Instant Messaging and ACT!

[#1]

Our ACT! Certified Consultants have suggested that integrating Instant Messaging to ACT! would be beneficial.

There's a couple of ways we could integrate Instant Messaging:

1) Internal - users of ACT can now communicate with each other real time inside of their database

2) External- Integrate with facebook, AIM, Yahoo, and other instant messaging services to communicate with customers real time who are using any IM program with results going to history of that contact.

Any other suggestions on integrating messaging?

[#2]

YEEEEESSSS PLEEEEESE!!!

I would definately like to see Google Talk and Twitter integration. Having the history of IM and other social media conversation in the history would be great.

It would be useful if ACT! could notify if another user in the database was looking at a record that I was on, or if they  had completed a task that you had scheduled for them. Upping the ante' on the collaboration side of the program would be very helpful.

I just watched the Google Wave demo on youtube and it gave a great insight into how the future beyond email might look. Perhaps there could just be a google wave tab embedded into the history tab. They have a very open platform with API's etc. Would definately be worth seeing if you could levelerage that into ACT!. If you could get a neat integration to Google Wave you could let it handle all the colloboration protocols and integration with IM and social media platforms. 

[#3]

google talk and twitter would be a strech. the typical ACT user doesn't even know what they are.

start with supporting what ever  Meebo (Web) and Trilium (windows) supports.

IM should be an icon on the toolbar - all the logged in users should be avail. blah blah blah.

[#4]

IMs like AIM and Yahooe are rarely used outside North America. You need to also look at Skype and MS Messenger. Even Twitter is starting to get used for IM, although it doesn't show if the user is on-line

An internal IM might be a nice option.... or, at least a method that an Admin. Manager (or Standard with the priv) could send a message to another use or all users.

Of course, you need to think how an internal IM would be handled for  remote sync and web users.

[#5]

I really like this idea as a number of my client have MS Messenger and i comunicate to them some time via this method.

If this becomes a feature there would also have to be the ability to record a history

Also the Act User option is great idea for the business as this would improve the level of communication between users and build better business

[#6]

Interestingly I met someone last week who actually uses the Messenger ID field; the first such ACT! user I've ever encountered. Almost universally I get asked to take it off.

Jeff

[#7]

I use the Messenger field to link with Skype via itDial - but, while it records SMS and calls via Skype, it doesn't link the IM chats.

The reason that I think most users want it removed, Jeff, is simply that it doesn't get used.