Softline ACCPAC announces CRM version 5.7

Softline ACCPAC has announced ACCPAC CRM version 5.7, a substantial upgrade to its customer relationship management software.

The new version includes significant enhancements that improve integration with other business applications, and provides mobile users with increased flexibility and functionality.

"New features include a sophisticated new Web services interface, a new global document library, 'standalone' product, quote and order entry capabilities and improved Microsoft Outlook integration, all while further extending the freedom of choice CRM clients have come to expect," says Jeremy Waterman, managing director of Softline ACCPAC.

"Version 5.7 offers businesses powerful new tools to further integrate their sales, marketing and support operations with the rest of their corporate operations and significant enhancements to many existing features will also improve the user's experience of the product.

Waterman believes the new Web services integration capabilities will continue to change the way businesses think of CRM. "People are realising that CRM solutions aren't simply standalone applications for the sales force, but are important portals from which all employees can access and achieve real-time integration with key corporate information from other data sources," he says.

CRM 5.7 introduces an upgrade to the existing Web services API, which allows businesses to create sophisticated integrations with both the Web-deployed and LAN-based business management applications they count on for daily operations.

Specific elements of CRM can be called by other applications utilising this new Web services capability and related standards such as XML (extensible mark-up language) and SOAP (simple object access protocol).

With this feature, employees are better informed because their CRM application and various supply chain applications can now 'speak' to one another.

"A new, centralised document library in version 5.7 allows sharing of corporate documents with all users of the system," says Waterman. "This feature makes it easy to secure, share and maintain items such as internal corporate presentations, templates, etc, with all ACCPAC CRM users. This content can also be used for personalised e-mails and marketing campaigns.

Trek to the summit

00Days

:

00Hrs

:

00Min

:

00Sec

"Because this information is replicated out to remote (and disconnected) users through the 'Solo' feature of CRM, it ensures all users are working from the same repository of information and updated versions of data and documents are timely distributed to remote employees."

Building upon the Outlook integration first released in CRM 5.6, several new Outlook integration features have been added to CRM 5.7, including:

* Enhanced e-mail filing, allowing e-mails received by a CRM user from a customer/prospect to be related to the appropriate contact, cases, opportunities, etc, within the CRM system.

* Automatic scheduled synching of contacts, tasks and appointments on login to Outlook, on logout from Outlook, or manually initiated by the user as needed.

* One-way export from Outlook to ACCPAC CRM is available if this type of synchronisation better suits a user's needs (two-way 'sync' is already standard within ACCPAC CRM). Version 5.7 also improves upon the ability to maintain consistency between ACCPAC CRM and corporate messaging and calendar systems.

"This product offers clients significantly more freedom of choice than competitive solutions by eliminating the vendor or technology 'lock-in' associated with other CRM applications and hosted services that prevents clients from choosing their deployment model, platform or architecture," says Waterman.

By comparison, ACCPAC CRM allows clients to deploy the same solution as either an 'on premise' or hosted service, allowing the option to move between either as business needs or desires dictate.