Sydney,  22 October 2008 - Sage Business Solutions today announced the launch of ACT! by Sage 2009 (11.0) in Australia and New Zealand.

Sage Business Solutions, part of the Sage Group plc, today announced availability of ACT! by Sage 2009 (11.0) the latest version of its leading customer and contact management solution.

Available to Australian and New Zealand customers from today, the new ACT! by Sage product family consists of ACT! by Sage 2009 (11.0), ACT! by Sage Premium 2009 (11.0), and ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2009 (11.0).

ACT! by Sage is a contact and customer management solution used by more than 2.8 million individuals and over 43,000 corporate customers including Australian and New Zealand professionals, small business owners and corporate teams.

The new features in ACT! by Sage are designed to enhance user productivity with improved Microsoft® Outlook® integration, improved calendar and activity visibility and greater database search capabilities. All upgrade features have been incorporated in direct response to customer feedback.

New features in ACT! by Sage Premium are designed to benefit larger teams of users and include increased data sharing capabilities, group scheduling functionality, advanced opportunity tracking and customisation capabilities, robust dashboards and reports, and multiple security levels.

"We completed interviews, surveys and usability tests with thousands of customers across Australia and New Zealand to ensure this latest version of ACT! by Sage offers the productivity and cost efficiency benefits businesses require to get ahead in today’s challenging economic conditions,” said Ken Prokopec, Australia and New Zealand Business Manager, ACT! by Sage.

"This feedback helped us deliver the most user-friendly contact management system Sage has ever offered. ACT! by Sage 2009 is a tool that can help businesses grow sales, save time, and reduce operating expenses quickly.”

New ACT! by Sage 2009 productivity features include:

• En masse e-mail attaching – select multiple Microsoft Outlook e-mails from different senders and attach them quickly to ACT! contacts
• Activity scheduling from e-mails – create activities within Outlook e-mails and ACT! by Sage 2009 automatically populates the contact and regarding/subject lines
• ‘One-click’ calendar copy – copy an ACT! calendar to an Outlook calendar quickly from the main ACT! toolbar

Improved ACT! 2009 productivity features include:

• Simplified lookups – search by only part of a name or title; switch between contact, group or company to modify a search without starting over; action advanced queries from the main lookup toolbar and carry previous searches over for refining
• Fast access to previous contact lookups – view the last several contact lookups by type, date, timestamp, and number of contacts in a query
• Calendar filters applied on printouts – print an ACT! calendar with selected users, type, priority, and date range applied

New and improved ACT! 2009 database and automation options include:

• Automated tasks – automate calendar copying, database backups and maintenance from ACT! Scheduler (previously only available in ACT! Premium)
• Streamlined sync progress bar – see progress of database synchronisation by steps and time remaining

A complete list of new and improved ACT! 2009 features is available at www.sagebusiness.com.au  or www.sagebusiness.co.nz. 

New add-on solutions inspired by ACT! community feedback

Sage Business Solutions also detailed over 65 ACT! add-on solutions that further enhance ACT! 2009 with marketing, shipping, mapping and mobile device synchronisation capabilities amongst others.

"We’re constantly involved in conversations with customers on the ACT! Online Community," said Mike Lorge, Managing Director, Sage Business Solutions, Australia and New Zealand.

"Community member comments helped refine many ACT! 2009 features, and our customer beta testing program achieved extremely high levels of participation. Connecting with our customers continues to have a powerful impact on how we deliver the ACT! user experience," Lorge said.

The ACT! Online Community (http://community.act.com), introduced earlier this year, has recorded over five million page views and more than 75,000 forum logins in its first six months of operation.

Availability

ACT! by Sage is available from more than 50 ACT! certified consultants across Australia and New Zealand.

ACT! 2009 and ACT! Premium 2009 are also available immediately, at no cost, for Australian and New Zealand customers who are subscribed to the ACT! Upgrade Assurance service.

ACT! Upgrade Assurance, part of Sage Business Solutions’ overall Customer Benefits Program across their entire portfolio, ensures that annual subscribers receive all upgrades released for their registered ACT! product during their subscription period.