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| Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager | 
 enlarge | From: Microsoft Software
Category: Software
List Price: $149.95
Buy New: $115.99
You Save: $33.96 (23%)
New (22) Used (1) from $115.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 212
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp, Windows Xp Professional, Windows Xp Home Edition
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.5
MPN: NFA-00023
Model: 45931G
UPC: 882224581905
EAN: 0882224581905
ASIN: B000WEJYM4
Release Date: January 14, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Save $5.00 when you spend $25.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout. Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Best Outlook Ever! March 4, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you haven't seen or tried Office '07 yet, you have to! This is the most user friendly version of any software product out there (and not just the Outlook, you'll find all new ways to use Excel!). Having the option to add photos and/or logos to your contacts, it's just beyond explanation on how easy it is to use Outlook, now. Plus, the design is very easy on the eyes. Would highly recommend!!
 I agree with other reviewers - significant shortcomings March 3, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I won't repeat what other reviewers have said about the shortcomings of Outlook '07, except to agree and point out (IMHO) the most significant shortcomings.
First, Outlook has always been very susceptible to viruses, and generation after generation, Microsoft apparently refuses to fix the potential exploits. Also, this program is bloated and clunky, pretty typical of most of Microsoft's stuff.
This version is bundled with a contact management software, which is probably its best feature, but is overpriced. There are about a dozen out-of-the-box contact management solutions software available at popular computer retail stores for about $25, which have basically the same features, or you can download free software from a variety of open source sites.
In the final analysis, my decision was whether we needed the features in Outlook 07, or whether to continue using Pegasus or Evolution for email & contact management only. After using and comparing all three, Evolution stands out as the easiest, cheapest, and most simple, until a coworker suggested trying the new features on Gmail. We've been experimenting with Gmail for almost two weeks now, and frankly, it beats Outlook on a variety of points... and it's free, and it stores all your data online. I would strongly suggest looking into signing up for a free Gmail account and tinkering with the all new features before buying or downloading anything else.
 A Great CRM For Small Business! March 3, 2008
If you own your own small business, or just have a lot of professional contacts you need to keep up with, then Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 is a great CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool that is affordable and relatively easy to use. I found it was a great tool for helping me keep track of not only customers, but potential clients and e-mail discussions with them.
One of the best features of the product is that it can integrate directly with Microsoft Accounting 2008. It can even share the database, so you don't have to maintain two separate SQL instances. From there it can automatically help track e-mails, marketing campaigns, projects, etc with all the customers you do business with.
Speaking of marketing campaigns, this is one of the big features of this product I'm just now starting to use. You can actually create and send out targeted marketing to your contacts (or subsets of) and have it track response rates for you. This is a feature which I've had to pay a third party service for in the past!
The only downside to this product is that it takes some time to get used to. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to manage my contacts correctly! It also requires SQL Server 2005 (it will install it for you) so be prepared for a little more overhead on your system.
Overall, its a great CRM for small business and can do a lot of powerful features that normally you'd have to engage third party services for. Just be prepared for a learning curve when you first install it!
A Good Idea, But it Desperately Needs Some Work March 3, 2008
Microsoft's "Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager is one tough program to set-up, but when you combine it with Microsoft's Accounting 2008 (it is a free download), it has its merits. I'll try to explain those, along with the bumps in the process, that I found.
First of all, if there ever was a program that needs at least a short written booklet on setting-it-up, transferring contact information, and using the basics of it, this is it. If you are a business person, and you want to keep extensive records of calls, etc., this is more like ACT! , and a little better in saving details from your regular version of Outlook. To perform an action with a contact, you 1) highlight a contact, 2 ) right click on "call" or "create" to take one of those actions, and 3) you have a good record of your action while you perform your task.
Of the books that I've been able to "search" through, Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) looks good and covers most of the info well. Managing Contacts with MS Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager would probably work, too, but I was not able to go in and read any sections of it. With the "Dummies" book, I read around 50 pages on the problems I found, and it covered them correctly.
Next, let me say this, if you have "Outlook" already on your computer, it works well (as it says on the package) with Office 2003 and Office 2007 (for Word features like mail merge), but it was a disaster with Office '97 and has a drawback with Office XP (2002). With '97, I actually cannot use the regular Outlook anymore, even after uninstalling Business Manager and reinstalling Office '97. It will work with Office XP, but it makes it part of Business Manager and shows it as "Contacts" under "My Contacts," see images I uploaded). Afterwards, you will not be able to use Outlook XP for mail, but you can use it for most other functions.
You would think that one could easily upload ones contacts from a .pst (Outlook) file backup, but that is not possible. I, also, tried, as instructed, using a .csv (comma separated values) file and mapping the fields, but they would not transfer in. To actually transfer the records (see images), you have to select "contacts" under "My Contacts." Then, you highlight the contact you want to transfer. Next, on the Edit menu, click Copy to Folder, in the submenu Copy Items, choose "Business Contacts" under Business Contact Manager. If you want to transfer all of your contacts, just choose Select All under the File menu in your transfer process.
NOTE: Given my calamities, I will say that after three crashes during one process of trying to share the CSV info, it did recognize there were conflicts, and it did repair them.
If you've ever worked with Microsoft Project, Business Contact Manager will allow you to do a watered down version of setting-up a project. With the accounting package, you can keep tabs on your costs per project at the same time. This part is a little more intuitive; however, I'd still refer to a separate guide as the "help" files require you to hunt a lot to get all the information you need.
PIM's, Personal Information Managers, have been around for a while, and Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager has some valued features. My first PIM was "Packrat" for Windows, and I still miss some of the features of it (such as using "keys" when saving documents so you can easily find information (sort of a "Journal" entry type of thing that is more extensive)). Later, I began using ACT! Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007. This program is neither of those. It is not bad, bad, just not as good as it could be. If you can deal with the problems of set-up, and either do not have Outlook on your computer now, or have Office 2003 or Office 2007, I'd say give it a shot, but realize you will have some bumps in the road up ahead.
Works very well, even with my smart phone and pda March 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Flawless integration (once you download the add-in) with my pda or smart phone. I would recommend this over ACT 2008.
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