Pat Sullivan is an American software engineer who co-created the contact manager
ACT!
Act! (previously known as Sage ACT! 2010–2013) is a customer relationship management (CRM) software and marketing automation software platform designed for, and used by, small and mid-sized businesses. It has a user base of over 800 thousand re ...
along with his partner Mike Muhney. Sullivan was named as one of the “80 Most Influential People in Sales and Marketing History” in 1998 by the magazine ''
Sales & Marketing Management
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...
'
Pat Sullivan started Contact Software in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...
in 1986. With his friend
Mike Muhney and two programmers, Randy Haben and John Maurer, the team developed the first commercial version of the contact manager ACT!. In 1993, ACT! was acquired by
Symantec Symantec may refer to:
*An American consumer software company now known as Gen Digital Inc.
*A brand of enterprise security software purchased by Broadcom Inc.
Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier ...
. In 1995, Pat Sullivan founded the
sales force automation
Salesforce management systems (also ''sales force automation systems'' (SFA)) are information systems used in customer relationship management (CRM) marketing and management that help automate some sales and sales force management functions. Th ...
company
SalesLogix.
[http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article/?a=4445/appealing-automation] In 1999, SalesLogix Corp was renamed to Interact Commerce Corporation and ACT! was reacquired from Symantec. In May 2001,
Sage Group plc
The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British multinational enterprise software company based in North Tyneside, England. As of 2017, it is the UK's second largest technology company, the world's third-largest