It's been 31 years since the launch of Act!, and we're proud to say that one of the two co-founders of Act!, Mike Muhney, is one of our newest Handheld Contact users.
Mike has returned to his roots and has once again embraced Act! as his CRM, just as Swiftpage is about to launch the next generation of Act! CRM software - namely Act! Premium Plus.
"As one of the co-parents of Act!, I'm proud to see how my child has grown up", said Mike recently, and he is especially pleased with the mobility and freedom Handheld Contact offers him.
Mike Muhney was the co-inventor, along with Pat Sullivan, of Act! contact management software. Muhney was born and raised in Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in finance. He began his career with IBM in 1975 and was professionally trained in their intensive full-time 6-month-long internal sales school.
In 1986 Mike and Pat Sullivan co-founded Conductor Software built around a product they originally called QuotePro, which was later renamed Margin Maker. Ultimately, Margin Maker failed, and, with only $15,000 remaining from an angel investment of $100,000, they had to come up with another idea or close down the business. This idea was ACT!, released in 1987, The original name for the software was Activity Control Technology then Automated Contact Tracking before finally just using the acronym, Act!.
Six years later, Act! was sold to Symantec in 1993, and then to Sage in 2001, and finally to Swiftpage in 2013, Over the years, Act! has won over 100 awards globally, including numerous PC Magazine Editor’s Choice awards and is still the predominant contact manager tool, with an estimated 10 million users worldwide.
Fast forward to today, Mike has re-engaged with Act! and Handheld Contact, and is an immensely popular public speaker. To learn more about Mike and his speaking services, please visit www.mikemuhney.com.