Act! v20 CRM Review - Blog: CRM Solutions & Industry News | AspenTech CRM - Picture1

Act! v20 CRM Review

Act! v20 CRM is out and there is a lot to be happy about in this release! Recent releases of Act! had many improvements “under the hood” but only a few noticeable ones for end users. Act! v20 CRM is one of the most impactful in recent history! 
 

Adaptable, Everywhere, Connected Workspace

With Act! v20 you get unprecedented freedom to tailor your experience to fit your business and industry requirements.  Act!’s configuration options have expanded allowing you to adapt the out-of-the-box product as much or as little as you need. Act! goes where you go, enabling your team to be productive wherever you work – office pc, cloud browser, tablet, smartphone or laptop, Windows or Mac, you have a choice of sophisticated online and offline capabilities to keep everyone up to date. Act! likes what you like, keeping you connected to the tools you love like Slack, Survey Monkey and hundreds more.  Direct integration with Outlook, Google and Excel enable seamless interaction.  
 

What’s New In Act! v20 CRM

Act! Insights – Subscriber-only: Everyone wants to see their Act! information in dashboards or KPIs. The new Act! Insights gives you that capability. 10+ Insights will be included on release and more will be added in future updates.  
  • Visual snapshots of dynamic, real-time metrics
  • Interactive, graphical dashboards with drill-down capability
  • Measure sales productivity and performance, sales pipeline health, top performing products, win/loss analysis and more
  • Customize your view to display metrics most relevant to you or create your own dashboards

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Modern User Interface: In the Windows client, Act! gets a bold fresh new look that is more closely aligned with Act! Web/Cloud.
  • Simplified look and feel
  • Modern, easy-to-use interface
  • Continuity with Web and Windows

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Act! Emarketing Optimized Workflow:  Act! emarketing has been part of Act! since v17, and it’s been the one of the sleeper functions that has seen the most development, year over year. What are you using today for your email marketing? Constant Contact? MailChimp? MyEmma? Whatever product you are using, chances are you can do it just as easily with Act! emarketing and improve your effectiveness. 

With Act! emarketing you are using the data in Act!, no exporting of contacts. With Act! emarketing, the results of each email campaign are right in Act! with your contacts. You can easily see their level of engagement with your emails from the standpoint of both opens and clicks. Quickly see a list of your most engaged contacts that you can then use for personalized follow-up emails or phone calls. 
  • Work in Act! emarketing is now done completely within the Act! application
  • Segment, send and track, directly from Act!
  • Prioritized list of hot leads based on the results of your email campaign
  • Create and customize professional, mobile-friendly templates
  • View and manage the results of your email campaigns, directly from Act!

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Ask Act! with Amazon Alexa Integration – Subscriber-only: Built on the Act! API (application programming interface) Alexa becomes your virtual Act! CRM assistant. Using just voice commands, Alexa will be able to pull up contacts, retrieve information about them, as well as provide a glimpse of your upcoming schedule. Future updates will add the ability to edit contacts, reschedule activities and retrieve data from Act! Insights. As an added incentive, through the end of October, Act! is giving all new Act! subscriptions a free Amazon Dot.
  • Virtual CRM assistant
  • Interact with Act! on devices with Amazon Alexa
  • Ask for details about your contacts and calendar

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Act! Companion – Subscriber-only: Act! Companion is a native app for iOS and Android devices. It too is built on the Act! API, enabling new updates to pushed out easily. Since its 1.0 release last January Act! has added the capability to create, update and delete contacts on-the-fly, schedule and update activities, record history items to contacts, tap to dial and tap to email, receive alerts for upcoming activities and get driving directions – all with live Act! data.  
  • New Insights Dashboards
  • Redesign of user interface

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Chrome for Mac: Finally! Google Chrome for Mac is finally a certified and supported browser with Act! Web. 
  • Use Act! Premium with Chrome for Mac
  • Outlook integration with Outlook for Mac is available with Act! Premium Contact Link via the Web API

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Usability Improvements: Every Act! upgrade includes many user improvements that don’t get the headlines, but are still important in improving the daily use of Act! and v20 includes a few that have been on our wish list for quite some time. 
  • New opportunity field “Days in Stage” has been added to quickly identify opportunities needing attention
  • New “freeze columns” function has been added in the list views in Act! Windows
  • Right-click to change status of an opportunity in Act! Windows
  • New formatting options in the Layout Designer
  • Improved messaging when deleting a database to better understand the impact of your actions

 

Act! v20 – Exceptional Subscriber Value!

Like most other software vendors, Act! has moved to a subscription model for most of their offerings.  And for most of our clients, the subscription model does make a lot of sense. You’re using Act! to grow your business so why wouldn't you want to take advantage of capabilities that will help you keep current, covered and connected – helping you sell more effectively to leverage your Act! investment? Subscription also gives you the flexibility and freedom to tailor your experience to what’s meaningful for you.
 

Exclusive subscription benefits include:

Product: 

  • On subscription you’re current with automatic access to product innovations, feature enhancements and compatibility updates
  • No Act! obsolescence or product sunset concerns
  • Continuous updates / upgrades
  • Immediate access to new features and functionality 
  • Maintain compatibility with Windows, MS Office, SQL, etc.

Customer Success:

  • Your subscription is covered with valuable customer success resources like unlimited expert technical support from Act!’s help desk and an extensive video library 

Connections:

  • Everywhere access from the office, home, or the road, via whatever device you desire
  • You’re connected with hundreds of popular tools and apps that extend the reach and power of Act! using the API and Act! Connect. Examples are Wufoo, Survey Monkey, Eventbrite and Slack to name a few 
  • In just v20, your new/updated connections include Act! Insights dashboards, Ask Act! with Amazon Alexa and Act! Companion
At AspenTech CRM we help companies uncover the potential of Act! CRM by creating a results-driven solution that’s unique to your needs.  If you are not using a CRM today or are using an older version of Act! or perhaps using a competitive product that isn’t meeting your needs, we welcome the opportunity to talk about your vision. To start a free conversation with us, please call at 866-880-4228.