All,

We are starting to use BCM 2010 and are finding a number of short-comings/issues with the product. I think many of them are 'features' designed in by MS to prevent this product from competing with MS Dynamics, but I digress.

Shortcoming 1: Flags are useless
If you flag an business contact, that flag will a) not be seen by other shared users of the database, and b) will not be seen when working in off-line mode. My suggestion - use tasks instead. They are more cumbersome, but they appear in the communications history, etc.

Shortcoming 2: Categories don't work properly
I imported a number of contact from Outlook into BCM, which brought along the categories for each contact. When another user looks at the contacts, those categories are not shown. Confusingly, if another user create a report and sorts by categories, it is the categories which were imported which appear. My suggestion - don't use categories with BCM.

Issue 1: Constant errors on one installation of BCM
On my notebook, which typically operates in off-line mode, whenever I switch to BCM, I get an error which states, "Business Contact Manager for Outlook could not complete your last action or actions. Please try again." If I click a tab, e.g., Accounts under Contact Management and then click the Business Contacts tab, everything works fine. Except. The dropdown to the right of the list of contacts (chosen via Select Sections) disappears each time I see the error message. Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

Bottom line: BCM 2010 could be a great tool except for the fact that MS intentionally crippled it so as not to cannibalize the sales of their more expensive products. For single person working on a single computer which is constantly connected to the database, this product will probably meet all of your needs. For all others, be very careful before jumping in. The price of admission is low, but setup challenges and usability challenges will impact productivity.