Get into the Act!

According to Microsoft, Outlook is a “personal information manager and communications program”. But those who need a more robust solution than a glorified address book have many viable alternatives. To be sure, Outlook is an excellent email program, but do not mistake it to be a contact manager or project manager. Even with Microsoft’s Business Contact Manager update what you have is a hodgepodge of puzzle pieces added on top of a weak address book that is bound to collapse under the weight of professional use.

So what should a professional salesperson, attorney or project manager depend on to get ahead in their careers? There are many tools out there, but the one I found to be the best is Act! What makes Act so good? In a few words, it’s really easy to use, it’s highly customizable, and it gets the job done. Basically, it contains an email program, contact list, calendar, a pda link, a task list and a method to group contacts. But hey, you’re thinking, Outlook does all that as well. Yes, it does do it all, but not as well. Let’s take a closer look at some basic functions and you’ll see what I mean.