I’m confused. It happens too often, I must admit. Thirty years ago, I was the first in my social circle to own a computer. I knew DOS like the back of my hand, and developed a database for the Insurance Agency I worked for, using Dbase of all things. Then came windows, internet and a dizzying array of new devices and software. I gave up and became old-school. I let the young’uns have fun, and my approach was “if it works, keep working with it.” Mostly I’ve used MS Office (including Outlook) which works well, but has limitations.
Now, I need to upgrade & consolidate. I have 4 computers networked by cable, and I need all users to see the same data. That’s impossible using outlook for e-mail and contact management, unless you use Exchange which is too expensive. Our calendar is on google calendars, but I’m afraid to put the contacts on the cloud, because I keep detailed information on the contact record, including dates of birth, social security numbers, policy numbers and benefit plan details. I work in the health insurance field, by the way.
Can you help me? Here are my basic needs:
What I don’t really need are all the newest bells & whistles. I don’t care to access data on mobile devices or to have drip marketing for sales and such, or to track leads. That will probably come with whatever system I choose, but it’s not my focus.
Now, I do remember enough about computers to do this myself… I built it a year ago in MS Access, with relationships between contacts & policies & carriers and so forth. But I didn’t use it, because it meets some but not all of my basic needs, and because I really don’t want to reinvent the wheel if it’s already out there and functional. Do any of you know of a solution for me? My biggest stumbling blocks so far are in regards to networked access by all users without resorting to cloud computing. Advise?
Now, I need to upgrade & consolidate. I have 4 computers networked by cable, and I need all users to see the same data. That’s impossible using outlook for e-mail and contact management, unless you use Exchange which is too expensive. Our calendar is on google calendars, but I’m afraid to put the contacts on the cloud, because I keep detailed information on the contact record, including dates of birth, social security numbers, policy numbers and benefit plan details. I work in the health insurance field, by the way.
Can you help me? Here are my basic needs:
- CONTACTS for clients, prospects and carriers – with access from all users on the 4 networked computers, where updates created by one user are viewable by all users.
- Tracking or Journaling, where we can store notes about phone calls & other communication about a case, and tag that journal note to the client’s contact, so when the client calls we can see what was done on that client’s case. (All synced on the network so everyone has access to the same data.)
- Email sharing, where we can all view the same e-mails. I know there are some systems where a manager can see the email of a subordinate. But really, in this office we all work on the same cases and common email visibility for all workers would be great. If it’s just a matter of automating the transfer of all emails from one user’s account into a common email file that’s viewable by everyone, that’s okay, just so long as we all see the same emails. Tagging an email to a client’s contact for tracking purposes is great, too.
- No cloud computing if at all possible. Too much vulnerable private information for my “old-school” style!
What I don’t really need are all the newest bells & whistles. I don’t care to access data on mobile devices or to have drip marketing for sales and such, or to track leads. That will probably come with whatever system I choose, but it’s not my focus.
Now, I do remember enough about computers to do this myself… I built it a year ago in MS Access, with relationships between contacts & policies & carriers and so forth. But I didn’t use it, because it meets some but not all of my basic needs, and because I really don’t want to reinvent the wheel if it’s already out there and functional. Do any of you know of a solution for me? My biggest stumbling blocks so far are in regards to networked access by all users without resorting to cloud computing. Advise?
