The outcome is pretty clear, but getting there will not be simple.
Sales staff were the original mobile workers, usually the first in the company to have a laptop, definitely the first workers typing away from the car. Now they are driving the bring your own device (BYOD) and cloud computing trends.
Most salespeople did not chuck their laptop when the smartphone rose in prominence. The screen just is too small, even with a phablet. Information certainly can be accessed, but it can’t be used for presentations to customers and it almost always was a mere subset of the greater work that could be performed on a laptop.
But tablets have changed the game, and now sales teams are wanting their firm’s customer relations management (CRM) solution fully integrated with the cloud so they can access that all-important data wherever they go. Sales force automation (SFA) is on the move.
“CRM vendors have sizeable customer bases waiting to incorporate mobile capabilities,” noted a recent report by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert). “While the small size of the smartphone screen limits the amount and type of data shown, the tablet's larger, high-resolution screen can display information, charts and videos in an easy-to-read, professional format, widening the application scope of mobile SFA solutions."
The U.S. market for SFA solutions was $434 million in 2012, according to Frost & Sullivan. It is set to more than double to $1.01 billion by 2017.
The path toward mobile CRM will take time, however. Many organizations are concerned about the cost of new mobile devices for sales teams, the integration of backend systems and the implementation of new data security processes. BYOD helps with outfitting sales teams, but it doesn’t address integration with existing CRM systems.
CRM vendors are trying to make it easy for companies to enable their salesmen, but the market is also shifting and this leaves the door open for new competition from mobile application developers.
“While traditional CRM vendors continue to wrestle with price and portfolio issues, they face strong competition from mobile application developers that choose to implement standalone mobile SFA solutions,” pointed out Frost & Sullivan. “These solutions are typically hosted, so implementation is quick and monthly per-user pricing is affordable.”
Cost concerns over taking CRM to the cloud will dissipate as traditional CRM providers are forced to offer it for free or lose market share. But the transition will take time; CRM is not quite as nimble as e-mail.
So the outcome is clear: CRM accessed by the mobile devices of salesmen in the field will be the norm. But getting there will take time. BYOD and the cloud will lessen the timeframe, but not eliminate the delay completely.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey