Has your organization been considering deploying Sage SalesLogix
Mobile for your field personnel? In this article, we will discuss the benefits and competitive advantages of a true mobile CRM solution, and review the flexible and intuitive mobile capabilities available with
Sage SalesLogix Mobile.

Challenges Faced By Field Workers

A primary challenge of field sales and service teams in using CRM is their limited
access during the workday. To keep the CRM system up to date, they are often forced to
enter information at the end of their workday or workweek. A laptop computer can help,
but is often not the right tool. It is too obtrusive in customer meetings, and the process of booting it up and connecting just to check a price or update an address is time consuming and unwieldy.

As a result, the potential benefits of a CRM system may not be fully realized. The
field team ends up working without the upto- date details and statuses they need to effectively engage customers. At the same time, the information they collect while with customers doesn’t flow back into the organization on a timely basis, if at all.

Enter Mobile CRM

Unlike laptop computers, smartphone devices are small and discreet, designed to
be left on while you are on the go. Field personnel can use them to keep information up
to date in a variety of circumstances, such as while waiting at the airport, in a hotel, or in between customer meetings. Remote workers are much more likely to leverage CRM information and keep the system up to date when they have the right tool in the palm of their hands. Using the device before a customer meeting, you can:
• Review tickets to make sure there are no issues left unresolved,
• Learn about other interactions an individual at the customer site has had with your company, and
  
• Familiarize yourself with the products, services, and prices the customer is interested in.

After the meeting, it is more likely that the CRM system will be updated with the new
information with a CRM-enabled device at hand. Now time spent waiting and traveling
can be turned into productive time. Mobile CRM makes the data available and keeps
remote staff connected.

Now Is The Time

Here are some compelling reasons why now is a good time to adopt a Mobile CRM
solution: competitive advantage, return on investment, and maturity of the technology
– both hardware and software.

Competitive Advantage: Because Mobile CRM is for the most part still in the early
adoption phase, you can enjoy a competitive advantage by adopting it now. You can realize the full potential of CRM and become a customer-centric business that simultaneously maximizes profitability and customer satisfaction.

Return On Investment: An Aberdeen Group study of organizations adopting
mobile CRM revealed the following statistics: 83 percent reported growth in revenue, 78
percent reported increased sales productivity, and 72 percent reported enhanced customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Mature Technology: The latest smart phone devices are more ergonomic, powerful,
and refined. With 64mb of memory or more, they now have an acceptable amount
of power for running business applications. With the availability of flash memory they can store more data. Battery life is now measured in days instead of hours. Network speeds have increased as well, providing faster synchronization times.

The Anywhere Workforce Experience

A key part of the Sage Software 2010 CRM strategy is the anywhere workforce experience. Recent studies indicate that there are a billion mobile users worldwide. The mobile workforce has become a way of life and continues to grow. Sage Software identified the following key requirements in developing the Sage SalesLogix Mobile CRM solution:

• A smartphone-resident, functionally complete client with data stored locally and with both online and offline functionality.
• The ability to mix and match Pocket PC, Smartphone, and BlackBerry devices, and new devices introduced in future.
• A secure infrastructure to store customer data and handle bi-directional updates.
• Incremental updates provide the ability to update only records that have changed to avoid long synchronization time.
• Ability to mirror the internal processes and customizations made for desktop
  clients, and the ability to make specific modifications for mobile users.