T2.5 DB Research

What is DB? The term "database" refers both to the way its users view it, and to the logical and physical materialization of its data, content, in files, computer memory, and computer data storage. (1)

In working for a company doing marketing I was introduced to a DB software called ACT by Sage. This company used the Act software to capture leads for calling into and setting appointments for their sales force. 

“Databases are designed to offer an organized mechanism for storing, managing and retrieving information. They do so through the use of tables…. Databases are actually much more powerful than spreadsheets in the way you’re able to manipulate data.” (2) This is so true. We would download the names, addresses, phone numbers and more from Excel spreadsheets. You could also import other data, but we used excel or .xls format. As you know these are tables with columns and rows. But now we could sort the info into workable tables. In ACT we could set up filters that would allow a person to work on a certain group of records. These records could be by state, city or zip, industry, any critique that we chose. The great part about ACT was that you could capture the notes of the calls in the records. This became key in our ability to set up the appointments. Often the person we needed to talk was not the initial person on the call so we needed to call back. With the notes, you had more info than on the first call so we had better hit rates.

Act is totally customizable, meaning that you can take an “off the shelf” software package and make it fit into your business. It is not only for larger companies but can also be smaller companies or a single user. “ACT Database Software is a contact and customer manager which can assist you in organizing daily responsibilities, managing contact information, and communicating more efficiently to expand your business' productivity.” (3) And this DB software does just that. Because of our ability to customize, we became much more productive for the sales represents. Our efforts on the phone allowed them to concentrate on the selling while we managed the leads and set up the “qualified” appointments.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
2. http://databases.about.com/od/specificproducts/a/whatisadatabase.htm

3 http://www.avidian.com/act-software/act-database-software.aspx

“Answers to the Questions”

1. The challenges were few. The flexibility if this software was so great that we could make changes as we went. Meaning that if a field needed to be added to the records, we could do so right there and then. Of course the software had an administrator not just anyone could make these changes.
2. The competitive advantages are enormous. Just with the notes section alone, we could profile our accounts and be steps ahead of anyone calling into these accounts to sell the same thing if they did not have a system like ACT.
3. None. Act has become a #1 seller in the contact management field because they have listened to its users. I haven’t had a reason to change anything in my use of the product.