The Act! story — from pioneer to modern CRM
Before the word CRM even existed, there was Act!: launched in 1987 as 'Automated Contact Tracking', it founded an entire software category. Here is the journey — told compactly.
The origin
A name that invented a category
In 1986 Pat Sullivan and Mike Muhney founded Conductor Software in Dallas. Their product shipped on April 1, 1987 — first as 'Activity Control Technology', then as 'Automated Contact Tracking': ACT! for short. The idea of keeping every contact, appointment and note about a customer in one place is literally in the name — and Act! has been regarded as the founder of the contact management software category ever since, long before the term CRM was coined in the 1990s.
Almost forty years and six ownership eras later, Act! is still here — a staying power that is rare in business software. That maturity is an argument today: a proven data model, a huge ecosystem, and partners like us who have known the product for decades.
The timeline
From 1986 to today — the milestones
Innovations in cyan, turning points in violet — the key stations from almost four decades.
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Conductor Software is founded
Pat Sullivan and Mike Muhney start out in Dallas, Texas — with the idea of finally managing customer contacts systematically.
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Act! 1.0 ships — a category is born
On April 1, 1987 'Automated Contact Tracking' hits the market. Contacts, appointments, history in one place — the birth of contact management.
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Act! becomes a team tool
Network support turns the single-seat tool into software for the whole sales team; shortly after, Act! moves to Windows.
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Symantec acquires Act!
The first big change of ownership — Act! becomes part of one of the largest software houses of its time.
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Sold on to SalesLogix
SalesLogix — soon Interact Commerce — takes over; Act! co-founder Pat Sullivan had founded SalesLogix himself: the pioneer brings his product back home.
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Act! joins the Sage family
The UK's Sage Group takes over — for more than a decade the product runs as 'ACT! by Sage' and later 'Sage ACT!'.
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Complete rebuild on SQL
Act! 2005 (version 7.0) is a rewrite with a modern data architecture on Microsoft SQL Server — the foundation Act! runs on to this day.
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Swiftpage acquires Act! from Sage
With a specialist's focus instead of a corporation's, the next era begins — by 2014 Act! counts over 2.8 million registered users.
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Act! Marketing Automation launches
Email campaigns, nurture journeys and scoring straight from the CRM — marketing and sales work in the same tool for the first time.
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Swiftpage becomes Act! LLC
The product gives the company its name — and the cloud era gains speed: Act! Premium Cloud turns the CRM into a browser subscription.
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Act! v27 — the current generation
Support for SQL Server 2022, faster lists and bulk updates — the platform we deliver projects on today.
Innovation highlights
What Act! gave the CRM world
Invented the category
Contact management is in the name: Act! united contacts, appointments and history when index cards were the standard.
Almost 40 years of staying power
Six ownership eras, one constant: hardly any business software has been on the market this long without a break.
See the current version →From index cards to automation
Today that includes marketing automation, cloud and a large add-on ecosystem — including 100+ extensions built by us.
Discover AMA →And today?
We help write the next chapter
HartCon.24 has worked with Act! for 20+ years — as an Act! Certified Consultant, with 100+ add-ons of our own and EU data-center hosting. From DOS nostalgia to AI automation: we know every era from practice and take your Act! into the next one.
Frequently asked questions
What does the name Act! actually stand for?+
Originally 'Automated Contact Tracking' — briefly 'Activity Control Technology' before that. The exclamation mark has always been part of the name, which is why it is written 'Act!' to this day.
How old is Act! really?+
The first version shipped on April 1, 1987 — making Act! one of the longest-serving customer management solutions ever, older than the term CRM itself.
Who owns Act! today?+
Act! LLC, based in the US — the former Swiftpage, which renamed itself after its best-known product in 2020.
Which Act! version is current?+
Act! v27. What the current generation offers and what changed recently is tracked on our versions page.
Does Act! run in the cloud or on-premises?+
Both: as Act! Premium Cloud in the browser or classically on your own server — including hosted by us in an EU data center. Which path fits is what we clarify in the free first consultation.
Let's talk.
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