I was put in charge of figuring out Business Contact Manager in our office. I got this book after many fruitless attempts at the HELP tab. The first thing I tried to find out was target marketing out of Business Contact Manager and there it was, in this book. It has made the transition from ACT way easier for us.

This is a very good resource to have on hand for anyone new to Outlook's Business Contact Manager. The layout is clear, important concepts are covered and there are a fair amount of screen shots. It is easy to jump to what you need. However, for something intended for "dummies," or those of us brand new to the program, they do not spend enough time on just getting started. For example, at the beginning they tell you how to create a database (yup, I need to know that). Then they jump right into importing to it from Excel or other sources (bam! huh?). After I created my database I couldn't tell if it was there since my view in Outlook didn't change! More step by step screen shots at this point were needed. Now, how about a simple example of how to manually enter a new contact? I have a pile of business cards on my desk to input (in addition to a bunch more in Excel). A few lines on how to get one contact into my new database so I could see what's happening would have been very helpful. Start simple, right? They forgot to do so.

However, the program is quite extensive and a book simply can't give someone the knowledge a class could. The book was well worth the money as a reference tool, but I'm still looking for a class because nothing beats hands on learning.

I needed a book that would transition me from not using Business Contact Manager at all to using it in my every day routine. This book worked. The information was appropriate and presented in a logical fashion. The book was short enough that I could read it cover to cover. A good pick.

Lon Ornstein might have co-authored a Dummies' book, but he's no dummy. His company is a well-known third-party developer of CRM enhancments - first with the ACT! product line and now Outlook 2007/BCM. Like all Dummies' books, this one is easy to read and understand, and gets right to the "meat" of using BCM. Highly recommended if you're trying to make the switch from ACT!, or if you need to extend the capabilities of Outlook 2007 for a small-midsize business.