ACT! - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sage ACT! is a customer relationship management

Customer relationship management

Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...

(CRM) software application which is used to keep track of client and prospect details in a single database that can be shared by multiple users. It integrates with Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...

, Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...

, Outlook

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...

, and other popular applications in order to generate and track communications with the contacts maintained in Sage ACT!. It is distributed by Sage

Sage

- People :*A "sage" is any wise teacher, someone who imparts wisdom or the perennial philosophy, including spiritual teachers and teachers of mysticism but not necessarily with such religious connotations, so may refer to a:...

and has a user base of over 2.8 million registered users.

History

The company Conductor Software was founded 1986 in Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

by Pat Sullivan

Pat Sullivan (programmer)

Pat Sullivan is recognized as a pioneer in the high-tech industry who created the contact manager ACT!. Sullivan was named as one of the “80 Most Influential People in Sales and Marketing History” in 1998 by the magazine Sales & Marketing Management among the ranks of Henry Ford, Walt Disney,...

and Mike Muhney. Its product, ACT!, was released in 1987 and became one of the pioneers in the contact management software category. The original name for the software was "Activity Control Technology" then "Automated Contact Tracking".

The name of the company was changed to Contact Software International, and the company moved out of its original office in the "mustang building" in Las Colinas

Las Colinas

Las Colinas is an upscale, developed area in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.Due to its central location between Dallas and Fort Worth and its proximity to DFW Airport, Las Colinas has been a viable place in the Metroplex for corporate and business relocation.As a planned community, it has many...

to a building off Freeport Parkway near DFW Airport. Beginning with the 2006 version, the name was revised to ACT! by Sage and later changed to Sage ACT!. The current release is Sage ACT! 2011 (version 13). Development now happens in Scottsdale, Arizona

Scottsdale, Arizona

Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...

, with regional offices in several countries.

Sage ACT! is currently available in English (US, UK and Australia), French, and German, and is sold through international resellers and Sage ACT! Certified Consultants.

Timeline

1986

Mike Muhney and Pat Sullivan founded Conductor Software in Carrollton, Texas
Carrollton, Texas
-Climate:*On average, the warmest month is July.*The highest recorded temperature was 112°F in 1980.*The average coolest month is January.*The lowest recorded temperature was 1°F in 1989.*The most precipitation on average occurs in May....

and developed QuotePro in Lotus Symphony.
Randy Haben and John Maurer were brought onboard mid-year to begin development of a project codenamed YES!. Prototypes were developed using an early release of Paradox along with dBASE and Clipper.

1987

ACT! for DOS 1.0 (April 1) - previously codenamed “YES!” – a recursive acronym for "Yes, Everybody Sells!". ACT! was also originally an acronym - first for "Activity Control Technology" and later "Automated Contact Tracking", before becoming just "ACT!"

1988

Conductor Software renamed to Contact Software International

1989

ACT! was rewritten from the ground up (for release in 1990). It was among the first wave of PC-based applications to be developed in C++.

1990

ACT! for DOS 2.0 (August) - first version with network support

1991

ACT! 9000

1992

ACT! for Windows 2.0 - Added network support for the Windows product
ACT! for HP95LX - the first mobile version for PDAs
ACT!PAK! - first add-on for ACT! developed by Oakhurst Systems
1st ACT! - cut down version for OEMs and single users.

1993

Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...

purchased Contact Software International
First on-line support forums for Consultants and users on CompuServe
CompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
ACT! for Mac - compatible database with 2.0 for Windows

1995

ACT! for Newton
ACT! Mobile Link - two way sync for remote users

1996

ACT! for Lotus Notes - later sold to original developers, ErgoTech
(November) - ACT! 3.0 for Windows 95 and NT - First Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...

product with added back-wards compatibility to run on Windows 3.1

1997

Symantec adds support for ACT! in WinFax Pro
ACT! PalmPilot Link (later ACT!Link for PalmOS)
ACT! for Windows CE (later ACT! Link for PocketPC)

1998

ACT! 4.0 - Added support for Windows 98 and Office 97
ACT! for Psion by Advansys

1999

Symantec sold ACT! to SalesLogix
Sage Group
The Sage Group plc , commonly known as Sage, is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It is the world's third-largest supplier of enterprise resource planning software , the largest supplier to small businesses, and has 6.1 million customers...

(later Interact Commerce Corporation) - headed by Pat Sullivan, original co-founder of ACT!

2000

ACT! 2000 (5.0) - Windows XP support added

2002

QuickBooks Link for ACT! - the first accounting link FOR ACT!. Developed by Terry McKiernan of PinPointTools
Interact Commerce Purchased by Sage Group Plc
The Sage Group
The Sage Group plc , commonly known as Sage, is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It is the world's third-largest supplier of enterprise resource planning software , the largest supplier to small businesses, and has 6.1 million customers...

(Best Software
Sage Group
The Sage Group plc , commonly known as Sage, is a global enterprise software company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It is the world's third-largest supplier of enterprise resource planning software , the largest supplier to small businesses, and has 6.1 million customers...

in North America)
ACT! 6.0 (later ACT! 2004) – Office 2003 support added after 6.0.3
ACT! for Palm OS

2003

Handheld Contact adds support for ACT! on Blackberry - first wireless PDA sync (later adds Windows Mobile)
ACT! for Web 1.0 for ACT! 6.0 - originally by dbDynamics

2004

ACT! by Sage 2005 (7.0) - Complete re-write with .Net
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

1.x and MS SQL 2000. Product split into standard, Premium Ex and Premium ST

2005

ACT! by Sage 2006 (8.0)

2006

ACT! by Sage 2007 (9.0) - Changed to .Net
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

2.0 and MS SQL 2005

2007

ACT! by Sage 2008 (10.0) - Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

and Office 2007 support. 10.02 added ability to add custom sub-tables via the SDK.

2008

Launch of Community.act.com site (January) – Much improved communication between senior management and users

New Dashboard. Significantly improved Outlook integration and major improvements in stability, reliability, ease of install and speed. Added Vista x64 support and Safari for Mac users. Also free plug-in to provide links to Social Media such as LinkedIN

Sage repositions ACT! - moves from CRM group to Value group

2009

ACT! by Sage 2009 (11.1) – Added Relationship Tab.
ACT! by Sage 2010 (12.0) - Expected to add more links to social media sites and accounting products as well as ability to share with other Sage solutions.

2010

Sage ACT! 2011 (13.0) - Changed to .Net
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

3.5.x SP 1 and MS SQL 2008 R2. Product split into Pro & Premium.

2011

Sage ACT! 2012 (14.0) - Integrated with Google, plus included faster, more expansive search and a virtual notepad called Sage ACT! Scratchpad.

Versions

There are two versions of Sage ACT!, each designed for a different market. Sage ACT! Pro is limited to 10 active users and utilizes Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...

2008 R2 Express. Sage ACT! Premium (access via Windows) is designed for small to medium-sized businesses with less than 30 users. It utilizes either Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express or 2008 R2 Standard. The SQL 2008 R2 Standard edition can support 30 or more users because it uses multi-processors and as much RAM as the server can provide it. Sage ACT! Premium (access via web) is designed for businesses who want to access the data on their own servers over the Internet. This version supports Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express and 2008 R2 Standard.

Features

Sage ACT! features include contact management, a calendar, communication tools, the ability to track prospective customers, "dashboards", reports, and the ability to synchronize data from other applications or over the web. The software allows multiple users to access the same data simultaneously and can interface with popular word processing, spreadsheet, and email software. It features a variety of "dashboards" which are graphical representations of key activity that allows users to spot new business opportunities, and can generate a wide variety of statistical reports.

Partners

Sage ACT! has hundreds active certified consultants. A number of third party companies develop add-on products that expand the functionality of the software.

External links