ACT! 2006 Premium for Workgroups

List Price: $399.99

Features:

• Increase productivity by centralizing critical customer information, appointments, and documents
• Boost team productivity with advanced functionality designed specifically for workgroups
• Centralize administration and deployment for easy roll-out to end users
• Securely control database access with advanced contact and user security
• Automate key aspects of the sales cycle for better forecasting and tracking

Customer Reviews:

A waste of time and money. DON'T BUY [Posted on 2006-04-21]
I bought the $1,100.00 Act 2006 premium for workgroups (5 users plus server). Three people in our organization tried it and I made a HUGE effort to work with the product (since I recommended it). All copies have been un-installed, no one liked it nor could work with it. Maybe some people that only work at their desk in an office can use this product but if you are a salesman or a mobile profesional with a Laptop this product is not for you.

The first thing you will notice with ACT (from 2005 and forward) is that it will make your computer SUPER slow. And this is because it installs SQL server and loads it EVERY time you boot up. So right after you install ACT you will see your boot time go from 30 seconds to above three minutes. Don't even think that I have a slow computer. I have a Dell XPS-1710 with Pentium-M 2ghz, 2gb of ram and video card with 256Mb. I don't understand why Sage assumes every time you start your computer you are going to use ACT.

Next thing you will see is that if you buy ACT you better RUSH to get it installed and become an expert with it and use all the features and ALL possible configurations because their support EXPIRES AFTER 30 DAYS. So if you are a busy professional which buys the product but doesn't have time to do all this right away you will find yourself calling for support as you are installing for the first time a month and a half later AND YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK. Pay up, sign a support contract. Since we bought the "premium" edition I think we got three months of support but that was it. Our server crashed months later and I had issues re-installing, I called "sorry your support period has expired".

Next thing you will see is that you have to sacrifice Outlook. ACT has an email editor like Outlook or it bridges to outlook but integration is lousy. No more easily receiving or sending vcards, attachments in received emails show up as a weird binary file half the time, an enormous mountain of issues. Everything with ACT is painful, even things that work are awkward.

When our server crashed I went to Sage's web site to take a look at their knowledgebase. Sage has REMOVED the access to their knowledgebase so you don't even have that to help you troubleshoot. They have a simple FAQs section that doesn't help at all with the issues and errors you will encounter. I don't blame them for removing the access because I was in shock when I first saw the amount and type of issues the product had.

After a year of trying to work with this product we have all uninstalled it. Nice features but lousy lousy implementation.

Stay away from this product. Buy Microsoft Business Contact Manager add-on for Outlook 2003.

Absymal is not the word!!! [Posted on 2006-06-14]
This software is the biggest joke I have ever come across quite frankly Despite telling you it is a network application when you try and create a database on a network drive or point it to a network drive it says the database must be stored locally!!!!!???? So you then create a local database and tell it to point to a shared network location. They even give instructions on how to to create the network share! But guess what. This worked for a day then just suddenly died! Best of all despite the application clearly pointing to the same database file on the network drive the contents when viewed from more than one location were not the same!! Quite frankly! I have built Microsoft Exchange 2003 server with full AD in less time and with considerably less effort. Nothing could be worse than this application. It is anti-intuitive and user hostile all around!

I only put one Star because that is the lowest. [Posted on 2006-09-14]
I bought the "Premium package with 3 clients". They have the worst customer service I have ever come across. We ran into a problems installing the product, it would not install and it would not uninstall, we call for support to get help and we were told that we had to register the product before they could help us but the only way to register the product was to install it. Lady on the phone told me it was my problem and once I had it registered they could help me. I told the dummy that if I could install it I would not need their help. When I asked to speak with a manager I was told one was not around and that one would call me. Good thing I am not waiting on that call because I still have not gotten it 3 weeks later. They will never get another dollar of my money and I would suggest that you do not give them yours.

It would've been great [Posted on 2007-01-25]
I thought I had a steal on this one for $50 from thye office depot clearance table. They had several copies, now I see why. WHAT A BUMMER!!!!! It would've been great if it could do what it says it can do, not a lot of options out there sadly. Incredibly slow, crashes, mail merging takes minutes to process, really brutal. I am going to try to use access, any future reviewers, please suggest alternatives.

Too bad you can't rate an item 0 stars! [Posted on 2007-03-02]
The other reviewers are absolutely right. Avoid this horrible excuse for a business contact management system! I do computer consulting and on-site service for a living, and one of my customers has relied on the ACT! software since at least version 6.0. The money spent to upgrade to 2006 was utterly wasted, since it made his Pentium 4 machines slow to a crawl, had issues printing properly with one of his HP inkjet printers (printed all address fields as solid black bars), and offered his company next to nothing in benefits over using old versions of the product. Did they even USE this before selling it to customers??

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