Outlook Compatibility

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 17-Nov-2004 10:44 AM

[Posted for Shawn Patrick Cochran]

We are just starting the CRM search and are looking for a product that is compatible with Microsoft Outlook. We do not want a product where it will be necessary to deal with duplicate entry.

We are a Business Intelligence data firm that specializes in the hosting, processessing and delivery of marketing data for the airline industry. The CRM module will be utilized by appoximately 10 employees.

Thanks for your support.

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Paul Sweeney
Member

Posted 18-Nov-2004 07:55 AM

You want ACCPAC CRM. It fully integrates with Outlook and is very flexible.

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John Stockbridge
Member

Posted 18-Nov-2004 02:49 PM

Shawn, have a look at the BrookstoneVirtualOffice (BVO) from Brookstone Technologies. We have full web services integration with Outlook and Office. The BVO was the winner of Microsoft's .NET packaged Application of the Year in 2003 and the winner of Microsoft's Best ISV/Software Solution in 2004.

The URL is http://www.brookstone.com.au

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gautam
Member

Posted 25-Nov-2004 01:30 AM

I belive Microsoft has a CRM solution for SMEs, that it peddles along with Outlook 2003.. Have no idea how good it is though..

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All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.—G. K. Chesterton

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S.Reeves
Member Council
Member

Posted 02-Dec-2004 01:31 PM

SalesForce has an Outlook module. I think most of the popular mid-priced CRM programs do.

Microsoft CRM is fully intregrated with Outlook. It is one of the best features. You use and view MS CRM within Outlook, making it easy to learn and to utilize other Win Office applications.

What's best for you, depends on your usage, priorities and goals. Good luck.

Share Reeves
www.crma-northwest.org

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Cathy Allington
Member

Posted 02-Dec-2004 06:15 PM

Hi Shawn:

I have specilised in CRM and Outlook for many years. For integration with Outlook, by far the best in my experience are Microsoft CRM, and LeGrandCRM. (www.legrandsoftware.com.au)
LeGrand CRM

Legrand has excellent Outlook integration and sells and supports in Australia, Europe and the US. It also has a lot of functionality which many CRM systems in this price range don't have. (From A$250-$600 per licence per user.) Also very very easy to use, and checks for duplicates "out of the box".

LeGrand has some very good customisation features available for adding custom fields, but you can't change the layout of the forms or add TABS if your business requires this.

MSCRM is very customisable in terms of forms—you can change most of the forms to exactly suit your needs and is pretty easy to do so. Also very easy to use. MSCRM provides more functionality in some areas, and is a much more complex system, but user licences are aound $1,100 per user, plus you need a server licence. The installation is much more complex than LeGrand, so you would need to work with a MSCRM partner to successfully implement. Our experience has shown that for each $1,000 in licence costs, you can add another $1,000 in consulting fees as a rule of thumb. It doesn't check for duplicates "out of the box".

The decision for you between the two comes down to what your specific needs are, and what your budget is.

Let me know if you would like further details.

Best Regards
Cathy

www.gyob.net.au

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Michael Silverstein
Member

Posted 23-Jan-2005 09:41 AM

Shawn, the product that my company built is compatible with Microsoft Outlook. It's real easy to import contacts from Outlook and build great-looking quotes in our software, C-suite Office. If you get a minute, please take a look at www.sbnsolutions.com.
Best of luck.

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Perry Norgarb
Member

Posted 23-Feb-2005 02:34 AM

Shawn,

Your query was posted quite a while ago, so I'm not sure if you've managed to settle on a solution yet.

If you are still in the market, you might want to consider these CRM packages: Prophet by Avidian and MX-Contact by Exchangewise.

Both of these solutions are actually embedded in Outlook, rather than integrated to it. By running inside of Outlook, this immediately obviates any integration issues that most others are susceptible to.

A further benefit is that these products also look like Outlook, thereby substantially reducing your training costs. You will find that your staffs buy-in of the proposed solution improved. This also is an important consideration.

At $150-200 per seat, pricing is more in line with SME budgets.

Hope this helps you.

Perry
SmallBizCRM SmallBizCRM