ACT! and Privacy

Privacy issues are grabbing more and more headlines these days. Consumers are concerned about where the information they provide in the course of transacting e-commerce or surfing the web will end up. Dot.com's are threatening to sell their customer information to settle their dot.bomb bankruptcy claims. Even the staid old utilities, who have been collecting data on our habits for decades, have become sensitive to these issues and are sending flyers on their privacy position(s) with our monthly bills. What has any of this got to do with ACT!?

Unless you are sharing information with other users, not much. However, if you are part of a synchronization program, you should be aware of ACT!'s ability to keep information private and have it remain securely in your database. It is my philosophy that we should manage all of our daily activities from one program interface and to work from just one database. While our activities with prospects and customers should become part of the company knowledge base (so it may better serve them), activities outside of our selling efforts need not.

Each contact record in your ACT! database can be "Public" or "Private." To change this setting look up the desired contact record and click the tab labeled "Status". Next click into the data field "Public/Private". Choose your preference, and then either look up another contact record or simply resume your ACT! activities.

Groups can be made "Public" or "Private" by accessing the groups view, highlighting the group in question, and clicking the status tab at the bottom right. Select "Public" or "Private" from the menu in the data field, and then either choose another group or resume your ACT! activities.

Any activity (call, to do, or meeting) may also be made private. When scheduling an activity, in the "Schedule Activity" dialog box, click on the "Advanced Options" tab and check the box labeled "Private Activity".