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?In today?s competitive world, business professionals are increasingly aware of the value of managing relationships and communicating effectively, both within the workgroup and with their customers,? said Christopher Calisi, vice president of Symantec?s Remote Productivity Solutions Group. ?ACT! 4.0 is an invaluable tool for building and maintaining relationships with customers and potential customers.?

ACT! 4.9 is a fully customizable contact manager. As business demands rise, it is imperative that software applications provide users with useful solutions for managing all aspects of their business. ACT! 4.0 extends customer databases with the world of Internet information, delivers superior integration with communication tools, and provides the power users are looking for in a familiar and easy-to-use interface.
My current company currently uses ACT! 4.0. This is very useful to have up-to-date information on our customers and automotive part numbers they are currently using. My office currently exists of 16 salesmen with one office manager. My company has reviewed numerous databases and has chosen ACT! 4.0 for the use of:
·     Tracking names
·     Tracking numbers
·     Addresses
·     Correspondence (i.e., memos, faxes, emails)
The need for keeping tack of budgets and dollar figures was not necessary for our business.
My company uses ACT! 4.0 for many reasons:
·     Customers names, numbers, addresses
·     Database of letters, memo?s, faxes, and emails sent out.
·     Tracking of notes, phone conversations, and meeting minutes.
·     Personal reminders.
·     Meeting times and locations
Keeping up-to-date address and number information on our customers is vital in this line of business. ACT! 4.0 is easy to input customers names and address. Once that information is in the database you can simply click on the buttons that says; letter or memo, and a letter or memo comes up with all the information on it, all you have to do is type the body of the letter.
You can also click on fax and you can send a fax cover page with attachments through your computer.
One feature that has been very useful in the past few years is email addresses. If you need to send an email just click on the email button and it goes directly to Microsoft Outlook. All the information you send to a customer (memo, fax, email, letter) is kept in that customer?s database. This allows you to keep track of information you sent without having to go through all your software to locate what you sent and where it is saved in your computer.
There is also a field to keep track of notes, phone conversations, and meeting minutes. All these items are saved in a list by dates. These items cannot be typed over; they need to be deleted if you choose to do so.
ACT! 4.0 has a calendar feature where you can flag a specific date and time to remind you of a letter that needs to go out, a meeting that is coming up, or a call to make.
You can also print out the information in your database. You can simply print just customer?s names and phone numbers, or customer?s names and email addresses.
In addition to tracking key information about customers, ACT! 4.0 can now automatically link to numerous sites on the Internet including Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! Company Search, Yahoo! Stock Quote, Inquisit Contact Watcher, and much more. For example, with one click of the mouse, the user can search the Internet for company information, see a street-level map of the customer?s business or home location, and get driving directions to their customer?s site.
ACT! 4.0 has worked wonders for my company. My line of business is sales, and company budget information is not needed.

References
O'Brien, James A. (2000). Introduction to Information Systems: Essentials for the Internetworked Enterprise (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
(2000, July 31) ACT! 4.0 [Online]. http://www.symantec.com/region/can/eng//
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