Customer Relationship Management

[reneecronin]

Just in case anyone is interested, I have tested ACT! 2010 with the ACT to MAS Link v.1.5.12 in both a 64 & 32 bit environment any only part of the functions work.  The initial ones that do not: Settings (no fields, cannot add or load from an existing), Opportunities to Orders (framework issue, but I expected that with the changes to the Opps table).

I was very distressed at this, now my clients have a choice to upgrade to ACT! 2010 and lose the link much

earlier than they expected, or NOT to upgrade the product that they have already paid for with the ACT!

Platinum Care...they are not gonna be happy with either choice....sigh...

[phonelady]

Do you think anyone will write a 3rd party ACT! Link?    I wonder how many ACT! Link users there are out there?

[ashdenise]

One of the reasons I bought MAS 90 was the link, which I have only been partially successful in implenting, after spending a few THOUSAND $$$$. To read about the dropping of the link and only partial success with ACT 2010 is very disheartaning. I will probably slow down any upgrades from this point on. Too much money and I lose what I bought the product for.

[reneecronin]

I am talking with some Sage preferred third-party developers who may be interested, the problem is that they

would charge for the add-on...How would clients feel about paying for software that they once recieved at no

charge?, and what do you think they would be willing to pay?

I have over 200+ users that are either mine or that I partner with other ACT! CCs and/or MAS BPs.

[phonelady]

We would be interested in a 3rd party solution for sure.    Otherwise we are looking at either an EES upgrade, which is costly, plus the annual maintenance charges increase,  or a platform change.  

When we bought MAS90 in 2002 we paid $600 for the ACT! link, which never actually worked for us until we got to  MAS 4.x and ACT 10.  So add in some number of years of maintenance and the implementation cost and our link was far from free.

And what functionality do you lose going from ACT to EES?   The Swiftpage integration isn't as good for sure and we are waiting to hear back on a few other key points.   

It's a risky propostion on Sage's part to make product decisions like this, especially in this economy.  

[vsyrek]

this is very discouraging to find out that the Act Link is being discontinued.  We're in the process of upgrading our Act from 2000 to 2009 and have 2/3rds of our locations on MAS 200 v4.1 and are just starting to implement the Act Link, and were very excited about it (despite it's difficulties)... i'm definitely disheartened.

So if a 3rd party existed that was substantially cheaper than SageCRM/Saleslogix (and worked without as much of a headache), we'd probably be interested...

[reneecronin]

ACT! 2009 and MAS v 4.1 work just fine (if you know what you are doing with both applications and the configurations)...which Service Pack of 4.1 are you using?

If you are in the process of upgrading from ACT! "classic" to ACT! 2009, I would STRONGLY recommend you use an ACT! Certified Consultant to assure a clean upgrade...not tryng to sell myself or another ACT! CC,

but it would definitely be worth the investment.

Renee

[vsyrek]

yes, we have a CC we are in touch with...

the issue is we're planning to move to MAS 200 v4.4 not long after its release, at which point it looks like we'd lose the Act Link...

[reneecronin]

Good to hear that you are using an ACT! CC for the ACT! portion...hopefully by the time MAS v4.4 rolls out we will have some news from Sage as far as the direction they are taking for their Link clients

[johnwilder]

Has there been any progress on this?