As we hit the halfway mark of April, we can start to look ahead to the plans for the Act! spring launch, which for this year will simply be known as "Update 5". Swiftpage has made it clear they want to focus less on the sizzle and more on the steak in the current pandemic context, and accordingly they're focused mostly on quality enhancements that are easy to deploy (read "don't break database schemas"). Recently we learned that the schedule for this update release will be as follows:

• May 15th is the start of the external Beta Testing
• May 22nd is the end of the Beta testing
• June 2nd is the scheduled release date for Update 5 for Act! for Windows
• June 5th is the scheduled release date for Update 5 for Act! for Web

As anyone whose been through these cycles a few times, these timelines should be taken as "guides" and are not etched in stone. Beta feedback always drives the release date, and Update 4 was clear evidence of that as it was extended a few weeks to allow Swiftpage time to work with the channel to address a number of reported issues. The result of this collaboration was fantastic. Prior to that release Keystroke was advising customers to hold off upgrading to v22, and we were in fact doing so ourselves until Update 4 allayed our remaining concerns.

The point here is the update will be released when it's ready, and should contain the following improvements:

Act! CRM Desktop & Cloud

• AMA desktop tab in desktop, allowing users to send AMA emails to single contacts by way fo sales follow-up, and have those emails be recorded to History the way they're used to
• Over 200+ reported defects fixed in the areas of Activities (18 fixes), Outlook integration (14), Lookups (11), and Histories (10)
• UI & UX enhancements in the welcome screen, Insight & Pipeline Views

Act! Marketing Automation

• Enhanced UI/UX for categorization of Campaigns & Landing Pages
• New creation wizard for campaigns
• CAPTCHA for landing pages

The Act! Platform team is also pleased to announce that the single sign-on (SSO) and multi-tenant (MTA) architecture beta is coming in the next few weeks. The key dates for this launch are as follows:

• April 15th: Trial and New Customer Pilot Program (US only)
• April 30th: ACC and existing customer beta program
• May:  SSO/MTA Production rollout for trial
• June 2nd is the scheduled release date for Update 5 for Act! for Windows
• June 5th is the scheduled release date for Update 5 for Act! for Web

As with any program update, we always recommend users consult with their Act! administrator or Consultant before initiating an Act! program update. In this case the update is NOT schema breaking, so it should not have syncing implications, but your Act! administrator or consultant may wish to coordinate such an update with other system upgrades, and therefore should be consulted in advance.