Web-based Calendars
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I've been surfing for a new calendar solution since my current one (Trumba) decided to go from $39.95/year to $99.95/month. Currently, I use Trumba's web-based calendar so that my assistant can have access to my calendar and set appointments for me without me even being in the office. Trumba works by synchronizing itself with my outlook calendar every 15 minutes whenever I'm connected to the web. She or I can make changes to my calendar (I on outlook and she on Trumba) and every 15 minutes, they are automatically synchronized. This works well for me, but no way am I paying $1,200 a year when I've been paying $40. I'm pretty amazed that Trumba thinks they'll make this change work.
I've found a few possibilities online and I'd even consider an online CRM package, although I wouldn't have much interest unless it synced with Outlook (which I sync my PDA with). Does anyone have a simple solution that they're happy with (and doesn't cost an arm and a leg?!!)
Have you looked at ACT? We use the regular version, but they have one stricly for Advisors. Just a thought.
Check SalesNexus. They have a web based version of Act! 4 Advisors. It’s
$41/month/user, and users have access to all contact data, as well as
unlimited storage for pdfs, etc.
I do use the regular version of Act 6.0, but needed a web version for my assistant. I'd though about looking at the one for advisors and now that PK mentioned it, I'll definitely look into the web version.
Thanks for the suggestions...
Try out Google Calendars. It works great and you can create several color-
coded calendars at once and invite other Google registered users to view,
edit or change the calendars.
While your at it. Check out Google’s docs and spreadsheets. Same concept.
Google is one I'm looking at and I've found some sync fixes that appear to allow you to keep your Outlook in sync with your Google calendar. If I can figure it out, Google sounds like a nice alternative.
I'm not sure about web-based document storage as a bonus...as a backup, fine, but I don't want anyone to have that much control over whether I stay or go elsewhere. Anything that makes it harder to change vendors just encourages price abuse...
[quote=Indyone]
Google is one I’m looking at and I’ve found some
sync fixes that appear to allow you to keep your Outlook in sync with your
Google calendar. If I can figure it out, Google sounds like a nice
alternative.
I’m not sure about web-based document storage as a bonus…as a
backup, fine, but I don’t want anyone to have that much control over
whether I stay or go elsewhere. Anything that makes it harder to change
vendors just encourages price abuse…
You raise a valid point, Indy. With the SalesNexus product, you can also
backup to a slick stik, CD, or any other media that you choose. They also
download existing files from any of the major formats (ACT!, Outlook,
etc.)
We have 18,000 contacts in our system, so this is a big plus in my
considerations. We haven’t decided yet, but I think that’s what we’re
going to do.
The beta version of Google Calendar, which can be accessed without a Gmail account, enables users to search for and add events from within the program or through Web sites that use open standards for calendars. Such sites are invited to add Google Calendar buttons next to events they list.
Users of the new Google application can also access events from friends' shared calendars and import events from Microsoft Outlook. Once they add events, they can use a "Search My Calendars" searchbar to find them. Events can also be created by typing simple messages like "Lunch with Kate 11:30 a.m. Wednesday" in the program's "Quick Add" bar.
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I’m pushing this back to the top since I believe I’ve solved my calendar syncing issues using Google Calendars and Oggsync. For $29.95/year, I can keep Outlook (which I use at my desk), Google calendar (which my assistant uses to schedule for me), and my pocket PC (which I use as my phone and mobile calendar) synced every 15 minutes. I’m still getting the bugs worked out (got some duplication), but I don’t expect any real problems once I get the hang of it and it looks to be a very slick setup. I read somewhere that Google was also going to support Blackberries. If you have an assistant that helps you keep your schedule, this looks like a very user-friendly setup. Here are the necessary websites…
http://www.google.com/calendar/ http://oggsync.com/We have Redtail in the office which has a great webbased calendar, client contact, unlimited storage and up to 15 people in the office can use it for $65 a month.
Google calendar can also sync with a black berry and apple’s ical pretty easily.