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This story was excerpted from the August 2002 issue of Executive Technology Briefing, a monthly electronic newsletter that allows you to stay on top of the new products and technologies that are constantly emerging. Best of all, subscriptions are free.
Cool Tool: GoodContacts
If you use Microsoft Outlook or Symantec Act! to maintain a database of business contacts, you know how hard they are to keep up-to-date. Customers and colleagues may change companies, job titles or e-mail addresses. A new software program called GoodContacts works with Outlook and Act! to help you automate the process of updating your network of business contacts.
Here's how it works: using the GoodContacts software application, you select the individuals or groups within your contact database that you wish to verify. The program exports each contact record into a customizable message template and sends a personalized e-mail message to each person, asking them to verify the information you have on file about them. The recipient either clicks "yes" to confirm that the information is correct, or "no" if it's incorrect. If they click "no," they are sent to a secure web page form where they can enter new or corrected information about themselves. GoodContacts retrieves this updated record and automatically updates your Outlook or Act! contact record.
A free two-week trial version is available for download from the company's Web site. GoodContacts for Microsoft Outlook costs $24.95 a year; the Act! version costs $149.95 a year. If your job requires you to stay in regular contact with a small but very important network of people, then GoodContacts is a worthwhile investment.
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