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> Think about CRM software. Could you imagine having to go through hundreds of filing cabinets and massive systems just to get information about a customer? A

> Think about CRM software. Could you imagine having to go through hundreds of filing cabinets and massive systems just to get information about a customer? A Rolodex used to be enough. Advancement replacing it with "hundreds of filing cabinets" should tell you something.

sharemywin 4y ago
Act 2.0 was the desktop version of CRM. and alot of old systems had built in customer databases. had contact info in them. and zoom is cool but phones work in a lot of cases.
- kylecordes 4y ago
  If your team was sitting at desks on a fast network, Act! probably obtained 80% of the productivity benefit of the best available, most expensive CRM available today. Or maybe even better than that; because (again assuming a fast network locally) it could be operated with keystrokes quite a lot faster than many of today’s CRM system. I worked in a place where we had phone, email, and FAX (!) integration set up also. A rep could be on a phone they didn't dial, configuring a quote for what their contact asked for, click a button and it emailed or faxed to the contact. Over 20 years ago.
smegsicle 4y ago
1000x increase in capability coupled with 1000x increase in waste
DANK_YACHT 4y ago
> Advancement replacing it with "hundreds of filing cabinets" should tell you something. A rolodex was enough because that's all that could be managed by an individual. If the number of names needed by a person grew past the size of a rolodex, they were simply out of luck because no system existed that would allow them to efficiently handle that much data. That's my takeaway at least.
- jstarfish 4y ago
  > A rolodex was enough because that's all that could be managed by an individual. If the number of names needed by a person grew past the size of a rolodex, they were simply out of luck because no system existed that would allow them to efficiently handle that much data. That's my takeaway at least. Yes, absolutely true. Given "hundreds of filing cabinets" though, how many of those leads can or will even be contacted in the salesperson/company's lifetime? How many leads will themselves have died before you even get to their number? It's "advancement" only in the sense that we've made hoarding more efficient (which is a technical achievement in itself).
  - chii 4y ago
    > how many of those leads can or will even be contacted in the salesperson/company's lifetime? that's why you also have software to do it more efficiently - may be even automated ways of contacting the lead. AKA, spam. But it does increase sales.
- prometheus76 4y ago
  They would get another rolodex.

sharemywin 4y ago

Act 2.0 was the desktop version of CRM. and alot of old systems had built in customer databases. had contact info in them. and zoom is cool but phones work in a lot of cases.

kylecordes 4y ago
If your team was sitting at desks on a fast network, Act! probably obtained 80% of the productivity benefit of the best available, most expensive CRM available today. Or maybe even better than that; because (again assuming a fast network locally) it could be operated with keystrokes quite a lot faster than many of today’s CRM system. I worked in a place where we had phone, email, and FAX (!) integration set up also. A rep could be on a phone they didn't dial, configuring a quote for what their contact asked for, click a button and it emailed or faxed to the contact. Over 20 years ago.

smegsicle 4y ago

1000x increase in capability coupled with 1000x increase in waste

DANK_YACHT 4y ago

> Advancement replacing it with "hundreds of filing cabinets" should tell you something. A rolodex was enough because that's all that could be managed by an individual. If the number of names needed by a person grew past the size of a rolodex, they were simply out of luck because no system existed that would allow them to efficiently handle that much data. That's my takeaway at least.

jstarfish 4y ago
> A rolodex was enough because that's all that could be managed by an individual. If the number of names needed by a person grew past the size of a rolodex, they were simply out of luck because no system existed that would allow them to efficiently handle that much data. That's my takeaway at least. Yes, absolutely true. Given "hundreds of filing cabinets" though, how many of those leads can or will even be contacted in the salesperson/company's lifetime? How many leads will themselves have died before you even get to their number? It's "advancement" only in the sense that we've made hoarding more efficient (which is a technical achievement in itself).
- chii 4y ago
  > how many of those leads can or will even be contacted in the salesperson/company's lifetime? that's why you also have software to do it more efficiently - may be even automated ways of contacting the lead. AKA, spam. But it does increase sales.
prometheus76 4y ago
They would get another rolodex.