We use this in house every day to manage our practice. Handheld Contact helps us maintain ACT! while we are on the road seamlessly and without the hassle of managing the synchronization process.
For ACT!, we recommend Handheld Contact for the Android, and here is why:
- Product stability. It simply doesn’t crash, and I have used it for over 4 years. Other programs tend to duplicate contacts on both sides if the sync log gets corrupted.
- It’s easy to use. You can allow the Android and the computer to sync every 15 minutes, and you have to do nothing to make it work after the initial setup.
- Handheld Contact runs as its own application, so you can keep your personal life separate from your business life.
- It offers an offline copy of ACT! while you are out of internet range
- You can record history from the Android and it will show up as a “history” in ACT when you get back to the office
- You can send email from the Android from Handheld Contact and it records right to ACT! history
- You can send SMS (Text Messages) from the Android, and it records right into ACT history as well.
OK, what are some drawbacks ?
- The application supports 7,000 contacts on the Android. If you have more than that, you need to make a group in ACT!
- Some may say it’s a disadvantage not to use the native calendar and contact list on the Android.
It’s a different approach on licensing.
Handheld Contact is a service that happens to be software at $79/year per user, which includes software updates. Some of our clients balk at paying an annual fee for software. Let’s suppose another package runs for $50 as a one time fee; you need to factor your potential down time if the program breaks. After supporting mobile devices for ACT! since 1998, we know a $50 desktop program cannot be perfectly stable for many years for PDA integration with ACT!.
In terms of productivity and a “fire and forget” approach to software, Handheld Contact is a critical tool for our CRM practice.
