I like tools that help make act more convenient.
For long time act users and easier to use for new act users. If a tool can simplify the learning curve for you or your staff and make you more productive right away that is a good tool in my opinion. My experience has been that there are many types of act add-on products on the market. Having stated that, they tend to fall into a few different categories. I have listed these categories in no particular order:
- You install the software and it just works right out of the box. It does what they stated it would do and there is very little learning curve.
- You install the add-on and then you have to learn how to use it. It isn’t necessarily complex but it is something new and take some time to learn. Then you use it on a regular basis.
- It is complex to learn and you only use it once and then put it away. You might use it again at some point down the road but you have to learn it all over again because you forgot everything.
- You install the software, there is a slight learning curve, however it makes you super productive and is worth the time and energy you put into it.
- The add-on product is so unique and different from act that you really have to approach it like it is a brand-new software package that requires your time and energy.
- The software is a utility with a small learning curve that you use only occasionally. The time it takes to learn it saves you more than enough time to make it worth it.
- The software isn’t necessarily complex, but it has so many options that it makes it confusing. You bought it to do one thing and it does twenty things.