Sometimes I feel like a broken record. I am constantly receiving emails from Act! users telling me that they don’t want to purchase an Act! subscription because they “don’t want to have their data in the clouds.” Let me make this as clear as possible: having an Act! subscription does not mean your data will need to reside “on the web.”

For whatever reason, many Act! users equate a paid subscription with “the cloud.” This is simply not true. Like many software developers, Act! has decided to sell their software as a subscription meaning that you must pay a renewal fee every year to continue using the software. It does NOT mean that you can no longer house your database on your own hardware. However, it does mean that if you don’t renew your subscription, you will no longer be able to use the Act! product.

Many Act! users were used to having “perpetual licenses” which means they could pay for the software once and continue to use it year after year without an additional cost. Act! moved to a subscription model in 2013 for their desktop Act! Premium product but continued to sell perpetual licenses for Act! Pro. Basically, Act! Pro was a “stripped down” version of Act! Premium as it had less functionality and was limited to 5 users per database. However, as of September 15, 2023 you will no longer be able to purchase Act! Pro.

So, what’s an Act! Pro user to do if they don’t want to pay for an annual subscription? You do have a few options:

• Hunt around for another CRM product that offers perpetual licenses. Please let me know when you find one. There are over 2,000 CRM products on the market today; I honestly have yet to find one that offers perpetual licenses.
• Move to another CRM product. I recommend Zoho; just realize you are going to have to pay for conversion and training costs.
• Bite the bullet and move to a Premium Desktop product. Yes, you will have to pay an annual fee but your subscription will include tech support and a free 2,500 email/month eMarketing account.
• Pretend it’s 1995 and go back to using legal pads, a rolodex and a paper calendar.

You can still purchase Act! Pro v24 through September 15, 2023. And, who knows, you might be able to milk it for a few more years – especially if you aren’t integrating Act! with Microsoft Office products or don’t use Office 365.

Have questions? Please add a comment below.