You might like to think of Contact Management as the last frontier in the world of software. When you start a business you probably have a certain hierarchy of software in mind. You probably start with the ability to e-mail and compose documents, throw in a spreadsheet or accounting software to track the dollars coming in and out of your business, and maybe even develop a Web site.

A successful business follows a steady path. You start with some prospects that hopefully turn into paying customers. As your business grows, so does your customer list. And as your business continues to grow, so do your headaches. You find that sticky notes and legal pads are just not an efficient way to conduct your business.

Enter the world of contact management — with the operative word being contact: a person you’ve encountered in the course of your business. A contact record is all the information you have collected about that person.

Note, however, another meaning of the word contact — to communicate. To do business, you need to stay in touch with your contacts — and Business Contact Manager gives you all the tools to do just that.

Click the Business Contact Manager link from the home page Navigation bar to open the Business Contact Manager dashboard, shown in Figure 8-1. The
dashboard provides you with a listing of all the newest information for the various BCM parts. In addition, the dashboard allows you to add new Accounts and Contacts quickly.

Figure 8-1: The Business Contact Manager dashboard.

Business Contact Manager consists of five main areas, all of which you can access by clicking the corresponding tabs that run across the top of  BusinessContact Manager page:

• Accounts: The companies that you work with
• Contacts: The individuals that you work with
• Opportunities: Potential sales you’re hoping to close
• Products: The items or services that you sell
• Business Documents: Documents that you upload to the BCM portion of Office Live to share with other users

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