Entrepreneur's Complete Guide to Software

If your business depends on knowing what your customers like, what they've bought and what they're likely to want, you probably need a contact management program.

HAct! 3.0, $199.95, 10-pak $1,800, upgrade $89.95 (Windows 95/NT), $169.95 (Act! 2.8 for Macintosh), Symantec Corp., (800) 441-7234, http://www.symantec.com

Bestselling Act! 3.0 is a great way to organize. This powerful database feels like it's about people and goals instead of data fields and records, though you can easily customize the fields you enter information into. You can generate reports about your clients or design custom reports. Act! puts your Caller ID feature to work by pulling up a client's record before you answer the phone. You can synchronize your contact files with other databases or other users on your network. Simple but thoughtful features like group meeting scheduling and multiday project monitoring may even free you from your project management software.

Act! 3.0 employs Office 97-type features such as auto-filing entries it's seen before, launching Web pages and sending e-mail through Microsoft Exchange. Other helpful tools include a timer, calendars and a to-do scheduler. Uncompleted tasks are automatically rolled over to the next day's list. You can customize toolbars so the tools you use most are at the tip of your mouse pointer. Tool tips remind you what the icons do as you pause the cursor over them. Act! 3.0 opens DDF, CCD, TXT, CSV, DTF, WPA, DOC, WPD, REP, LBL, ENV, RPT, and TPL files. Act! 3.0 also imports Act! 3.0 DBF, dBASE III-V, Q&A 4.0-5.0 data, and delimited text. Taking up only 23MB of hard drive space (5MB for the Macintosh version), Act! is a great way to contact your world.

Other Products

GoldMine 2.5, $295 (Windows 3.1/NT 3.51), GoldMine 3.2, $295 (Windows 95/NT 4.0), GoldMine Software Corp., (800) 654-3526, http://www.goldminesw.com

Sharkware 3.0 Pro, $179.95, upgrade $79.95 (Windows 3.1/95/NT), CogniTech Corp., (800) 947-5075, http://www.sharkware.com

TeleMagic Professional, $99.95 (Windows 3.1/95), TeleMagic Inc., (800) 835-6244, http://www.telemagic.com

What's Hot

• Watch for Janna Contact 98 Professional Edition ($319), which wasn't out at press time but should be by now. Janna 4.0 will have the Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser integrated into the contact manager and will let you store an unlimited number of Web links with any contact, activate the URLs from within Janna, and share specific links with a workgroup. Call (800) 268-6107, or visit http://www.janna.com
• Janna Contact Personal for Windows 95/NT is a sizzling hot deal at $79, since it has powerful features such as integration with Caller ID to bring up a contact's record before you even answer the phone.
• Maximizer 97 is trying to steal Act!'s first place ranking with a $149 price tag and aggressive marketing tactics such as advertising a free pager (you must prepay 12 months of nonrefundable air time for $99 to get it). Maximizer 97 imports comma-delimited, tab-delimited, dBASE III, III+, and IV data. Contact Maximizer Technologies Inc. at (800) 804-6299 or http://www.maximizer.com
• Sidekick 97 is a treat for long-time Sidekick fans and newcomers alike. The $49 program for Windows 3.1/95/NT features group scheduling over the Internet via popular Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and e-mail products such as Eudora, and support for Caller ID and Internet paging. Sidekick 98, due in stores by press time, promises to have an even friendlier interface than earlier versions, integrated Web publishing, updated TrueSync for Palm-Pilot, import support for the new vCard/vCal-endar formats and more. Call Star-fish Software Inc. at (888) 782-7347, or visit http://www.starfishsoftware.com
• A few new Acts! from Symantec Corp. are worth checking out. Act! 1.0 for Windows CE, $99.95, works with a handheld PC running Windows CE 1.0 and hooks up to a Windows 95 system running Act! 3.0 via cable. Act! PalmPilot Link for U.S. Robotics Pilot 1000 or 5000 palmtop portable computers is free for downloading from http://www.symantec.com

This article was originally published in the November 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Entrepreneur's Complete Guide to Software.