November 2003

By Benjamin Holtz, Green Beacon Solutions

Customer relationship management (CRM) and its use by mobile workers is far from a new endeavor, but it is one that has undergone many changes in recent years as advancements in technology continue to create a truly mobile environment. Remote salespeople that use and leverage this truly mobile platform are taking advantage of the technology to increase the response level to customer needs, which in turn leads to better satisfaction and increases sales.

One of the best examples of quick response time can be seen with overnight delivery companies. Within minutes of receiving a request for pick-up, these companies spring into action and arrange for a delivery truck to be on the scene in a short time. Very few people stop and think of the logistics behind the all-too-common overnight mail pick ups, but it is that level of customer service and execution that has made these companies so successful and it is those skills that are vital in the world of sales.

Sales departments and their people are the most demanding groups in most organizations and as every executive knows, a happy salesperson is one who is producing better results and ultimately increasing the bottom line. Like FedEx, it is important for companies to provide salespeople with the newest technologies to allow them to do the best possible job in an effort to increase sales. Although mobile technologies are starting to gain in popularity, the technology is still vastly under utilized by sales professionals looking for that extra edge to help them close the deal in a competitive market. Sales professionals have always looked for ways to help them do their job better and wireless technologies have been counted on for years as the way to make the outside sales force truly mobile.

The Past
The invention of the laptop computer produced the first 'mobile' environment and allowed workers, whether it was executives or sales professionals, to take to the streets with technology applications that supported their meetings with customers. The creation of the mobile industry allowed these professionals the flexibility that is important to close the sale or discuss a potential merger or acquisition with other key executives throughout the country. In essence, the laptop connected the distributed sales force with corporate headquarters. However, in the early stages of creating the mobile workforce, there were key limitations, some of which still present fundamental hurdles today.

In the early years of laptop use, mobile workers were required to dial into their corporate office via a telephone from a remote office or hotel. While hotels these days have become advanced and now come equipped with data ports and lines, just a few years ago, it was far from the case. Often times, it was difficult, if not impossible, to get an outside line to dial into the network. More often than not, these mobile workers had to rely on information relayed over the phone by a co-worker located at the corporate office or by receiving a fax to the hotel, which then required the mobile worker to transcribe the information onto the laptop.

One aspect that allowed workers to truly become mobile was the use of CDROMs with detailed business information. Several business information providers made significant profit from developing CDROMs that included key information such as address and contact information. However, this information was only updated annually or once a quarter and did not fully arm the mobile workforce with the most up-to-date information that was necessary to improve prospecting, increase closing rates and ultimately add to the bottom line. As a result, workers would often dismiss these solutions and simply create their own files of information that were never shared with the company as a whole.

The next solution that promised to make the mobile workforce truly mobile was adding wireless capabilities to such major players as Siebel and its ubiquitous SFA solutions. These portals allowed workers to simply access all the company's main SFA or CRM information through a simple Web browser. There was now no need to dial back into the main network, but there was still a need for a connection to the Internet to allow for true mobility. There was also the fact that several mobile workers were reluctant to enter information into the systems and therefore the information contained in these portals was outdated and not accurate. Even when the mobile workers followed in-structions and entered the information into the systems, often they would not enter the most detailed information because of privacy concerns of entering key information over the Internet. Despite assurance of security and privacy, several mobile workers were simply not willing to take the chance of an outside source accessing their proprietary information.

The Present
Today, we are seeing the path paved to true mobility. WiFi networks are creating a mobile workforce for this with wireless laptops. In addition to those companies that have installed wireless connections, more and more restaurants from Starbucks to McDonalds are providing customers with wireless access. In addition to wireless notebooks, cell phones and other wireless devices have become the norm rather than the exception. Only a few years ago, there were no Blackberrys, PDAs or Web-enabled cell phones, but in today's ever-growing mobile environment, it is essential for every mobile worker to have one ' if not all ' of these essential items.

Even with the growing number of wireless devices, the fundamental issue of replicating the CRM or SFA system on the device remains a major stumbling block for the mobile workforce. The bottom line for many mobile workers is to close the next sale or develop the next partnership. Whether it is an outside sales representative or a vice president of business development, the goal is to close the deal, not enter information so a company's CRM system is updated. As a result, the information too often falls to the wayside and thus the system continues its lack of reliability.

Even with the laptop, the main issue has been the ability or, better yet, the willingness, to synchronize with the home office. Although there have been numerous attempts to develop synchronization tools and technology, the fundamental bottom line is that the mobile workforce must, for the most part, manually synchronize its efforts with corporate headquarters. In those times when the SFA or CRM systems are actually synchronized, the mobile workforce receives information that most likely is not needed at the field level. It is important for these mobile workers to receive a more compact version of existing CRM or SFA systems so they can work more effectively, rather than wading through mountains of information that in the end, is simply not that valuable to them in the field.

The most popular solutions today are ones that allow for tight integration with the e-mail system. Salespeople will always need to connect to get e-mail, so if the CRM system can take advantage of the e-mail synchronization then it is seamless to the salesperson. Microsoft, a late but current entrant into the CRM marketplace, has leveraged Outlook and their new .NET platform to allow salespeople to use MS CRM online or offline and make the differences all but transparent.

The entire purpose of creating solutions for the mobile workforce is to allow them to work more efficiently and effectively, but if the basic fundamentals of populating a SFA or CRM system is left undone, then in effect, the mobile workforce's job becomes more difficult. Instead of knowing the latest information on a potential client or partner, the mobile worker will have information that he or she is unsure is truly the latest information. Often, the fact that the mobile worker does not have the most up-to-date information may not make or break a deal, but for the company that just announced a major merger or acquisition, the visiting salesperson must be able to access such information prior to entering the boardroom for a sales presentation.

The Future
Mobile CRM will continue to be a hot trend, as most industry visionaries recognize its importance. More than 60 percent of the workforce will be using wireless devices by the end of next year (Cahners In-Stat Group). Many analyst firms predict wireless CRM will continue to grow by leaps and bounds for the next four to five years. Some predictions indicate more than 36 percent growth in the wireless CRM industry through 2008. Despite these predictions, it is unlikely true mobile CRM will happen for at least two years. There are two fundamental reasons why mobility ' although it will continue to grow ' will not reach complete adoption in the coming months.

The first is simply the technology available for wireless devices. Although significant improvements have been made, truly mobile devices that are able to adopt CRM and SFA capabilities continue to be expensive. For example, full-scale PDAs that are able to handle such capabilities are simply too large for the truly mobile worker and bandwidth issues continue to cause hurdles.

However, even with the improvement in wireless devices, the key issue is the CRM and SFA applications themselves. For years, CRM systems have been heralded as the savior in the business world and as a result, more and more companies desired the most bells and whistles possible for their CRM initiatives. In an effort to move toward full mobility, it is important to scale back many of the applications we use on a daily basis to make them user-friendly for the mobile workforce. In essence, it is necessary to get back to basics in the CRM world.

It is also important to understand the limitations of the mobile workforce. While it is essential to develop a system that can be utilized by the outside workforce, one must keep in mind that there are still numerous internal personnel that must have full access to a wide variety of information for additional purposes. As a result, there is a fundamental need to create a hybrid of both mobile and non-mobile CRM systems that can truly be integrated ' in real-time with little integration issues.

A peek into the future of mobile workforce does exist today. Vaultus, a provider of software for mobile platforms, has developed interfaces for several CRM systems. A New York-based publishing firm is currently in the final pilot stages of what will be a truly futuristic mobile platform. The firm's salespeople will all be equipped with wireless PDAs and the devices will have the entire contact database for prospect companies and individuals in addition to any open sales opportunities. When meeting with a client, the salesperson can enter an order directly into the PDA and the order is then transmitted via the wireless connection to the CRM system, where the order is fulfilled. If for some reason the wireless connection is not available, the technology is able to store and then forward the information when a connection is available. Although there are still some limitations with mobile devices, this current usage is a glimpse into the future of what a true mobile workforce is all about.

The basic fundamental for the mobile workforce and CRM initiatives is the old adage that time is money. Until a truly mobile CRM system is fully developed, the mobile workforce will continue to spend much of its time updating the corporate system, rather than spending time closing the deal and adding to the bottom line.

Benjamin Holtz is president and CEO of Green Beacon Solutions (www.greenbeacon.com), a mid-market focused consulting and systems integration firm providing customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. Holtz can be reached at [email protected].

For information and subscriptions, visit www.TMCnet.com or call 203-852-6800.

[Return To The November 2003 Table Of Contents]