Mobile CRM is rapidly becoming a must have for field sales and service organizations as they realize the tangible ROI that can be achieved through reducing office-based administration and enabling personnel to manage routine tasks and real time reporting “in the field.”
But with a growing number of mobile CRM solutions available, many organizations are in danger of choosing over-complex applications or irrelevant mobile extensions of existing CRM systems. The key is to keep it simple for both the mobile users and for your IT administrators.
The ‘Virtual’ Business
According to the Gartner Group, there are just under 60 million mobile workers who are away form their workstations for at least 20% of the working week. And with recent reports suggesting that mobile CRM will grow to 20% of total CRM revenues by 2010, many organizations are now revisiting their current CRM provision as the “virtualization” of business processes and procedures draws ever closer.
The reality is that more and more mobile devices are able to access high-speed Internet, and with an increasingly mobile workforce, flexible work patterns and a rise in “home office” workers, it is clear that there is a demand even in small- and medium-sized companies for a new “virtual” office hub, where information can be shared and analyzed across all channels of the organization in real time.
Keeping Customers Happy
Modern business practice has demonstrated that is typically more cost and time efficient to cross-sell and up-sell to existing customers than to acquire new business contracts. Therefore the most effective mobile CRM system should take things far beyond simple e-mail and text and provide the ability to access and manipulate customer information in real time and conduct transactions remotely.
Organizations have invested heavily in process improvement and information technology.Mobile CRM is an opportunity to extend that investment to users who operate in the field outside the office environment.
Ultimately, a good mobile CRM system will enable users to better serve their customers by providing them with an enhanced sales experience where they are provided with real time information, answers and results.
By eliminating the dreaded “I’ll have to check on that and get back to you” response, customer queries can be immediately resolved or scheduled for resources back in the office. Customers are left feeling satisfied with the meetings progress, representatives are shown to be more in control of the sales process and the relationship is seen to be more transparent and therefore trustworthy.
And we all know that happy customers are more loyal, spend more, refer more and are less likely to switch to competitors.
A Leaner Business
Market research firm Ipsos Reid and Microsoft reported that 84% of professionals felt that mobile devices would increase their productivity and profitability. In fact, many companies have report positive, measurable ROI statistics after implementing a mobile CRM application and the most common benefits reported by users include reduced office administration and desk-based tasks, lower operations costs and an increase in revenue through improved sales and staff productivity.
Mobile CRM is a crucial part of developing a leaner, more profitable business and by providing accurate, real time statistics, management can conduct regular analysis at any time and identify potential opportunities and areas for concern and act on them immediately. Mobile staff are given greater freedom, flexibility and customer account management, whilst also raising the bar of accountability through the knowledge that Management have access to their current status reports and progress at all times.
Choosing the Right Time for Mobile CRM
Ideally, companies should review potential mobile CRM applications before they need them to enable a greater analysis of the most appropriate solution for the business. But realistically, a company needs to implement a system as soon as any of its employees need access to customer and transactional data whilst out of the office.
From an individual users perspective, the right wireless CRM solution should support multiple device platforms (be it a laptop, PDA or other mobile device) to enable users to choose whichever platform best suits their circumstances. At an organizational level, it should allow flexible, scalable accessibility of information across the entire business network with the ability to adapt and develop as the business evolves.
