| Do you use an electronic contact manager?Most | | | | services might be useful for the user -- but are not |
| people who work in a field that depends on | | | | so useful for the recipient of the "update your |
| relationships -- salespeople, recruiters, and | | | | contact information" request. As the centralized |
| consultants, for example -- do. People in those | | | | nature of some of these become known, people will |
| professions are starting to use social network | | | | be even more reluctant to send their contact data |
| software, but the primary portal through which they | | | | off across the Internet.Q: But a lot of people already |
| view their relationships today is their contact | | | | have. How can people better manage the rolling flow |
| manager and their email program.We recently had the | | | | of commitments that our contact management |
| chance to talk with Greg Head, former general | | | | software, our to-do list, and our email clients all |
| manager of Best Software's ACT! division, about the | | | | generate?Head: The majority of salespeople and |
| future of contact management software -- and the | | | | businesspeople are still fighting the first phase of this |
| convergence with customer relationship management | | | | battle: just tracking all of their follow-up and project |
| (CRM) and social networking tools. Head has more | | | | commitments in a reliable system. Contact managers |
| than 15 years in the CRM industry, including roles as | | | | provide the tools, but the habit of tracking all |
| VP of marketing and, later, VP of international sales | | | | commitments and managing them effectively can be |
| for SalesLogix. Currently, ACT! has approximately 2 | | | | different for each person. People should start with |
| million individual users and 16,000 corporate | | | | the principle that you will meet all of your |
| customers, making it the market share leader for its | | | | commitments -- and then make sure you have put |
| category. Head estimates that 60-70% of | | | | aside the time to manage these activities. |
| businesspeople use some sort of electronic list of | | | | It is illogical and inconvenient that all of the |
| their contacts, even if it is as simple as an Excel file. | | | | thousands of people in your personal network have a |
| Here are some of the highlights from our discussion: | | | | separate, and often contradictory copy of your |
| Q: What will contact management software look like | | | | cell-phone number, email address, and so on. You |
| five years from now? In particular, how will it | | | | were the original source of that data, and ideally, you |
| integrate with social network software?Greg Head: | | | | should be able to update everyone automatically. We |
| Contact management software will always be | | | | try to provide the people we know and work with, |
| centered around a database of contact information | | | | with a lifetime email address (such as a university's |
| that tracks basic name, addresses, and other data -- | | | | forwarding address). And we ask other people for |
| combined with powerful methods of managing | | | | their personal and permanent email addresses. If you |
| countless commitments and a history of all | | | | have that information, you can always get back in |
| relationships. That said, we will be doing more contact | | | | touch with someone. Social networking sites can also |
| management activities using an Internet browser or | | | | offer an additional communication channel for staying |
| PDA phone, as opposed to just Windows applications. | | | | in contact; people are more motivated to keep their |
| These new methods will allow more integration to | | | | information up to date because there's additional |
| the phone and to Web services that can integrate | | | | value from the social networking service.Contact |
| into contact managers -- to scrub addresses, to | | | | management software, then, provides a |
| integrate with accounting applications, or to share | | | | one-dimensional view of your network: you can only |
| your relationship data with others.Q: Andrew | | | | see whom you know. Social network software can |
| Weinreich, the founder of SixDegrees, and other | | | | provide an n-dimensional view of your network, with |
| industry leaders have observed that social network | | | | a new dimension for every person in the network. |
| software should be part of the "operating system" | | | | While this may seem simple conceptually, it is very |
| of your software. Do you agree?Head: Certainly. | | | | powerful in practical application. We fully expect a |
| Social networking software should evolve to become | | | | tighter integration of these two views to emerge. |
| more integrated with the everyday tools people use | | | | One thing's for sure: Your contact management |
| to manage relationship information and communicate | | | | software will likely include much greater integration |
| with others. It's a natural evolution of very useful | | | | with social network data two years from now than it |
| software -- it can't stand alone for long.Q: Eventually, | | | | does today.David Teten and Scott Allen are |
| social network software might underlie everything | | | | coauthors of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors |
| from the purchasing we do on Amazon to the | | | | and Closing Deals Online, the first business guide to |
| searches we do on your corporate file network. | | | | sales, recruiting, and business acceleration with online |
| What happens when Microsoft integrates social | | | | networks, and joint contributors to resource site. |
| networking into Outlook? Or even directly into | | | | They write a monthly column about online networks |
| Windows?Head: I may be a little biased in this regard, | | | | for FastCompany.com, where this article originally |
| but I think that Microsoft will have to make some | | | | appeared.David Teten is CEO of Nitron Advisors, an |
| fundamental changes to develop the level of trust | | | | investment research firm which provides institutional |
| that is required for people to track, share, and | | | | investors and law firms with direct access to frontline |
| leverage social network information in a | | | | industry experts. To participate in paid consulting |
| Microsoft-hosted world. In fact, even centralized | | | | opportunities, join Nitron's Circle of Experts. Scott |
| public directory services such as Plaxo might not be | | | | Allen is the Entrepreneurs Guide, providing free |
| able to meet every users' needs because of | | | | resources and guidance to help entrepreneurs as |
| concerns with privacy and inconvenience. These | | | | they start and grow their business. |