Hello Group,
I'm representing the top 2 Sage CRM development partners globally within the 90-minds community (Greytrix and CRM Together) and I'm overdue for making a post.
This post is about the relationship Sage CRM has with MS Outlook. As you likely know, there is the free integration. As well, CRM Together publishes an advanced integration with Outlook called 'Accelerator'. You are better off knowing about Accelerator.
A strong integration between CRM and Outlook is important because the success of any CRM initiative is heavily dependent on the user experience. And nothing makes the user experience better than making Sage CRM quick and easy to use from the context of Outlook.
What is wrong with the free plugin and why can't you use that? Well, you are welcome to, but keep in mind the following:
- The default plugin has always been problematic. It has a very limited feature set, but more significantly, it is technically prone to support issues and support mysteries. On many occasions over the past 16 years, members of the Sage CRM support team have told me that the default Outlook Plugin consumes >50% of all time from the Sage CRM support team. You can do the math there. While Sage seems to be able to afford this, you and I and your clients do not really want those frustrating experiences.
- 24 months ago, we (My CRM Manager) changed our policies to no longer support the free plugin. It was too frustrating for us and counterproductive to the success of a client's CRM strategy. Instead, we picked up the Advanced Outlook integration (aka Accelerator). This seems to be one of the best business decisions I have ever made. While it is a third-party solution, it is far superior, and clients are much better off with it.
- Accelerator makes it significantly easier to sell Sage CRM. When presenting Sage CRM, it is too easy for veterans to focus on the slicker features of CRM (or the integration), but often end companies really just need to see a practical integration with Outlook.
We use Accelerator in most all our projects. It has a massive impact on user adoption as it makes using Sage CRM much easier. I would recommend it to all of you. The recently updated 'Accelerator' page on our website breaks up the key functionality of Accelerator into digestible chunks. If you have Sage CRM clients that give you grief about the default plugin, it would be well worthwhile to learn more about Accelerator, and I'm trying my best to make it easy for you to learn about it via short instructional videos.
Demonstrations of Accelerator can be provided on request and an extensive user guide can be downloaded from the bottom of the page (link above). Most of the Sage CRM specific service providers are versed enough on Accelerator too (some more than others) or if you wanted to reach out to CRM Together directly, that is of course fine too.
Good luck!
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Dan Cousins 416.233.3188
My CRM Manager
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