Agent Office Serial #1
Recently I received an order for an Agent Office upgrade, which in and of itself is nothing unusual. But this order was different. One detail one must provide when ordering the upgrade is the serial number of the software. Well I looked at this order and saw that the serial number was A000001 ! The very first one! The man’s name is Bruce Hackel, and he has been using Agent Office since the very beginning! I spoke with him a little, and he first got it in 1992, and has been a happy camper for over 17 years. I’m not saying this to tell you it’s the very best solution out there for everyone. Different solutions are better for different agents. I just thought it was noteworthy.
When I placed the order for him I suggested to them (Emphasys Software) that we should do something special for him. Emphasys took me up on it, and we are celebrating his number one status by giving him free support for a year which normally costs $295. Mind you it’s not a new Ferrari, but hats off to Emphasys Software for a token of appreciation for so many years of loyalty, despite the fact that they only just recently acquired Agent Office.
I would also like to thank you Bruce for choosing me to make the purchase of the upgrade through. It is kind of an honor! Hope you have many more years of productive use of Agent Office! It will be exciting to see where Emphasys Software takes the product. My conversations with them have me optimistic, anticipating good things in the future.
Agent Office Compatibility – Version 10.0
I have had people ask me what ‘Vista’ is, so I’ll start out by saying it is the Windows Operating System (OS) which succeeds Windows XP.
AgentOffice has just released Version 10.0.
99.9% of the difference between Version 9.x and Version 10.0 is Vista compatibility. The other .1% is aesthetics. By the latter I mean the icons on the top of the screen are a different color and slightly different design. I wouldn’t call them better, just a different look. You also have the option of choosing the background color, and/or placing an image in the background, like you can on your Windows desktop. That’s it.
If you have Version 9.x, you are entitled to a free download of the “Upgrade” or “Version 10.0.” If you have a version prior to 9.x, you must purchase the upgrade for $169, to have Vista compatibility. That price is a sale price, down from $229, and was supposed to end at the end of June, but has been extended through July.
The download is actually the entire program, as is all their upgrades. It is a 210MB file, which is quite large by anyone’s standards. That said, with the slowest FIOS, it took me about 5 minutes to download it. With Cable or DSL, it would take a few minutes more.
There is not really any significant reason to download the upgrade, unless you have, or plan on getting, a Vista OS computer. To download V10, you need to already have Version 9.x. If you go to the following link, you can download it from there. http://realestate.fnf.com/Products/AgentOfficeDownload.aspx You will also need to call call FNF at 800.996.6546 to get an install code. The order in which you do it does not really matter, but you will need the install code to complete the installation of the upgrade. If you would like a CD, which contains the same thing, you can order it for $29.95 plus S & H.
To buy Agent Office, Top Producer, Active Agent for Outlook, REST, and others, just visit my site or call.
Top Producer 7i & Agent Office News!
Regardless of what software company it is, you should never hold your breath waiting for a software release, based upon when it was supposed to come out. They make their best projections, and sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn’t.
You should also, as a general rule of thumb, not install upgrades for any kind of software until they have been out for a while. It’s always a good idea to let the people who do not subscribe to this ‘rule of thumb’, be the guinea pigs. The caveat to that is if you really need what the upgrade offers right now. Wanting to get Agent Office but having a Vista OS would be a perfect example J Having Agent Office and needing to upgrade to Vista, would be another. Sometimes it’s unavoidable.
That said, Agent Office is scheduled to release it’s Vista compatible version, Version 10.0, on July 2nd for download, and a week or two later on a CD. Aside from a few cosmetic changes, the only significant difference will be compatibility with Vista. So what does that mean? Yes it is called Version 10.0. No it is not beneficial to get the upgrade unless you are planning on upgrading, or have upgraded, to Vista.
•1) If you bought Agent Office, or the upgrade, after July of last year, you are entitled to a free download of the ‘patch’ that is Version 10.0 from their Web site, when it is released – projected to be July 2nd.
•2) If you would like a CD of the upgrade, which you do not need, it will cost $29.95 for materials and shipping.
An interesting outgrowth of this patch being made available online for download, is that from that date forward, I will be able to fill your orders for Agent Office or the upgrade, as a download, as opposed to being shipped a CD. The price will remain the same at $329 for the download, but there would be no shipping costs or taxes, and you would not have to wait to receive it.
Top Producer 7i recently announced the ability to synch with Windows and Blackberry based PDA’s. Although the ability to synch with the PDAs exists, there are some carriers that did not afford the ability to do so. One was Bell Mobility. Official confirmation has been received from Bell Mobility that they now support direct TCP and therefore Bell customers are now supported with the Top Producer for BlackBerry product.
Top Producer 7i Outlook Connector (TPOC) is an add-in component for your desktop version of Microsoft Outlook. The TPOC allows you to use Outlook rather than My Email as your primary email application while maintaining the ability of creating connections between email messages and contact records (that is, maintaining email messages in a contact’s history).
TPOC had been limited to use with Outlook 2003. Top Producer 7i has just announced that Outlook Connector now works with Outlook 2007.
| Q: What is the price of the TPOC? | Retail Price: $149.00 (one time fee) |
| Q: Is there a cost associated with the upgrade? | No. |
| Q: Do existing customers need to upgrade to the new version of the TPOC? | No. However if a customer is running Microsoft Vista or upgrades to Outlook 2007, they will be required to download and install the latest version of the TPOC. |
| Q: Will the old and new version of the TPOC be available going forward? | No. Only the latest version of the TPOC will be available for download going forward. The latest version of the TPOC supports all the same versions as before in addition to MS Vista and Outlook 2007. |
Agent Office vs. Top Producer – Your opinion please?
Disclosure. I am a reseller for Agent Office. I am currently working on affiliating with TP, as I believe it can be a more appropriate choice, depending upon one’s needs. That said, those of you that know me and my site, know that I am a reseller for several other CRM tools, and make a list of yet many others readily available for comparison. I try to fit the person/team with the tool that will best meet their specific needs and preferences.
It’s been a while since I asked the following question, which is why I am now asking again. I would like to hear from anyone that has used BOTH Agent Office, at least as current as version 7.0, AND Top Producer 7i, for at least 6 months each. There are probably not very many of you, so if you are one of them, PLEASE post, or e-mail me off-list, or I may not get any ;-)
I realize there are many people that “love the one they’re with”, and I appreciate that. I know there are many people that are using something else, and that’s great. The research I’m doing though, only pertains to AO & TP users that have used both. I know the upsides and downsides of the following, so I don’t need to hear about them.
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Cost analysis – monthly & free tech support & upgrades, vs. one time fee and pay for tech support & upgrades as you decide you want them
- Backups done automatically for you vs. having to back up
- Online access vs. not
What I would like to hear is comments about:
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Features that one has that the other does not
- Stability – which one works better with no functional glitches. Does it work all the time without freezing, giving you a blue screen, or simply not doing what it’s supposed to do.
- Usability – Moving from screen to screen; finding what you want quickly; doing what you want without too many key strokes.
- Ease of learning – compare one to the other in that regard. Which one was easier for you to pick up?
- Flexibility – If it doesn’t already do what you want, can you usually devise a work-around to accomplish it?
- Which company was better at listening to you when it comes to implementing suggestions, if you ever officially made any.
- Tech support – good bad or indifferent for each.
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ANYTHING else you care to comment on.
Please remember. I’m asking for comparisons from users of both. Not comparisons from research that was done, or from experimenting with them for a trial period. There is some value in research, but it has very little compared to someone that has actually used both in a production environment. If you didn’t use both for at least 6 months, AO 7.0 or newer, and TP 7i, please state as much, so people here can weight it accordingly, and so I know whether or not to include it on my site.
My AO versus TP page has gotten a great deal of traffic over the years. Thousands of people have read posts about favoring one over the other. Your posts here on this subject will help many of you now, and in the future, make your own decisions. So if you could take a few minutes, you will be doing me a favor, but also thousands of other agents around the world that go to that page for information. Thanks!
Agent Office Version 9.0 is shipping!
FNIS has just announced an upgrade to Version 9.0 now. It started shipping on July 5th.
If you like you can order it now for $229.
What’s in it?
Activity Enhancements
- Ability to view All Users’ timeless and timed activities in the Scheduler.
- Ability to reassign mass activities from one AgentOffice user to another.
- On the Schedule an Activity screen, the Show Schedule button displays the selected user’s scheduler (instead of the logged in user’s schedule).
- Ability to view the Schedule an Activity screen by double-clicking on an activity in the Old Business activity list.
- Auto-population of the time on the Schedule an Activity screen when you select a time in Scheduler and select the Schedule an Activity option.
Contact Import Enhancements
- Additional e-mail address import field options to accommodate import packages that contain 2 or more e-mail addresses. You can associate existing e-mail types or add e-mail types on the fly to e-mail addresses in a contact import package.
- Additional mailing address import field options to accommodate import packages that split the address street number, street name, direction point, and street designation.
- Ability to import categories from within the import package into AgentOffice and associate the imported categories to the appropriate imported contact record.
- Ability to globally associate existing AgentOffice categories to contacts within the import package.
- Prompts during the import process to allow you to enter default information, which will auto-populate all contacts within the import package with the entered information.
- During the import process, duplicate record checking between existing contacts and contacts in the import package with the option to update or add duplicates.
New Document Manager Module
- Ability to import significant documents directly into AgentOffice Document Manager or an AgentOffice record.
- Ability to link the documents to contacts, listings, and/or sales.
- Ability to assign documents to categories.
- Ability to view documents using the associated application.
- Ability to export documents, including to CD.
- Ability to e-mail documents.
- Documents are backed up and synchronized during AgentOffice backups and Accusync.
Referral Management Enhancement
- Ability to track which clients have referred you as a client (Referred By), and what referrals to clients/contacts your contacts have made (Referrals).
ZipForm/WINForms Integration
- Integration with the desktop and online versions of ZipForm and WINForms to create new transactions with data from transactions and contacts in AgentOffice.
- Integration with the desktop version of ZipForm and WINForms to associate transaction related forms to a transaction.
- Integration to ZipForm and WINForms available within the AgentOffice Contact, Listing and Sales modules.
- Ability to add new transactions to ZipForm and WINForms that include contacts related to the transactions, for example, buyer and seller, buyer and seller agent, buyer and seller attorney, lender agent, title agent, escrow and appraiser.
It’s a very good upgrade. They never have everything I would like to see, but this is a good one. The next one won’t be out for quite some time. More upgrade information
Agent Office purchased from FNRES by Emphasys Software!
Well it is official! While Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) is still “taking care of business” until everything is transitioned over, as of October 29th, Emphasys Software is now at the helm of Agent Office! Emphasys is a Real Estate management, financial and compliance software solutions company. It offers a long list of Real Estate related software solutions.
Personally, I am happy about the potential for this move, obviously pending seeing what happens. Emphasys is a Software company, as opposed to a Title company. Their interest in having Agent Office is to actually make money by making the product better, and selling it. Without getting into specifics, I will just say that FNRES has not exactly been the best thing that ever happened to the Agent Office software application. If you have followed events during their tenure of ownership, you have an idea what I am talking about.
Moving forward, having spoken with a representative from Emphasys, I am optimistic that this will be a good thing. They have plans to make significant improvements to the product, which will be a long overdue development when it happens.
Agent Office has been around since 1992, and this will now be its 4th owner. For those of you who have it, the road ahead should be interesting, and probably better.
Agent Office is currently in Version 10. It is still available through my Web site at a discounted price, in its current version, new. If you want to upgrade from an older version, I can still do that for you as well. There will be no interruption in my ability to provide Agent Office software to you, as I will continue to be a reseller for it, when Emphasys takes over.
As always, if you have any questions about Real Estate specific contact management or CRM software, that is what I do. I am a broker/reseller for 32 different Real Estate specific Contact Management & CRM solutions.
via Agent Office purchased from FNRES by Emphasys Software!.