs to be proven for your business and computing environment. Keep in mind ACT will soon have released 3 versions since releasing 2005, and as such they are no longer supporting version 6. This doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get help from an ACT Certified Consultant, although many are helping larger environments with SQL versions of ACT, my concern for those running unsupported versions is if they have database issues only ACT can assist with, they are not actively helping such folks.
Performance is much improved on the latest version compared to 2005 version running on identical hardware.
What Jim says is true. With the advent of SQL viruses (search Google for the Slapper virus), anti virus companies became more vigilant in their security products, by default anything that looks suspicious is often stopped…in some cases without notifying the user. ACT looks suspicious to Anti-Virus programs the way it interacts with SQL, and will slow down unless you tell it otherwise. I’ve even seen where certain functions just didn’t work because of Anti-Virus defaults (alarms not popping).
HOT TIP: And truthfully, what business person reading this WANTS to become an expert on all this stuff? Or more appropriately, SHOULD become an expert on this? The bottomline is, contact management is a need requirement for any business to be successful (post it notes and email count…everyone does contact management, even without software). I don’t do my bookkeeping, I have someone that does that. I don’t update my blog software, I have someone who does that. Do you change the oil or brakes or whatever with your car?
I like what John Assaraf says, “Hire people who play at what you work at.”
Your likely here because you have an aptitude for technology, let me encourage you, focus on what you are good at, and do THAT, hire others as trusted advisers to do the other stuff that you aren’t good at (that isn’t a valuable use of your time) but are necessary for business success.
-Travis
Travis,
I was wondering if the new 2008 version of Act! will allow you to replace more than one field at a time, using the “Replace Field” command.
Thank you.
Bryan-
That is a good question about an ancillary feature in ACT. Indeed it has remained the same for years, and looks to be the same in the latest release. Be sure to backup prior to doing these sweeping operations.
If I buy the upgrade to Act 2008, will I be able to install it on my machine without having to install an earlier version?
YES. As with previous versions, you can install ACT 2008 upgrade without having a previous version installed. This makes for a cleaner installation as well.
Hope that helps…
-Travis
In the past year, we went through a rather painful upgrade process directly from multiple ACT! 6.0 databases to a merged central dbase on a server. We use several remote databases which constantly sync now. Having handled the “MIGRATION” all myself as a brand new user to ACT! I must say, I hope I never have to do that again. It seemed to me that since we were missing at least one version of ACT! between the upgrades that it was a more involved and more difficult process. Can anyone speak to what the difficulties will be from ACT! 9.0 for workgroups to 2008 Pro?
Doug,
I recently did a test with a customer on ACT 2006, upgrading their database to ACT 2008 (57 users), and was pleased with the results, the customer was as well.
Their database is fairly customized, and has over 30,000 records.
My experience is that ACT 6 (and older) migrations to a SQL version of ACT (2005 and newer) require more planning and testing than upgrading existing SQL ACT databases. If you haven’t seen it already, check out this two part article… Point 3 talks about migration.
http://actblogger.com/2007/07/18/larry1/
Hope that helps.
ACT! Has been my CRM for 15 years now. you’ll understand how much information is in my database..
As my new notebook came with MS Vista, i needed to install ACT 2008 on it. .. No luck yet…
Too much problems, too much time. Lost…
I’m unhappy to say that now i’m forced to look for another CRM that actually IS compatible with Vista…!
Stef
Stef-
If you choose to leave ACT, I wish you all the best. Switching CRM packages is not without it’s share of costs (often much more than the cost of a laptop). 15 years, is a long time!
I recently spoke with a customer who purchased act software from me. He like many long time users had his share of frustrations with recent version releases. He said he did a search high and low, and with all the frustration he had with ACT, there were no alternatives that were worth taking the leap to. Now the CRM market is changing constantly, so maybe he would have a different conclusion today, I do not know.
May I encourage you to check out the following posts?
Why Vista Could Force You to Upgrade to the Latest version of ACT,ACT 2008 does support Vista and Office 2007.
Two Must Ask Question before Upgrading ACT Database Software
Hope you find these useful.
(BTW, I spend some time in the Netherlands while studying in Germany years ago, although brief, I really enjoyed my stay there!)
Travis,
I too, am a long time Act! user since Dos ver 1. I have, in the last 6 months wrestled with Act 2007 and now 2008, I even bought a new computer, with Vista as I thought it might help. I am pretty good at making things work, or at least I used to be until I met my match in ACT2007 and Act2008. My last version was 6.0. If I were to say anything about this software is that I’m considering just using Outlook and excel to do my work. I have wasted 100 hours in the last 6 months trying to get this “program” to work properly. My main hope was to get it to sync with my treo 650 like version 6 used to. I upgrade or download the latest downloads and try again and again. it may work once and then doesn’t sync anymore. It’s a shame, and Sage should be ashamed to ruin what was such a great program. Maybe they could give the rights back to Symantec who seemed to do each new version with new functionality, yet none of the problems.
Bill-
Sounds like you’ve had quite an ordeal. 100 hours is a lot of time to waste on anything!
First, let me say I’m sorry to hear that you have had such grief. If you are anything like me, I don’t care much for things that make me less productive in business (less time with family and doing other things), and that sounds to be the case here.
While I don’t agree with everything Sage has done with the product, your comments further support my position, if you value your database, have a professional help you get it converted….it will cost a lot less pain and frustration in the end. I realize that doesn’t do much to put out your fire, but perhaps it will help others who are thinking that “do it yourself” is the only route. I wish it was as simple as it once was to upgrade the database, but as I stated above, while it is a software upgrade, the data is not, it must be migrated.
-Travis
BTW, Outlook/Excel might be a good combination for some soloprenuers. That said, I get calls from people who tried to convert to Outlook (or BCM), and called me back because they missed ACT (inspite of its issues), and wanted to talk about bringing them back.
I am looking to purchase Act but I am concerned because it does not integrate with Windows Live which already integrates with my Mogul smartphone Windows Mobile 6, which is therefore providing a total desktop to mobile communications solution. It seems you need to buy a third party product to integrate Act with your desktop and smartphone. What would you recommend?
John-
Not sure exactly how you are using Windows Live and your smartphone. What some have done is sync ACT information to Outlook and then use Outlook to sync with whatever other service and/or smartphone. CompanionLink will accomplish that.
Window LIve has a desktop version that replaces Outlook Express which is not supported on Vista. I have Outlook, but prefer to use the Windows Live Desktop version (less overhead) and it integrates with windows Live on my Smartphone (windows Mobile 6), therefore not requiring any additional syncing. It is a cleaner solution at no additional cost. Now if Act would work with Windows Live like it does with Outlook, no additional third party software would be required, and you would have a complete desktop mobile solution. With Windows Live I can add my web based Hotmail, Yahoo email accounts and POP based company email accounts.
John-
You make a good point! Let’s hope the guys at Sage Software get wind of your comment, and do something about it. You might consider visiting this page on their site to provide your feedback:
ACT feedback here.
Hope that helps!
-Travis