We've partnered with the data cleansing experts at LBM to offer users of ACT!, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, GoldMine & other CRM systems a fully serviced data checking service to improve the marketing effectiveness from customer & prospect databases.

It's a fact that many ACT! users only utilise the software to around 25% of its capability & miss out on many of the benefits that help businesses improve productivity & lower costs.

That's why we're so excited to introduce a unique new service that gives businesses extended help and advice to extract the maximum value from ACT!

ACT! Fusion brings together 5 essential resources to help users achieve outstanding results with ACT!:

	ACT! user coaching & advice - expert guidance from CRM professionals who will show you how to make ACT! work better for your business & job function
	Report designing - our technicians will develop new reports to present your CRM data the way you want it
	On-demand ACT! training - access to all our self-study tuition videos for online ACT! training
	ACT! Technical support - phone & remote dial-in help to answer all ACT! related issues
	Technical work & change requests - remote assistance addressing everyday requirements including configuring new ACT! installations, layout customisation, importing data + much more

With ACT! Fusion there's no need to choose between technical help and getting training - it's all included! READ MORE

Every month ACT! Fusion subscribers benefit from:

ACT! Fusion is exclusively available from Preact. You won't find this service available from Sage or ACT! resellers.

All this for as little as £495+VAT per month!

ACT! Fusion subscriptions are just £495+VAT per month representing amazing value for continued access to a wealth of ACT! expertise and resources.² READ MORE

If you believe you'll need less than 10 hours of ACT! consultancy that can be used for interactive training, report designing, CRM coaching or other ACT! technical work please contact us for a revised quote.

ACT! Fusion is perfect for any business that wants to go beyond basic ACT! functions and drive better results from their contact database. Improvements can be achieved immediately and with a minimum term of only 3 months what do you have to lose?

Sage have announced the availability of a refreshed Service Pack 1 for:

• ACT! by Sage 2010
• ACT! by Sage Premium 2010
• ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2010

Read about the improvements and fixes in ACT! 2010 SP1

• Web access
• Team based management
• Extended user security controls
• Increased user security

In the penultimate tip in our series here's the 6th CRM project pitfall to avoid:

For CRM to be relevant to its users the database must be customised. Whatever the budget, an 'out-of-the-box' installation will deliver little more than basic address book functionality.

The degree of customisation will of course depend on your business processes and the capabilities of the software you are implementing. However, even the most basic of contact management packages should be adapted to reflect your unique data and terminology. With even simple field and layout customisations CRM databases can quickly be customised to reflect the way that you work and help you drive real value.

Sophisticated solutions like Sage CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM offer far greater capacity to wrap CRM around process through workflow automation and managing every entity beyond just people and businesses.

At the outset you should establish exactly what you want CRM to achieve and how you will evaluate its results.

Benefits can always be gained by automating existing processes but CRM provides an opportunity to achieve more by taking a more structured and process driven approach. As well as saving time this flushes out custom practices. By applying a more systematic approach rules are enforced and data quality is improved to achieve better business reporting.

Determining which processes and strategies you pursue can be a challenging part of a CRM project which is why many businesses seek assistance from a CRM expert to project plan their implementation.

Although you may have fully consulted individuals and teams don't expect them to immediately use the system effectively.  The goodwill that you may have created through consultation will quickly evaporate if people don't understand how to use the software properly.

CRM systems are highly flexible but many functions can be widely open to interpretation. You may enjoy good initial user adoption but without agreed rules and consistent processes data can quickly become a mess.

User training should always built into any CRM project. As well as covering tuition on software functionality and its benefits, group training is the perfect forum to formulate processes and get collective user commitment.

8 January 2010
Warren Butler
Marketing Director
wbutler@preact.co.uk

Although customer relationship management software is well established as a vital component in a CRM strategy many businesses are still disappointed with the return they see. In many cases failure is caused by inadequate planning and poor implementation.

As independent CRM architects we have around 20 years experience of helping organisations achieve results from CRM. In a new guide we summarize the top 7 CRM mistakes to avoid beginning with: 

Tip #1 - Don't be too ambitious

Large CRM projects can struggle to get off the ground. All embracing projects that strive to meet 100% of everyone's needs may take a long time to deploy and will limit the return on investment. CRM projects that aim to achieve a utopian result rarely leave the planning stage.

Often, it is better to start small by prioritising requirements.  Sometime this may be an initial pilot within 1-2 departments before a wider rollout.

Businesses that don't currently have a CRM solution may find an entry level CRM solution like ACT! will prove more cost effective over 1-2 years rather than embarking on a costly deployment of a more advanced system.

Other requirements may dictate an immediate need for a more sophisticated solution like Sage CRM but even so there is usually more to gain by starting small.

Through careful prioritizing, savvy CRM project leaders focus on those teams where CRM can have the greatest impact - and where it will have the highest adoption. Often, the best candidates are service teams. Because their roles are process led they are constantly striving to improve operational efficiency and follow best practices. We consistently find that CRM is well received by service teams as they recognise the payback that can be achieved with CRM by way of slicker processes and increased customer satisfaction.

Even with a small scale initial phase, CRM projects can quickly gain traction as this payback extends to other teams through better data quality. As a result, marketing and sales staff can get a clearer insight into each customer relationship and see people as unique individuals to better understand their interests and send compelling communications that will resonate.

With a manageable initial phase, streamlined CRM projects can be more easily budgeted and get underway quickly to generate early results that give businesses a solid foundation on which to build on.

The sooner a CRM budget can be identified the better. Like most purchases, CRM results are heavily determined by the investment made so it's important to make sure that expectations for CRM are consistent with the available budget. To use the analogy of holiday planning, it is pointless making arrangements for a luxury world cruise when your budget will only stretch to a coach trip. There are many world class CRM software solutions available but to avoid wasted time you must determine if their price tag and functionality are consistent with your budget and requirements.

We'd like to pass on our thanks from everyone at Preact to our customers for choosing us as their trusted business partner and helping us to win this accolade.

Receiving this award is a great honour and recognition at the investment that we've made to deliver an unrivalled service that has seen us become the overwhelming CRM business partner of choice.
   
This latest award marks another high in a successful year for Preact that has seen us expand our coverage and develop innovative new solutions including our CRM resource centre and new on-demand training. As a result of our continued growth we're eagerly anticipating moving into our new prestigious offices at Vanwall Business Park, Maidenhead that will give us an even stronger platform to build on this success and deliver on our brand promise of exceeding customer expectations.

Preact Managing Director, Selom Bulla & Technical Manager, Ian Mennie collect the award from Sage UK CEO, Paul Stobart  

26 November 2009
Warren Butler
Marketing Director
wbutler@preact.co.uk

At Preact we believe in providing impartial pre-sales advice combined with proven implementation skills to help businesses gain rapid and long term benefits from their investment in CRM. We understand the competitive advantage that CRM can leverage by sharpening sales, service and marketing efficiency so our experienced consultants work closely with clients to design and deploy systems precisely in line with individual businesses needs.

We complete over 150 CRM projects each year for customers in numerous industries with varying sized deployments from 1 to 200+ users. Our Microsoft Gold Partner certification and our status as a top 10 Sage and FrontRange Solutions business partner reflect our ability to deliver complex and innovative solutions. Our recent CRM projects have included implementations for John Lewis Plc, ThomsonLocal.com, Scottish & Southern Energy, Cranfield University, DPAS Dental Plans, Europa Worldwide Logistics, Constructionline and Marie Curie Cancer Care. ]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:04:38 GMT It can often prove a challenge to sell a new or updated investment in CRM into your business. Even though you may be clear on the need for a new CRM solution senior decision makers and other team members may need to be convinced.

We're frequently contacted by managers who have enjoyed the benefits of CRM in previous employment but now find themselves in a business that have an inadequate CRM solution, or worse still, with no CRM strategy.

Often, they've already tried and failed to gain buy-in from their bosses and colleagues to implement CRM and are attempting to build a more compelling business case. What compounds their frustration is the knowledge that without an effective CRM solution the ability to perform and achieve results is restricted, both for them personally and the entire business.

To navigate the often thorny issue of getting sanction for a CRM project we've compiled some tips to help you get support for your CRM initiative from the top. We've also included some steps to make sure that everyone actually uses the system that you've battled so hard to get implemented!

Download our free guide for some useful tips on how to build a solid business and sell a CRM strategy to decision makers and colleagues.

FrontRange Solutions have announced a new upgrade offer that's exclusively available to all GoldMine Business Contact Manager users (v5-6).

Until 11 December upgrade from GoldMine BCM to the latest GoldMine Premium v8.5 from just £225 per licence.¹

Compared with GoldMine v5-6 the new Premium edition delivers:

• An easier to navigate interface that makes GoldMine easier to use

• Wider compatibility with MS Office 2007, Windows Vista & Windows 7

• A new support module to track customer support cases

• Universal Searches that make it easier to find any GoldMine detail

• Additional filtering on tabs & activities enabling items to be more effectively sorted

• Actively developed & supplied with upgrade cover so GoldMine Premium users always have the latest software

• Many more improvements. Find our more & try an online test drive.

To take advantage of this deal & upgrade your GoldMine system from just £225¹ per licence just call us on 0800 381 1000 or reply to this message.

¹ Offer is subject to a minimum of 5 GoldMine Premium licences. GoldMine Business Contact Manager v5-6 licences can be upgraded at £225+VAT until 11 December. Additional licence can be applied at the discounted rate of £295+VAT. Accompanying annual licence maintenance is applied at £79+VAT per GoldMine Premium licence.

These latest ACT! tips & training videos include:

• Customising links in the ACT! web tab

• Designing a bespoke sales opportunity layout including new sales fields

• Saving ACT! data as vCard & iCalendar invitations

• Configuring ACT! contact & administration dashboards

• Working with the new ACT! reporting view

You won't find our exclusive ACT! training videos on any other site! Order today and for just £175 you'll have access to over 60 self study ACT! modules that you can follow whenever you want at work, on the move or at home.

Find out more and watch a selection of free tuition videos.

Following the release of Microsoft Windows 7, Sage have confirmed that ACT! 2010 & ACT! Premium 2010 are fully supported on Windows 7.

Earlier ACT! versions are not supported for use on a Windows 7 platform. If you plan to install ACT! on a computer that has Windows 7 operating software you should upgrade to the 2010 edition of ACT!

If you run other Sage software like Sage 50 Accounts & Sage Payroll you can check its compatibility with Windows 7 in the table below.

ACT! & Sage Compatibility with Windows 7

The Sage software listed below has been tested for compatibility with Microsoft Windows 7. By stating compatibility Sage are confident that the software will install and run on this operating system with the same quality and usability as an earlier operating system, e.g. Windows XP.

 

We've compiled the following table to summarise which packages are tested and supported:

 Please call us on 0800 381 1000 with any questions

By using analytics business can improve customer retention and cross-sell, maximize pipeline opportunities, invest marketing budgets wisely and examine where you can cut costs...adding a vital new dimension to CRM data.

Zap Business Analytics allows you to:

• Gain instant access to reports and analysis anytime, anywhere using a web browser
• Monitor and improve performance using dashboards, scorecards and key performance indicators
• Import CRM customisations instantly, allowing business-specific content to be immediately available for analysis
• Create custom analytics without needing IT support
• Eliminate the time, risk, complexity and resource drain typically associated with analytics projects, and gain a rapid return on investment

Together with Zap, Preact CRM offers this complete, affordable and simple to use analytics solution to turn raw customer data into powerful and targeted business intelligence.

Find out more

Call us on 0800 381 1000 to find out more & see how Zap Business Intelligence with Microsoft Dynamics CRM can give you a clear view of your customers & your business. Zap Analytics insight includes:

]]> Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:04:31 +0100 Free ACT! training video: How to create Dynamic ACT! Groups & Companies

Register at www.preact.co.uk/resources to see this free video & browse all of our ACT! on-demand tutorial. An annual subscription to over 50 ACT! training modules is currently just £175+VAT.

This deal cuts the price on additional ACT! licences to as little as £99+VAT if you order this month.

To arrange a quote for more ACT! licences please call us on 0800 381 1000 or order online.]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:27:45 +0100

With our new on-demand ACT! software training you can follow our self paced on-demand training modules to achieve fast results & use ACT! to save time, improve customer service, create more business and work more efficiently.

Our ACT! training player is perfect if you don't have the time or budget for an onsite or public course. On-demand ACT! training is ready & waiting whenever you want so you can easily accelerate your ACT! training at a time to suit you!

Sign-up before 30 October & get 12 months access to our complete ACT! training library for as little as £175!

• Over 50 online web ACT! training modules
• All training levels covered - ACT! novice to expert
• 3 times more content than any ACT! workshop!
• Mix & match modules to develop your ACT! skills & enhance your career
• Easy to follow tuition & insight
• Packed with practical worked examples & ACT! tips
• Follow ACT! CRM training online in the office or at home whenever you want
• Pause, play again & immediately use what you learn!
• Register to follow a selection of free ACT! training videos

For a very limited time you can purchase Sage CRM licences and save an immense 35% on the usual price!

Hurry, this offer ends 30 September

This offer is only available for 2 weeks and all orders will need to be completed by 30 September.

You can also test drive the software online or for a closer look download a free 30 day evaluation.

• Offer #1: Upgrade to ACT! 2010 and get 50% off Sage 50 Accounts 2010

• Offer #2: Upgrade Sage 50 Accounts 2010 and get 50% off ACT! 2010

Call us on FREEPHONE 0800 381 1000 to arrange a quote

ACT! 2010 is now available to pre-order!

With a brand new user interface, customisable sales opportunities, new web links, iCal compatibility, additional dashboards & new reports ACT! 2010 is the biggest ACT! update for many years.

In ACT! 2010, sales opportunity screens now behave like contacts & groups. New opportunities fields can be added & you can even apply a customised opportunity layout.

Other new features & enhancements in ACT! 2010 include:

• New Web Tab - search links enable ACT! users to find contact information on social networking sites like LinkedIn & Facebook

• More Web links - including Google maps for automated directions from your location

• Works with iCal - send ACT! activity invitations in iCalendar format & sync them with a mobile device or Outlook

• Send vCards - send ACT! contact information as a vCard to access contact information from a mobile device

• Improved reporting - new reports, ACT! report viewer, favourite reports option & new dashboards

• Document Preview - new ACT! preview pane for attached MS Office 2007 documents & PDFs

• ACT! E-Marketing - includes inbuilt Swiftpage software for bulk emailing & email campaign reporting (requires additional purchase)

+ Many more improvements, download our guide to read more about what's new in ACT! 2010

Early bird offer - upgrade today & save over 55%

Call 0800 381 1000 and pre-order an upgrade ACT! 2010 from just £80+VAT

Order today and we'll ship the software immediately upon it release - expected 14 September.

How to link company and contact fields

ACT! opportunity views now look and behave like contact record, groups and companies. See a screenshot

Click for a sneak peek of the new ACT! interface in the beta edition of ACT! Premium 2010.

A new Gartner report reveals that the worldwide CRM market bucked the global economic recession by growing a reported 12.5 percent in 2008

Worldwide CRM market revenue was believe to total $9.15 billion in 2008, a 12.5 percent increase from 2007 revenue of $8.13 billion, according to Gartner Inc. Analysts said that market growth was driven by enterprise investments in technologies focused on customer retention, analytics and on-demand solutions.

Microsoft achieve the strongest growth rate among the top 5 vendors, as its revenue increased 75 percent in 2008.

Read the article in full

• Customisable Opportunities - ability to add fields, customize products and services, personalize layouts, and track activities and history.

• New Dashboards and Reports - 9 new dashboards, 13 new reports, streamlined reports view

• New Modern Look and Feel  - More user friendly buttons with new navigation with related tasks 

• New ACT! Welcome Page with resources, tips, help, news, and common tasks

• Improved integration between ACT! and Sage 50 Accounts

• ACT! E-marketing module with improved Swiftpage integration

• Web 2.0 Technology - Integrates data from LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Maps, and more with ACT! Contact Records through a new web tab

Keep checking our news page and our Twitter feed for all the latest information about the new ACT! software release!

Social Networking Accelerator - coming soon

Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Accelerator - coming soon

This latest update provides new performance enhancements, fixes reported issues and adds wider compatibility including Windows Vista SP 2, Windows 2008 SP 2, and MS Office 2007 SP2.

• Upgrade Guide for GoldMine Standard users
• Upgrade Guide for GoldMine Corporate users

Release Notes

For detailed information about GoldMine Premium 8.5, release notes are available that cover the new features and enhancements as well as the fixes in the latest update

This is a free update for GoldMine Premium customers with valid licence maintenance. For GoldMine Standard & Corporate users upgrade discounts are now available, call us on 0870 382 5000 to arrange a quote.

• Sage CRM licences costs reduced by much as 35%!
• Choose between low cost Standard or Advanced Editions
• New concurrent licensing option means that Sage CRM licences can be allocated between users with more flexibility
• Singular license pricing now available removing the need to purchase licence bundles
• Extended volume discounts as more licences are added
• + 20% trade-in discount for ACT! users upgrading to Sage CRM

Find out more about web-based Sage CRM and how it helps businesses to improve processes, cut costs and gain greater  performance insight.

Download a comparison guide between Sage CRM and ACT! and watch our Sage CRM demonstration video.

We’re frequently contacted by managers who have enjoyed the benefits of CRM in previous employment but now find themselves in a business that have an inadequate CRM solution, or worse still, with no CRM strategy.

Often, they’ve already tried and failed to gain buy-in from their bosses and colleagues to implement CRM and are attempting to build a more compelling business case. What compounds their frustration is the knowledge that without an effective CRM solution the ability to perform and achieve results is restricted, both for them personally and the entire business.

Of course, getting top management to buy-in to a CRM project is only one part of the challenge. Making sure that end users actually adopt the system is every bit as important.

To navigate the often political issue of getting sanction for a CRM project we’ve compiled some tips to help you get support for your CRM initiative from the top. We’ve also included some steps to make sure that everyone actually uses the system that you’ve battled so hard to get implemented!

Download our free guide for some useful tips on how to build a solid business and sell a CRM strategy to decision makers and colleagues.

With our ACT! hosting packages, database maintenance and server updates are all included together with access to ACT! and technical support.

ACT! Hosting Options

Hosted ACT! Online access to your ACT! database, phone / remote dial-in ACT! support, web hosting and server maintenance.         Premier Hosted ACT! Online and offline access to your ACT! database for extended flexibility including Citrix, phone / remote dial-in ACT! support, web hosting & server maintenance

To find out more and arrange a quotation please call us on 0870 382 5000.

We've seen a surge of interest in the closing days of our promotional on additional ACT! licences.

Until 30 June we've cut the usual Sage price by as much as 45% on additional ACT! licences that reduces the price of ACT! licences to as little as £99+VAT!

To arrange a quote and order please call us on 0870 382 5000 or email sales@preact.co.uk before 30 June.

This offer applies to ACT! v9 and higher.]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:52:44 +0100 In the current tough economic climate it's never been more important to squeeze the most out of your ACT! software.

To help ACT! users who are only scratching the surface of the software's capability we've created a brand new ACT! marketing course that focuses on how ACT! can be used more strategically.

Our ACT! marketing course is designed for teams that want to unlock the potential of the software and understand how ACT! can be used more proactively to generate more leads and contribute to business growth.

Find out more about our ACT! marketing training and download the course outline.

Call us on 0870 382 5000 to arrange a booking.

Until 30 June you can save up to as much as 45% compared to the usual Sage price on additional ACT! licences that cuts the price of ACT! to as little as £99+VAT!

To arrange a quote and order please call us on 0870 382 5000 or email sales@preact.co.uk.

This offer applies to ACT! v9 and higher.]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:16:49 +0100 Sage have relaxed their ACT! upgrade rules to make ACT! 2009 more affordable - especially if you have an older edition of ACT!

Upgrade to ACT! 2009 & get ACT! 2010 from just £155+VAT

Even if you have a licence for an older version like ACT! 2000 or ACT! v6 you can now upgrade to ACT! 2009 and get technical help with annual upgrade cover all included from as little as £155, or get ACT! Premium from only £230. That means you'll also get ACT! 2010 when it's released later this year!

To see what's improved you can download an upgrade guide or watch our demonstration video.

Call 0870 382 5000 to order

If you're tempted and want to get the latest ACT! software with the back-up of phone help and  upgrade cover which will include the forthcoming ACT! 2010 release please call us on 0870 382 5000.

Reviewing your CRM results

Whether it's a case of helping you do more with your current system or introducing a new system we offer informed advice to help you achieve better results with CRM. As well as the latest editions of ACT! and GoldMine, at Preact we also work with more advanced packages like Sage CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM that are popular upgrade routes, so it's a question we can help you answer!

We can help you achieve CRM improvements with the following:

Increase efficiency & empower CRM users enabling you to:

• Improve service delivery to reduce customer churn & remove inefficient service costs.

• Sharpen processes to remove duplication of effort, inconsistency & time consuming manual tasks.

• Cut administration work so that sales & service staff have more time to speak to customers & prospects.

• Cut the cost of selling.

• Get easy access to CRM wherever you are including via mobile phone & web browser.

• Manage everything that's important to your business in CRM, not just people & companies. For example, track projects, venues, surveys & any other entities that are specific to how you work.

• Integrate CRM with Microsoft Outlook more tightly.

Ramping up your reports:

• Gain better visibility of cross-sell, up-sell and quick win opportunities.

• Increase accountability across all teams with CRM performance indicators & scorecards.

• Reduce time spent producing and interpreting forecasts.

• Use personalised reports and dashboards on-demand to determine trends & challenge assumptions.

• Improve reporting accuracy to measure performance vs targets, justify ROI & assess service standards.

• Use CRM to identify which areas of the business are in growth or decline so efforts can be correctly focused.

Introducing Sage CRM & Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Compared with entry level solutions like ACT! and GoldMine, Sage CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM deliver:

• Extended functionality for Sales, Marketing and Customer Service teams

• Automated workflows that remove manual processes and improve efficiency

• In depth, drill down reports and analytics across all teams for business intelligence that you can act on

• Extra insight to improve accountability on every sales, marketing and service £ spent

• Increased functionality to help you compete, win and retain customers

• CRM accessibility wherever your people work - in the office, at home, travelling or based overseas

See what Sage CRM & Dynamics CRM can offer your business

If you're uncertain if your CRM software will enable you to make the kind of operational and sales improvements that you need to accelerate out of the recession we can help you. To find out about our CRM solutions and discover how they can improve your bottom line performance please call us on 0870 382 5000 for independent and informed CRM advice.

All prices exclude VAT and annual GoldMine Premium licence maintenance priced at £79+VAT. The offer is exclusive to GoldMine Corporate users that have paid for at least one or more years of consecutive annual licence maintenance.

To see what's changed in GoldMine Premium 8.5 download our upgrade guide.

To arrange an upgrade please quote call us on 0870 382 5000.

Just as impressive, the architecture employed to achieve this cost less than $35K – or less than $0.70 per user. This incorporated new energy-efficient processors generating up to 30% less power within an IT or datacenter environment.  

In comparison, an October 2008 performance test for Oracle Siebel 8.0 scaled to 14,000 users and 1.6 million daily transactions leveraging Sun hardware that cost more than $150,000. Compared to this benchmark, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM scalability test drove 3.5 times more users and almost 2 times more transactions – while reducing hardware costs nearly 80 percent to set a new CRM industry standard in the number of users and cost-per-user costs for large-scale deployments.

To arrange a quote on additional ACT! licences and order please call us on 0870 382 5000.

This offer applies to ACT! v9 and higher.

Today’s tough economic conditions are more challenging than most companies have ever faced. The instinctive reaction is switch to batten down the hatches; cut all strategic projects and then wait until things improve. But retreating to a defensive position can prove more detrimental in the long term.

These turbulent times do present new opportunities for companies that invest wisely in information technologies. A new Sage whitepaper examines how Sage is working with small and medium sized businesses to help them protect and grow their revenues during the economic downturn through the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

Download this free whitepaper to understand the problems caused by continuing with 'business as usual' mode at the moment and how CRM software can help resolve issues like:

• Difficulty in identifying quick win, cross-sell and up-sell opportunities within your current customer base

• Poor lead to opportunity conversion

• Too much time being spent on poor qualified opportunities

• Inaccurate forecasting

• Shortfalls in customer service delivery

• Limited visibility on the real time performance of sales, marketing and service functions

Free CRM Whitepaper

Until Friday 29 May ACT Professional users can upgrade their software to the 2009 (v11) edition and get an extended upgrade rebate that increases the total upgrade discount to 60%!

This means that ACT! Professional users can get ACT! 2009 for as little as £72+VAT per licence and ACT! Professional for Workgroups can be upgraded to ACT! Premium for under £99+VAT per licence!

Sage have already served notice that they will shortly withdraw ACT! v7/8 software and end all upgrade discounts on these licences so time is running out to update to the latest ACT! software at a fraction of the usual price.

Better performance, new ACT! dashboards, better integration with Outlook, automated database maintenance & much more. Read our upgrade guide to find out more about ACT! v11.

To get an upgrade quote for your ACT! licence please call us on 0870 382 5000.

Our latest ACT! tip covers the process you can follow to merge your ACT! databases into one consolidated database so you only have to go to one location to access all your essential contact information.

Of course, it is still important to distinguish between different types of contacts but we find there are more effective ways of achieving this than relying on multiple ACT! databases. By utilising ACT! groups or customising ACT! fields, administrators are able to clearly differentiate contacts between different territories, status or even business.

For further advice on how to optimise your ACT! system please call 0870 382 5000 to speak to one of our consultants.

Warren Butler
wbutler@preact.co.uk

• Films - enabling our client to track the production of their films including budget, timescales and all of the parties involved in the production process

• Events - several clients use CRM to manage events as diverse as training workshops, corporate events and stag party weekends

• Surveys - to manage the distribution and analysis of patient surveys on behalf of NHS healthcare trusts

• Blood results - tracking cord blood results from our clients laboratory

• Venues - to manage training centres and their booking capacity

• Grant applications - enabling our clients to manage to progress of grant funding applications from government bodies and agencies through defined stage

However precise, bespoke or unusual your processes, there's no reason why CRM system cannot be developed to work the way that you do. To learn more about how we can develop CRM around your requirements please call 0870 382 5000 to speak to one of our consultants.

Warren Butler, Sales & Marketing Manager
wbutler@preact.co.uk

Detailed customer information is of little use to sales staff and other field based workers if they can't access it on the go and when they need it most - such as during a critical moment in a customer's office.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes a free add-on, CRM Mobile Express that enables users to instantly view, create, and modify data on any web device on the go.

With Mobile Express, sales people in the field tap into the same sales, marketing, and customer service data they have access to in the office and because it runs in a Web browser there's no additional software to be installed.

CRM Mobile Express at a glance

• Use a mobile Internet connection to research critical Microsoft Dynamics CRM data
• Give mobile users convenient access to marketing, sales and customer service functionality on the road
• Real time access so all updates are immediately applied enabling office based staff to follow up

• Can be easily modified to give your sales force the data they need to fit your data access and interface

• Works on any device that has a Web browser (HTML 4.0 compatible browser)

Find out more about CRM Mobile Express ]]> Tue, 12 May 2009 09:14:03 +0100 Find out how to create a new ACT! template in Microsoft Word from scratch or by adapting an existing document template in our latest ACT! tip.

The v11.1 update and the hot fix can be downloaded here.

Compared with the basic version of ACT! the Premium edition offers web access, extended user controls like field level security, team based functionality including team dashboards and this edition also removes the 10 user restriction.

Throughout May, users of ACT! 2007-9 and ACT! Professional can upgrade to ACT! Premium 2009 at a discount of over 70%. To arrange a quote please call 0870 382 5000 to speak to one of our consultants.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM turns Outlook into a fully integrated customer relationship management system that manages all your client data, sales opportunities, marketing activity & communications.

If people in your business face these questions, try Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

• What sales opportunities are forecast to close next week?

• How can we track and retain all our contact communications?

• How many sales resulted from our last marketing campaign?

• How can we measure the performance of our products, services & our sales team?

• How can we sharpen our processes & serve more clients without adding more staff?

• What customer issues are taking longest to resolve this quarter?

Please call Preact on 0870 382 5000 to arrange a quote and to find out if you qualify for a 40% competitor discount.

Better performance, new ACT! dashboards, better integration with Outlook, automated database maintenance & much more. ACT! 2009 has a lot to offer

• Faster application speed and more robust database performance

• Better integration with Outlook. Send Outlook emails directly from ACT!, use Outlook Rules to file emails in ACT & schedule ACT! activities in Outlook

• Streamlined synchronisation including faster sync processes

• New ACT! dashboards provide a graphical overview of activities & opportunities

• Works with Microsoft Vista & Microsoft Office 2007

• Includes Sage Accounts Link

• Automated database maintenance and back-up processes

• Options to edit advanced look-ups and run advanced keyword searches for more flexible ACT! searches

• Web access now available with ACT! Premium

Test Drive ACT! 2009 online >>

Upgrade to ACT! 2009 for as little as £72!

Call 0870 382 5000 to arrange a quote and to upgrade your ACT! software, to request a demonstration or to speak to one of our consultants for some friendly CRM advice.

What's fixed in ACT! v11.1

ACT! v11.1 includes fixes that address:

GoldMine 8.5 will be with us in the next couple of weeks so in advance of its release we've show-cased the best improvements and new features. More details are available in our GoldMine upgrade guides.

• This is a free update for GoldMine Premium customers with valid licence maintenance.
   
• For GoldMine v7 and older users, early bird upgrade discounts are now available until 30 April so please call 0870 382 5000 to arrange a quote

Includes better search tools, wider compatibility & enhanced case management. GoldMine Premium 8.5 adds new features & improvements that boost productivity:

• New universal search finds any data that's stored in activities, email body, notes and even linked documents so all entries and files can be quickly found
   

• New preview panes save you time when browsing emails, notes, activities and other GoldMine entries
   

• Enables faster look ups using context sensitive dropdown lists that change values according to criteria entered in other fields
   

• Extended case management tools including the ability to link cases with multiple contacts, automated creation of history entries for reassigned, completed and escalated cases. Automatic attachment of emails to cases and even create new cases based on an automated process.
   

• Works with Microsoft SQL Server 2008, 32-bit / 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003 for wider compatibility
   
• Other administration improvements control user permissions for editing and deleting notes, managing relationships between contacts and more

Other improvements include:

• More robust synchronisation processes including sync connection queuing & removal of 2GB size limitation
• Relationship builder helps to manage relationships between contacts
• Silent / unattended install option that frees up administrator time & removes user intervention during the set-up process
• 4 additional fields are now available in the details tab

• Wider contact search options including searches on primary & additional contacts and use wildcards to match partial names

• Email address and website columns are now displayed in the search results

• Activity management enhancements include new pending RSVP folder in the activity list, print or copy activities to other applications

• Task folder exposes opportunity or project name for faster navigation

• Improved email centre user interface & SSL connections & IMAP protocol are now supported for more security & better interoperability with other email clients

• Redesigned opportunity & project manager interfaces for better usability

Compared with GoldMine v7 & older versions, GoldMine 8.5 also offers:

• A redesigned, easier to navigate user interface including tabs & quick link buttons
• Microsoft SQL database for increased data security & robust performance
• Compatibility with Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007
• Create filters & groups more quickly with controls to summarize & drill down
• Lists recently viewed contacts, auto-complete field + other time saving enhancements
• Crystal Reports software, GoldSync & Outlook Integration licensing supplied with every Goldmine 8.5 licence

By understanding what content in your message may be treated as spam you can update your email template and replace if necessary with safe content to have a better delivery rate.

The Spam Check will read and scan your email message just as a spam filter would. It evaluates your message for possible spam infractions and then sends back a response to your email address.

A score based on the possible spam infractions along with a description of each spam infraction will be assigned to your email. The Spam Check classifies your emails into four categories: safe, questionable, high risk, and spam.

3 easy steps to spam check your marketing emails

1. Add SpamCheck@swiftpage.com to your email safe sender list.

2. Send your email message to SpamCheck@swiftpage.com with "spTest" at the beginning of your subject.

Example:

• To: SpamCheck@swiftpage.com

• Subject: spTest Newsletter

3. Within a few minutes you'll receive an email with your Spam Check Score! See an example

Disclaimer: The score generated and the questionable items are simply Swiftpage guidelines. While making some of these changes may improve deliverability, neither Swiftpage or Preact do not assure that every recipient will receive your email campaign. This is due to the nature of your list and the email application receiving the campaign. Swiftpage Spam Check is a free service.

By subscribing to Swiftpage email marketing you'll be able to:

• Get email call lists - identify which people open your emails and click links

• See email campaign intelligence - assess open & click rates as well as statistics for total unique opens, bounces, opens over time and many more

• Send HTML emails - use Swiftpage professionally designed templates or upload your own HTML email template

• Send 1000+ emails per day

• Use advanced email marketing tools - including drip marketing for automated messages, send emails in different names, apply surveys to collect feedback and data.

Download a free trial of Swiftpage for ACT! or hosted Swiftpage, for Excel, Sage CRM & for Outlook.

If you need any clarification regarding the Sage announcement on ACT! v7/8 or you'd like to arrange an upgrade quotation for ACT! 2009 v11 please call 0870 382 5000 to speak to one of our consultants.

We'll be in touch once this has been released but in the meantime we've listed some of the additions that will be available in the free ACT! v11.1 update:

• NEW Relationships Tab - link or create relationships between contacts

• NEW Import Date field - visibility of data import dates for look-ups & reports

• Enhanced Dashboards - drilldown on specific bar and pie segments rather than the entire component to display activities or opportunities associated with that slice

• Filter Activity/Opportunity by Yesterday

• Company names in Alarm dialog - alarm pop-ups will display the company information for each activity contact

• Go to multiple selected alarms - go to button on the alarm pop up provides a link to list of contacts

• Edit regarding list when recording new history

• History icon on Toolbar - new History icon has been added to the standard toolbar

• Mail merging - all mail merge wizard options are sticky when the finish button is clicked to reduce the time to do subsequent repeat mail merges using the same options

• Default Backup location preference

• + many other new updates & fixes

ACT! v11.1 will be released by the end of March so we'll be in touch once this is available.]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:04:00 GMT Preact

Two new CRM offers are now available for GoldMine users. For a limited time you can replace GoldMine v6 (& older) licences with the latest ACT! and Microsoft Dynamics CRM software at a substantial discount on the usual licence prices:

ACT!

Cost effective, scalable & customisable contact management software for individuals & teams

• Upgrade from GoldMine to ACT! 2009 from just £55

• Or upgrade to ACT! Premium from only £99 for web access & support for 10+ users
  
  OFFERS ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL 31 MARCH

With an emphasis on flexibility, ease of use & low cost of deployment, ACT! is the world's best selling contact management system. Take an online test drive, see our video demonstration & read more

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Transforms sales, marketing and customer service workflows & processes. Manage all your CRM data in Outlook!

• GoldMine users save 40% on Microsoft Dynamics CRM licences!¹

Micrsoft Dynamics CRM delivers instant business intelligence across all teams that can be acted upon. Works with Microsoft technology including Sharepoint, Exchange Server, SQL Reporting & other back office systems

Register for a free trial, see a video presentation & read more

To arrange an upgrade quote to ACT!, Microsoft Dynamics CRM or GoldMine Premium, or to see a demonstration please call 0870 382 5000.

Compare ACT! & Microsoft CRM with GoldMine

ACT! is a directly competitive package to GoldMine and offers a comparable range of contact and sales management features.

In contrast to ACT! and GoldMine, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a more advanced relationship management that provides dedicated modules for sales, marketing & customer service teams. The Dynamics CRM suite is fully accessible in Outlook or a web browser & the package can be deployed on-site or hosted by a third party like Preact.

Find out more by downloading our free comparison guide or a summarised comparison grid.

A GoldMine Premium upgrade guide is also available.

¹ Offer applicable on the first 30 GoldMine licences upgraded to Dynamics CRM.

In summary, the latest Sage CRM v6.2 release includes:

• New email editor and spell checker to significantly improve Sage CRM's email capability. The new Microsoft Word style formatting menu enables emails to be easily composed in Sage CRM while the new preview and multi-lingual spell check ensures that communications look professional. 

• Address linking is added in v6.2 making it easier to manage addresses. Addresses on the company screen reflect all the locations linked to that organisation including different offices which can be applied to relevant contacts at that organisation so that new addresses and updates only need to be applied once. 

• New branding toolkit and themes enable the Sage CRM interface to be customised to reflect your branding and colouring. Pre-configured themes are available and new ones can be created from scratch.  

• Related entities can now be better understood in Sage CRM v6.2 by graphically tracking the relationships betweens the main entities that you work with. For example, this could be between a parent company and a subsidiary or between associated companies. 

• Mobile enhancements address ease of use and performance to improve the mobile user experience including improvements to the date and time selection fields. 

• Solo enhancements optimise synchronisation and performance for offline CRM access by limiting non-essential information that users can download. 

• Recent lists can be increased to as many as 40 items at any one time.

To find out more about these and other improvements available in Sage CRM v6.2 please download the new update guide or call us on 0870 382 5000.

You can out more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the following pages:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Dynamics CRM Overview
• Works in Outlook
• CRM Service & Support
• CRM Sales Automation
• CRM Marketing
• Works with Microsoft Technology
• Buyers Guide
• CRM Software Comparison
• How to Buy
• Free CRM Test Drive
• System Requirements