What is maintenance?
Esri includes complimentary maintenance for the first 12 months, after which annual software maintenance fees apply. Maintenance benefits include technical support and software and data updates. Technical support, data updates, or software updates are not available separately. Maintenance for Business Analyst will include any updates of the Business Analyst software and data that are made available during the maintenance period. The extension maintenance does not provide updates to the ArcGIS core software.
How often are the datasets updated? How often is the software updated?
Datasets and software are released on an annual basis. Typically, we release a data update to include newly updated datasets, such as businesses, shopping centers, streets, locators, and demographics. A software update, which includes new and enhanced Business Analyst features, is usually released shortly after core ArcGIS updates are completed.
What does Business Analyst Desktop use for report authoring now that Crystal Reports is no longer included?
A new report authoring tool has been included in Business Analyst 10. It's easy to use, incorporates the new report look and feel being introduced across the Business Analyst product line in 2010, and lets you export your reports to PDF, CSV, Excel, HTML, or XML format. Users with custom report templates developed in Crystal Reports can still use those templates in Business Analyst 10. However, any edits to those report templates must be done in Crystal Reports software.
Can Business Analyst Desktop be used for leads generation?
You can't use it to generate mailing lists either for direct marketing to consumers or direct marketing to businesses. The product does not provide lists of consumers. While it does provide access to lists of some 12,000,000+ businesses in the U.S. the license agreement doesn't allow the use of the business lists for direct marketing purposes. However, you can use the product to identify the areas in which you should be marketing. For users that want to create a direct marketing campaign you can output a list of ZIP codes that fall within area of interest, and then supply that list to their preferred list provider.
