Outlook® 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies®

Chapter 1. What Is Outlook Business Contact Manager?

In This Chapter

• What is BCM?

• Who uses BCM?

• Basic BCM concepts

We know you're probably anxious to dive into Business Contact Manager (BCM). Chances are that someone you know uses BCM or that you've already purchased BCM and read at least the outside of the box. Some of you might have even thumbed through this book already. Before we set you off and running, we would like to tell you a little bit about BCM's history and what you can expect from the BCM program.

And Then There Was BCM

Once upon a time, before the advent of the personal computer, busy people everywhere were forced to rely on such archaic tools as Day Timers and yellow sticky notes to keep themselves organized. You could easily spot busy people — various bits of paper trailed after them as they rushed frantically from appointment to appointment. These busy people were also generally late to their appointments. You would often see busy people crying or mumbling to themselves. Busy people, you see, often scheduled conflicting appointments because they had failed to compare the schedules hanging on their refrigerators at home to the schedules they carried in their somewhat disorganized briefcases. Divorce rates were high as busy people missed anniversaries and soccer games!

As Bill Gates and his minions were creating the world of personal computing, they realized that disorganization could be prevented through the use of cool software, so they created Outlook. Computer users ...