{"id":288,"date":"2014-07-30T15:58:13","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T15:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portatour.com\/blog\/?p=288"},"modified":"2023-02-15T14:15:16","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T14:15:16","slug":"great-microsoft-mappoint-alternative-replacement-portatour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portatour.com\/blog\/en\/great-microsoft-mappoint-alternative-replacement-portatour\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Microsoft MapPoint Alternative: portatour\u00ae"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft MapPoint<\/strong>\u00a0will be\u00a0discontinued<\/a>\u00a0by 31st\u00a0December 2014. Looking for a\u00a0better<\/strong>\u00a0alternative<\/strong>? Then consider the\u00a0online route-planner portatour\u00ae<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>portatour\u00ae supports\u00a0showing addresses on a map and many more functions for route planning and route optimization<\/a>. It is\u00a0especially useful for professional sales reps\u00a0working in outside sales, support and service. Read on to learn about essential features and tips for switching.<\/p>\n

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Show addresses on a map using portatour\u00ae<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the last 15 years MapPoint was often used as a tool to show customer addresses on a map. To start with portatour\u00ae, import your addresses from an Excel file with a few clicks. Other sources like Outlook or CRMs are also supported. Additional fields like phone numbers, contact person, business hours, or annual revenue can be imported in addition. Once imported, customers can be plotted on a map to get an overview. Colors can be used to visualize a specific aspect of the customers, for example revenue. Symbols can be freely assigned to individual customers to highlight them. You can also filter the customers and only show a selection. All together, these are essential features to\u00a0plan a sales strategy.<\/p>\n

\"Mappoint<\/p>\n

Lightning-fast route planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until now, you had to wait for MapPoint a\u00a0long time when it\u00a0calculated optimized routes with multiple stops. Faced with many addresses, MapPoint could strain your patience for a few hours before returning with a result.<\/p>\n

Finally, the wait is over: portatour\u00ae features a lightning-fast route-planning at the click of a button. It can generate optimized route-plans for up to 4 weeks with more than 100 stops. This takes usually between 2 and 10 seconds\u00a0\u2013 a considerable speed improvement compared to MapPoint.<\/p>\n

\"Mappoint<\/p>\n

Besides sales territory mapping and route-planning, portatour\u00ae offers easy-to-use customer management, call reporting, appointment planning \u2013 and over 100 additional features<\/a>\u00a0to improve sales force effectiveness. This makes portatour\u00ae the best replacement of MapPoint \u2013 especially for a salesperson. While Mappoint has been a desktop application, you can access portatour\u00ae from PC, notebook, iPad, iPhone, Android and other smartphones and tablets.<\/p>\n

Switching from Microsoft MapPoint to portatour\u00ae is straightforward.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s time to say good-bye to MapPoint and switch to portatour\u00ae.\u00a0Watch this video<\/a> the see the first steps explained in 5 minutes:<\/p>\n