CRM- September 2008 - (Page I9) Sponsored Content September 2008 9 The Move to Mobile CRM 2008 will likely go down as a turning point in Mobile CRM. All the major players in CRM – among them SAP, Oracle, Salesforce.com, Sage Software made significant moves to bolster their mobile offerings. Additionally, a variety of solutions aimed at small business were launched from the likes of Maximizer, Frontrange/Goldmine, ACT!/Sage, and SalesNOW. BlackBerry’s launch of a range of more powerful devices in 2008 enables a truly enhanced mobile CRM experience. RIM’s goal is to sustain innovation with new handsets and continually enhance the BlackBerry platform to efficiently extend CRM from the desktop to the fingertips of the mobile workforce. MOBILE CRM BEST PRACTICES RIM’s been working in the Mobile CRM space since the early 2000s when browserbased solutions were first made available. Since then, our customers have taught us a lot about what they need in a mobile solution and what are the best practices for a successful deployment. Here’s the top three: 1.) “Go local”. While handset browsers were a popular first generation attempt to extend CRM to mobile workers, the limitations were quite clear early on. Browser solutions rely on effective wireless connectivity for the speed and quality of the Mobile CRM experience. Out of coverage scenarios and wireless data rate limitations at each navigation point in a browser application compromise the overall efficacy of a mobile application. Best practice is clearly the deployment of a client application that operates locally on the handheld and integrates tightly with other native BlackBerry apps like email, PIM, GPS and calendar. This enables a snappy user experience, a superior user interface, and an “always on” experience no matter whether the user is in coverage or not. 2.) “Baby Steps”. Most first generation Mobile CRM projects languished due to over ambitious deployments that tried to mimic the desktop user experience. Attempting to extend all of a CRM package’s functionality to a mobile device is not practical and technically suboptimal. It’s not practical because a mobile user’s requirements are different than a desktop user’s requirements. Technically, porting multitudes of features and large volumes of customer data puts undue strain on processing power and memory. Best approach here is to identify two or three CRM functions to make available for the mobile user (e.g. start with leads and account records only) and phase in more features over time. 3.) “Users Rule.” The most common cause of CRM failure is lack of user adoption and the same is absolutely true for Mobile CRM. A good process for securing end user support is to get them involved early and truly value their feedback. A good way to achieve this is through a pilot, involving a subset of users for a period of at least 30 days. This will allow IT to assess deployment challenges and enable users to provide feedback based on actual usage in the field and in front of customers. Mobile CRM will succeed when the system becomes an indispensable sales tool rather than an administrative burden.
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