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Welcome 2019 – Time for New Year’s Goals
It’s a new year and time for new year’s resolutions. A few years ago I started calling them “goals” because a goal has, hopefully, a finite deadline. Resolutions often don’t.
As I sat here pondering what were my 2019 personal goals, I also starting putting together my business goals. And I came up with a fun way to match up common terms we use when creating personal goals and relating them to business. Here’s what I came up with.
1. Managing weight. Just like we personally want to control our diet and weight, we want to do the same with our business. Are we too heavily invested in one product or service? Are we too light in new customers? Think about putting in place some goals to fix those areas.
2. Save money. Ah, that one is always on my list. Applying it to business is also a good idea. Are you spending monies on services you no longer need? Put in a goal to talk to your utility providers for reduced rates or plans. Doing an analysis of your spending is always a good idea.
3. Get healthier. Just as we want our bodies to stay healthy we want the same for our business. Go back into your CRM and look at trends in your business. Is one area being neglected? Are certain products or services on the decline? Look at what your customers have been requesting and adjust your marketing plan to address those needs.
4. Learn a new skill. As part of idea 3, learning a new skill can provide a new revenue source and aid in getting the business healthier. Look for trends in your industry. Is there a niche you can fill easily? Once you have found that niche, use your CRM to send out marketing blasts to share the knowledge.
5. Read more. Again, this will help idea 4 above. Go out to websites that pertain to your industry and read up on new products, services and trends. You want to stay ahead of both your competition and your customers. They too are reading the same articles. When they call, be ready.
We can help you mine your CRM data for trends – we are doing that exact thing in our own data. Call our offices today (423-875-2652) to set up time to show you what we can do.
Happy new year and may 2019 be prosperous for us all.
Act! Software Licensing issue
We have been notified today about an issue with the third-party software component that supports the licensing of all Act! versions between Act! 2005 and Act! v20.
This may affect your ability to take certain common actions with the Act! software and your future ability to access your Act! database.
First off, please see the official announcements from SwiftPage. These are specific to the versions of Act! being addressed.
- For currently supported versions v19 and v20, go here.
- For version 17 and older (versions Act! 2005 to v17), go here.
- For the announcement specific to version 18, go here.
For the latest information please see this article in the Act! KnowledgeBase.
Now, as always, we are here to assist you. If you have questions about your specific situation or want to discuss your options please feel free to call us at 423-875-2652 or contact us via our Contact Us page.
Update: We have been notified of the following anticipated release schedule for fixes for this issue. As the fixes are actually released we will link to appropriate download pages and installation instructions.
- For Act! v21.0 – November 20, 2018 (as Update 2)
- The update for Act! Premium v21.0 is now available at this page on www.act.com.
- The update for Act! Pro v20.1 is now available at this page on www.act.com.
- For Act! v20.1 – December 6, 2018 (as Update 8)
- The update for Act! Premium v20.1 is now available at this page on www.act.com
- The update for Act! Pro v20.1 is now available at this page on www.act.com
- Make sure you pick the file named Act2010Update8.exe dated 12/05/2018 as the page is a bit confusing.
- For Act! v20.0 – December 13, 2018 (as Update 9)
- The update for Act! Premium v20.0 is now available at this page on www.act.com
- The update for Act! Pro v20.0 is now available at this page on www.act.com
- Make sure you pick the file named Act2000Update9.exe dated 12/12/2018 as the page is a bit confusing.
- For Act! v19.2 – December 20, 2018 (as Update 5)
- The update for Act! Premuim v19.2 is now available at this page on www.act.com
- The update for Act! Pro v19.2 is now available at this page on www.act.com.
- If you are running version 19.0 or 19.1 of Act! Premium or Pro, you are required to upgrade to version 19.2 before installing the licensing update. The installers to upgrade you to v19.2 are on the same pages linked above. Just scroll down.
- For Act! v18.2 – January 8, 2019 (as Update 7)
- The update is scheduled to be available January 8, 2019
Act! Licensing Software Statement – Act! version 18
This is the official statement regarding the third-party licensing software used in Act! and is addressing current users of Act! v18.
In accordance with the Act! Support Obsolescence Policy, support for your version of Act! – Act! v18 – ends on November 30, 2018. After this date, no further Service Packs, Hotfixes, or compatibility updates will be delivered for Act! v18.x products, and you will no longer be eligible to receive support for any issues encountered with your product.
Important Notice: We have recently been informed that an embedded third-party software component of Act! that facilitates licensing services is being discontinued by the manufacturer at the end of this year. As of January 1, 2019, certain common actions you may take that interact with the current licensing component will cause Act! to fail and you will no longer be able to access your database. Examples of these common actions include but are not limited to attempting to install Act! on new hardware, modifying existing hardware, and modifying your user count.
To ensure uninterrupted access to Act! in 2019, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to the current version of Act! (v21) by December 31, 2018.
Should you elect not to upgrade to Act! v21 we have decided to make available a one-time update for v18.x products that seeks to address this specific issue in January, 2019. We cannot and do not make any representations as to how long this one-time update will provide the functionality of Act! that you expect. Please note that this decision to provide you with the update in this instance shall not be precedent, or require us to provide, neither now or in the future, any fixes for additional issues that may or will arise after the date of obsolescence as specified in the Act! Support Obsolescence Policy.
Back to the main post about this issue.
Act! Licensing Software Statement – Act! v19 and v20
This is the official statement regarding the third-party licensing software used in Act! and is addressing current users of versions 19 and 20.
We have recently been informed that an embedded third-party software component of Act! that facilitates licensing services is being discontinued by the manufacturer at the end of this year. Because our records show that you are using a supported version of Act!, a new licensing component will be introduced for your version. View the Act! Support Obsolescence Policy.
To ensure uninterrupted access to Act!, you will be required to update your instance of Act! version 19.2 or 20.1 by December 31, 2018. This update will be emailed to you in the coming weeks.
If this update is not installed by December 31, 2018, certain common actions you may take that interact with the current licensing component will cause Act! to fail and you will no longer be able to access your database. Examples of these common actions include but are not limited to attempting to install Act! on new hardware, modifying existing hardware, and modifying your user count.
Please note, this update will be made available to you at no charge.
Back to the main post about this issue.
Act! Licensing Software Statement – Act! 2005 through Act! v17
This is the official statement regarding the third-party licensing software used in Act! and is addressing current users of versions Act! 2005 to and including v17.
Our records show that you are running an unsupported version of Act!. In accordance with the Act! Support Obsolescence Policy, you are no longer eligible to receive critical updates and enhancements that ensure your product continues to run optimally.
Important Notice: We have recently been informed that an embedded third-party software component of Act! that facilitates licensing services is being discontinued by the manufacturer at the end of this year. As of January 1, 2019, certain common actions you may take that interact with the current licensing component will cause Act! to fail and you will no longer be able to access your database. Examples of these common actions include but are not limited to attempting to install Act! on new hardware, modifying existing hardware, and modifying your user count.
To ensure uninterrupted access to Act! in 2019, you must upgrade to the current version of Act! (v21) by December 31, 2018.
Back to the main post about this issue.