Humanity has been performing scientific research in space for decades. We have learned huge amounts about how the human body adapts to space, how plants grow and animals live in space, and how the changes in fundamental physical forces lead to differences in flames, fluids, mixing of molecules, and more. Yet we have barely begun to harness the full opportunities afforded by this incredible environment.
THE MICROGRAVITY EFFECT
For scientists, engineers, and product innovators, the persistent microgravity environment in space provides a tremendous opportunity to think differently about science and product development from whole organism to atomic-level precision. The orbiting “freefall” environment causes alterations to fundamental physical phenomena.
Loss of “directionality” as there is no "up" or "down" which leads to many different possibilities for experiment and equipment configurations.
Loss of gravity-driven convection so that fluids or gases of different densities or temperatures move differently in space than they do on Earth.
Absence of buoyancy and sedimentation so that particles don't settle and bubbles don't rise 'up' in fluids in microgravity - meaning particles can disperse very differently.
Containerless processing can be optimized in microgravity - with easy levitation and isolation of liquids, the hydrodynamic effects of contact with the sides of a container are avoided.
No hydrostatic pressure gradient because without "weight", there is no change in pressure with depth of a fluid in microgravity.
Diffusion dominates because other forces are reduced in microgravity - meaning purely diffusion-driven processes can be explored.
Capillary forces increase because, with fluids, surface tension dominates in microgravity - increasing the sizes of droplets and bubbles.
Uniform surface wetting - the spread of liquids across complex surfaces and networks - is not affected by liquid drainage.
“Ninety-five percent of what we’re trying to do is to benefit people on Earth. I never thought I’d be working with people headed to space; yet here we are.”
When Microsoft released Office 2013, the story of BCM took a dramatic turn.
In previous versions (2007, 2010), BCM came included on the Office installation disc. You could just click "Add Feature" and it would install. However, for Outlook 2013, Microsoft made a controversial decision: They stripped BCM out of the standard installer.
To get Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2013, you had to download a specific, separate installation package from the Microsoft Download Center. This confused many users who thought the feature had been discontinued entirely.
Furthermore, the system requirements were finicky. BCM 2013 was strictly 32-bit. If a user had installed the 64-bit version of Office 2013 (which many power users did for better performance), BCM would refuse to install. You had to uninstall Office, reinstall the 32-bit version, and then install BCM. It was friction from day one.
In the early 2000s, Microsoft had a problem. Outlook was the standard for email and calendaring in the corporate world, but for small businesses (1-50 employees), it lacked "memory." It could remember an email, but it couldn’t remember that John Doe at Contoso was a lead, that you had called him three times, and that he was worth $10,000 in potential revenue.
That function belonged to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, which was expensive, complex, and required dedicated servers.
Microsoft’s answer was Business Contact Manager (BCM). It was designed to be "Outlook with a brain"—a simple database layered inside the familiar Outlook interface.
Today, the BCM folder structure is gone from modern Outlook. The functionality that BCM tried to provide—tracking sales pipelines and contact history—has been absorbed by Microsoft 365 in two ways:
The Moral of the Story: Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2013 represents a specific era of computing—the era of the "Power Desktop User." It was a tool built for people who lived inside Outlook and wanted their data trapped on their hard drive. As the world moved to the cloud and mobile devices, a local SQL database tethered to an email client became a relic of a bygone age.
For those who used it, it was a brilliant solution that turned Outlook from a mailbox into a business engine. But ultimately, it was a bridge technology that couldn't survive the crossing into the modern cloud era.
Microsoft Business Contact Manager (BCM) for Outlook 2013 is a powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) add-in designed specifically for small businesses . It allows users to track customer relationships, sales leads, and marketing campaigns directly within the Outlook interface . Core Management Features
Contact and Account Linking: In the 2013 version, you can link individual Contact records to larger Account records, providing a clear view of how business relationships evolve over time .
Customizable Business Forms: Users can modify business forms to dictate exactly how data is organized, including assigning specific tabs and filters to contacts .
Interaction Tracking: The tool automatically logs and organizes a communication history timeline for each contact, including emails, meetings, calls, and documents .
Sales Opportunity Management: You can create and track sales opportunities, including estimated amounts, close dates, and deal stages . Marketing and Reporting
Marketing Campaigns: BCM allows small business owners to create, promote, and track marketing activities and identify active vs. inactive customers for targeted outreach . business contact manager for outlook 2013
Dashboards and Reporting: It provides built-in tools for creating reports and charts, offering fresh insights into sales performance and customer service .
Segmented Lists: You can categorize and segment contacts based on criteria like industry, location, or relationship status . Technical Capabilities and Data
SQL Database Support: BCM 2013 comes with a free SQL Server Express database that supports up to 10GB of storage .
Synchronization: It supports viewing and editing business contacts across Outlook, SharePoint, or Windows Live Contacts while maintaining a record of all changes .
Compatibility: BCM 2013 is compatible with Outlook 2010 and 2013; however, it is not supported in Outlook 2016 or newer versions .
Offline Access: With certain configurations, users can access local versions of CRM records and sync changes once they go back online . Critical Support Note What is Microsoft Business Contact Manager for Outlook
Business Contact Manager (BCM) for Outlook 2013 was a popular, free customer relationship management (CRM) add-on designed to bridge the gap between simple contact storage and complex corporate CRM systems. While it is no longer supported by Microsoft, it remains a critical legacy tool for small businesses still utilizing Outlook 2013. Core Features and Capabilities
BCM 2013 provided a range of tools specifically tailored to small business owners who used Outlook as their primary hub.
Integrated CRM: Manage accounts, business contacts, and communication history (emails, calls, and meetings) directly within the Outlook interface.
Sales Pipeline Management: Visualize sales funnels and track opportunities from lead to close, with the ability to export data to Microsoft Excel for detailed reporting.
Marketing Tools: Create and track marketing campaigns, including target mailings and phone call activities. BCM helps distinguish between active and inactive customers to refine marketing efforts.
Customizable Data: Users can customize business forms and data fields to better suit specific industry requirements.
Project Management: Track business projects and tasks, linking them directly to specific contacts and communication logs. Installation and Technical Requirements
For those still needing to install or manage BCM in an Outlook 2013 environment:
Editions: BCM is typically available for professional or standalone versions of Outlook 2013. When Microsoft released Office 2013, the story of
Compatibility Pack: Microsoft released a BCM compatibility pack specifically to allow existing BCM databases from 2007 or 2010 to function with Outlook 2013.
Database Engine: It utilizes a Microsoft SQL Server Express database that can store up to 10GB of business data.
Multi-User Access: It supports sharing data with other users on the same network or through SharePoint. Current Status and Support
Official support for Microsoft Office 2013, including BCM, ended on April 11, 2023. looking for Business Contact Manager (BCM) replacement
Arthur stared at the progress bar. It hadn’t moved in twenty minutes.
“Migrating legacy BCM database to Outlook 2013…” the dialog box read, with the eerie certainty of a countdown to zero.
He’d been the holdout. While the rest of the sales floor had long since abandoned Microsoft’s orphaned child—the Business Contact Manager—Arthur clung to it like a shipwreck survivor to a spar. For seven years, every handshake, every golf outing, every whispered promise from a client was logged in that .bcm file.
When IT said they were decommissioning the old SQL instance, they gave him one weekend to export.
Now, on Sunday at 11:47 PM, the bar was frozen at 94%.
“Come on, you dinosaur,” he muttered, tapping the screen of his Dell Latitude. The machine hummed in protest.
Then, the bar jumped to 100%. A chime sounded. Outlook reopened, looking crisp and sterile. On the ribbon, a ghostly tab appeared: Business Contact Manager.
He clicked it.
His heart stopped. The database was there, but it had changed. Every contact had a new field: Last True Statement.
He double-clicked Acme Corp. The history log was still there—emails, meetings, quotes. But at the top, in bold red text, it read:
"Claimed 'budget approval next week' on June 14, 2013. This was false. Actual budget was frozen." Custom tables:
Arthur scrolled. Pinnacle Group: "Promised 'exclusive first look' on Mar 2, 2015. Sent same proposal to three competitors."
Harbor Solutions: "Stated 'check is in the mail' on Nov 18, 2016. Check was issued Dec 3."
His palms began to sweat. This wasn’t a migration. It was a confession. The old BCM, with its obscure relational database and its abandoned code, had been keeping a second set of books. A truth ledger.
Then he saw the entry for Redwood Partners. His biggest account. The one that had made his career.
"CEO said: 'You’re like family, Arthur. We'll never leave you.' – Aug 22, 2014. Note: They signed a letter of intent with a competitor on Sept 15, 2014. Rescinded after founder’s death. Current status: waiting."
Arthur leaned back. The fluorescent office lights hummed. He had a choice: delete the corrupted database, run a standard repair, and live in the comfortable fiction of sales. Or keep the truth.
He reached for the mouse. And clicked Sync to CRM.
Outside, the first grey light of Monday morning bled over the parking lot. When his team arrived at 8 AM, Arthur was already on the phone.
“Good morning, Redwood Partners,” said the receptionist.
“This is Arthur Vance,” he said, his voice steady. “I need to schedule a fact-finding meeting. No proposals. No lunch. Just the truth about 2014.”
The progress bar of his career had just reached zero. And for the first time, he was ready to move forward.
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Space presents opportunities that are currently unimaginable in gravity’s bounds. How might microgravity help you forge a breakthrough in your research or gain a competitive edge in your product development?
Axiom Space provides more flexible and lower-cost access to the revolutionary potential of microgravity than ever before. Our mission experts bring your product or research to Earth’s orbit, where its inimitable effects might allow you to corner the market, reshape an industry, or make a breakthrough that changes the trajectory of human innovation.
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