Reader Feedback on Web-Based
Contact Managers -- Part Two

How to Get Everybody on the Same Page... Here's the final selection of e-mail responses to my October 6 Dispatch in which I asked for feedback on web-based contact managers. The Bottom Line: The selection of contact management system will depend upon a variety of factors, including your workflow processes and your technology history. It's a long, bloody road.

Scott Andrews with Trammell Crow in Memphis, TN: "... OracleSalesOnline.com is offering free web based CRM. While I have not yet fully tested it, I conducted a cursory review of the media reviews on products in this category. ... I went to the site to test it, but found that it requires in essence an application which is later followed up with an approved account activation code. I have never returned to finish the setup, but supposedly you can upload your ACT! or Outlook databases easily. I am eager to hear if any of your readers took this to the next level, and what reaction they have to the product."

Ed Schnieders with Baker Commercial Realty, Irving, TX: "Look closely at the new ACT! 2000 (i.e., InterAct Commerce Corp's deployment, not Symantec's deployment) which apparently has solid interoperability with InterAct's web-based contact management, interact.com. ... CoStar's Ares for ACT 2000 has been updated to support this capability and interoperability. Look at ACT's (new) web site ... and follow the links and look at the demos for Interact.com."

Chris Goodman with Secured Capital in Los Angeles: "... we are putting finishing touches on the web-based version of our Deal Management System. ... [featuring] an Access front-end with an SQL backend and now finally we are rolling out the browser-based version. ... In addition to this, we are putting the finishing touches on both client and investor extranet sites that will be providing real time information from our SQL database along with a single stopping point for all information related to our deals."

S.L. van der Zanden with Apex Realty IT Solutions, Chicago: "ACT! is definitely the contact manager. The original ACT! developers bought the program back from Symantec earlier this year and have integrated it with their new web-friendly InterAct service. It intuitively anticipates your web needs based on activities you are performing within ACT!. For example, if you live in Chicago and are scheduling a meeting with Peter Pike in SF, it anticipates that you will need to make airline and hotel reservations and pulls up a travel planner. Another is that it will pull up all sorts of resources and information on the contact's company. This is all neat but the real deal is the next version of ACT! where all of these features are fully integrated and expanded upon. Based on my conversations with the Principals in March, they expect a release by 1st Qtr 2001."

--Peter Pike