Now in its ninth iteration, ACT 2007 looks set to keep Sage at the top of the customer relationship management (CRM) tree with important new Outlook integration and productivity enhancements in this release.

ACT is a popular tool with all kinds of small businesses because of the way it consolidates contact and customer information into a single database. All transactions can then be logged against those records to build a complete activity history, with users also able to attach notes and other relevant documents.

Everything in the database can be shared, with facilities also to share calendars, track activities and forecast sales opportunities from within the ACT environment.

Integration with other applications is another key feature. ACT includes a custom email client of its own, but contact information can also be shared with Outlook, Outlook Express and Lotus Notes. Similarly it’s possible to generate mailshots and other documents using Word and synchronise contact records with Pocket PC and Palm handheld computers.

The enhancements in the 2007 release are centred around Outlook integration. Recognising that most small companies will prefer to use Outlook for messaging, ACT 2007 allows Outlook 2000 or later to be configured as a preferred email client. Recipients can then be selected from both Outlook and ACT address books with appropriate history records added to the ACT database, whether using the built-in email client or the Microsoft software.

New ACT contacts can also be created from the Outlook inbox with contact name and email address fields filled automatically and automatic duplicate checking.

Elsewhere the search options are beefed up with a new keyword search, plus there’s a split-panel notes view and other minor tweaks to the interface. Despite these changes, the biggest drawback to this Sage application remains it s complexity. This is something Sage has long tried to address, but new users will still find the application intimidating, at least to begin with.

Installation can also be a fairly lengthy process, especially on the single-user version we tested. That’s because Microsoft’s .Net framework has to be loaded if not already present, followed by SQL Server 2005 Express to manage the database. However, database setup is automated so you don’t have to be a technical wizard to either install or start using the program.

Another consideration is the need for a fairly well-specified computer with plenty of available memory, especially where the database is hosted on the same PC. We tested on a 3GHz Windows XP PC and found 1GB of Ram gave far better performance compared with the minimum 512MB specified.

Although it can be used on its own, you don’t get the full benefit of ACT unless it’s shared, with support for up to 10 users in the basic ACT 2007 package. Additional licences are required to add the extra users, but as the database is already available, setup time and hardware requirements will be reduced.

For larger companies ACT Premium for Workgroups has been upgraded. Starting at £1,335 ex Vat for five users it can handle over 100 users and has automated administration and enhanced security controls.

The 2007 update isn’t a major overhaul, but the enhanced Outlook integration is a good move. More attention to the user interface would help, but that apart, ACT 2007 is a useful upgrade.