Best Software Receives Two CRM Leadership Honors For ACT!® And SalesLogix® Market Performance (email this article)

Scottsdale, Ariz. September 1, 2004 Best Software (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies) today announced it has received CRM Market Leader honors from CRM Magazine for the company's ACT! ® and SalesLogix® contact and customer relationship management solutions. ACT!, the industry's best-selling contact and customer management solution, was awarded top honors for sales force automation. SalesLogix, the CRM leader for small to mid-sized businesses, was awarded the SMB Suite leadership honor, its third consecutive year winning a CRM Magazine award. The awards recognize elite CRM vendors based on leadership criteria including customer satisfaction, depth of functionality, revenue growth and market share. Best Software executives accepted both awards last night at the DCI Customer Relationship Management Conference in San Francisco.

"We are extremely proud to receive an award that recognizes the positive impact ACT! has made on the lives of millions of users worldwide," noted Joe Bergera, senior vice president and general manager for ACT! at Best Software. "ACT! provides an innovative mix of powerful, but easy-to-use features that help selling professionals, small teams and larger workgroups build customer relationships and increase sales."

"The CRM Market Leader award speaks directly to our long track record of meeting the complete CRM needs of small and medium-sized businesses, and their customers," noted Jon Van Duyne, senior vice president and general manager for mid-market CRM solutions at Best Software. "This award comes during an exciting time for SalesLogix and our customers. Having recently delivered SalesLogix 6.2 which provides express installation, enhanced usability and all new customer service functionality, as well as SalesLogix for Pocket PC, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to providing organizations with the industry's most flexible and customizable solution."

Best Software recently announced availability of SalesLogix 6.2 and ACT! 2005. The new versions expand the Best Software CRM portfolio, which also includes ACCPAC CRM, to further build out its strategy of offering easy-to-use, flexible and affordable solutions for the life of small and medium-sized businesses.

The 2004 CRM Leader Awards are also featured in the September issue of CRM Magazine and on www.destinationcrm.com. In its market leadership feature article, editors describe ACT! as "arguably the most available CRM tool in the world" and further identify SalesLogix as "continuing to drive CRM growth for Best Software."

ACT! 2005 Product Family
Best Software now offers two versions of its market-leading ACT! contact and customer manager: ACT! 2005 for individuals and small teams of up to ten users, and ACT! 2005 Premium for Workgroups, supporting powerful database collaboration for workgroups of up to 50 users.1 Both products deliver the same ACT! user experience with a fast return on investment and up to 50% lower cost of ownership than hosted alternatives.

ACT! created the contact and customer management software category in 1987, becoming the defacto standard for helping people organize, access and manage their comprehensive customer details in a single, integrated solution. Today, ACT! has over 2 million registered users in North America alone, and holds the leading U.S. retail market share for contact management software (12/03 05/04 NPD).

ACT! 2005 retails for $229.99 (upgrade $149.95 MSRP) and ACT! 2005 Premium for Workgroups retails for $399.99 (upgrade $259.95 MSRP). The ACT! 2005 product family is available for purchase now at www.act.com/estore or by calling 877-ACT-2005 and can be purchased at popular software retailers, e-tailers and direct resellers beginning in mid-September. For more details, visit www.act.com.

SalesLogix 6.2 CRM Suite
SalesLogix is the CRM leader for small to medium-sized businesses that require flexible, easy-to-use solutions to help acquire, retain and develop profitable customer relationships. SalesLogix 6.2, introduced in July, delivers integrated sales, marketing, customer service and support automation solutions that adapt to an organization's unique customer acquisition, retention and development processes.

With more than 6,000 customers, SalesLogix has garnered accolades for its ease of use and high levels of end-user adoption. Gartner recently named Best Software number one in the worldwide small business CRM software applications market with 25% market share, and currently lists SalesLogix as the lowest total cost of ownership over a three year period among leading CRM solutions. ("CRM Software Applications Spending by SMBs on the Rise," Gartner January 2004, Topolinski and Close; "The Three-Year Total Cost of Ownership for CRM Software for MSBs," Gartner April 2004, Close, Eisenfeld, Davies and Bona.)

SalesLogix 6.2 is available through the Best Software Mid-Market CRM channel of over 450 business partners, and lists at $1795 per server and $795 per user for the standard version. For more details, visit www.saleslogix.com.

About Best Software, Inc.
Best Software offers leading business management products and services that give more than 2.3 million small and mid-sized customers in North America the insight for success throughout the lives of their businesses. Its parent company, The Sage Group plc (London: SGE.L), supports 4.3 million customers worldwide. For more than 25 years, Best Software has delivered easy-to-use, scalable and customizable applications through its portfolio of leading brands, including Abra, ACCPAC, ACT!, BusinessVision, CPASoftware, FAS, MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500, MIP, Peachtree, SalesLogix, Timberline, among many others. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.bestsoftware.com/moreinfo or call (866) 308-BEST.