It took more than three months (until Sept. Not only did the Office 2010 box not include BCM, there was no way Microsoft would sell or give their old customers a copy unless they split open a vein and bought a Volume License. Businesses expecting to upgrade Outlook and BCM got a nasty shock.
Nope - shrinkwrapped boxes of Office 2010 hit store shelves on June 15. Since BCM shipped inside the box with many copies of Office 2003 and Office 2007, companies that upgraded to Office 2010 rightfully expected that BCM would come along for the ride. It isn't a sophisticated boiler room application, but for a small organization with a handful of people who interact with customers, it does the job nicely. With a bit of prodding and rigorous attention to data entry, BCM can even follow the progress of an advertising or marketing campaign. Anyone with a nodding acquaintance with Outlook can quickly build accounts with multiple contacts keep track of emails, documents, and phone conversations stay on top of tasks and generally manage interactions with customers and potential customers. The price is right: BCM ships free inside the box with Office 2003 Pro and Small Business Edition, and Office 2007 Pro, Small Business, and Ultimate.īCM is an Outlook add-in with a SQL Server back-end database as such, it takes advantage of the Outlook interface to help track customer accounts. Big businesses frequently spend an arm and a leg on custom CRM software, but many small businesses find Outlook's BCM more than adequate. Microsoft Business Contact Manager extends Outlook, infusing it with many Customer Relationship Management capabilities. In a rare display of empathy, Microsoft suddenly reversed its decision last week and announced it would give BCM to businesses without Volume Licenses.
Volume Licenses require a measure of faith (and an accommodating budget) that just don't make sense in many small businesses. BCM has always been targeted at small businesses, many of which buy only one or two copies of Office. Microsoft would only give BCM to companies with Office 2010 Volume Licenses. When Microsoft came out with Office 2010, I heard one complaint over and over again from small and medium-size businesses: They wanted the Business Contact Manager for Outlook, just as they had with Office 2007, but Microsoft wouldn't give - or even sell - it to them.
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