The first experience a user has with InterAction is the process of contributing his or her contacts to the firm list. When a user’s contacts are first brought into InterAction through import or synchronization with a PIM, InterAction cannot detect which contacts the user wants to keep personal and which contacts the user wants to connect with a contact in the firm list.
To begin the process of contributing contacts, a member of your organization (typically a data steward or trainer) trains the user and his or her proxy about InterAction, his or her contact list, and what it means to contribute contacts to the firm list. Some quick reference sheets may be developed to help users through this process.
After users understand the process of contributing contacts, an email message is sent to users containing a link to the Contribute Contacts page. Using this page, users can determine which contacts they wish to contribute to the firm list. Alternately, users can print a report from which they can determine which contacts to contribute. That user’s proxy can then contribute the user’s contacts in the Web Client for the professional.
Using Smart Connect to Help Users Contribute Contacts
Using the Smart Connect feature, you can help the user contribute his or her list of contacts by recommending which contacts should be added to the firm list or by automatically connecting the user’s contacts with contacts in the firm list without requiring the user to review the contacts. Smart Connect uses a set of rules you define based on the contact types in your firm list. For example, you can do the following:
- Recommend contacts to users that should be added to the firm list. For example, you can recommend that users contribute any of their contacts that are already found in the firm list.
- Automatically connect a user’s contact with a contact in the firm list. For example, important contacts such as the personnel of top clients or your organization’s personnel can automatically be connected with contacts in the firm list.
Many users have your organization’s personnel in their contact lists. Using Smart Connect is a great way to get these contacts automatically connected and in sync.
Out of the box, InterAction includes a number of Smart Connect rules that meet the needs of a typical InterAction implementation. You can, however, customize these rules or configure your own rules for your organization. For details, see Configuring Smart Connect Rules.
What Tools Should Be Used to Contribute Contacts?
Several features are provided with InterAction to assist in the process of contributing contacts to the firm list.
InterAction Web Client
The Contribute Contacts page and reports are part of the Web Client application. The Contribute Contacts page is a standalone page that can be opened by users from a link sent in an email message or from the Home page of the Web Client.
Email Message
Sample text for the email message that is sent to users to notify them that they can begin contributing their contacts is available in the InterAction Education Toolkit. The Education Toolkit is available for download from the Support Center Web site at InterAction Support Home.
Report of All New Contacts to Review
Each user can choose to print a report of contacts to review and determine which should be contributed to the firm list. Using this report, the user can take the report on the road with him or her, review the contacts, and then return the report to his or her proxy to allow the proxy to go through the process of contributing contacts to the firm list on behalf of the professional.
InterAction Administrator
Using the InterAction Administrator software, you can configure the Smart Connect Rules used to recommend contacts that should be contributed to the firm list. For details, see Configuring User Contact Lists.