Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

Salesforce.com's Chuck Dietrich on the Many Benefits of Mobile CRM

November 21, 2007

Now that practically every mobile device on the market comes with a Web browser -- and now that every major wireless provider is offering mobile Internet -- it should really come as no surprise that a growing number of businesses, especially those with mobile workforces, are investigating the many benefits of mobile CRM.

 
Simply put, mobile CRM means your mobile workers have access to you company CRM system, no matter where they are. This gives businesses a powerful new advantage, as it enables them to increase the productivity of their mobile workers, streamline business operations and boost customer satisfaction. With today’s advanced browser-based mobile devices (BlackBerry, Palm, iPhone, any Windows mobile device, etc.), plus high speed wireless Internet, mobile workers can do much more than just send email and text messages. This is about access to real data, and the ability manipulate it in real time, as well as the ability to conduct transactions remotely. Helping to propel adoption of mobile CRM is the fact that a majority of the leading CRM solutions are now offered via the hosted or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model, which obviously makes it all the easier to set up and deploy Web-based CRM systems which can be accessed via wireless end points.
 
Despite its rapid growth rate so far, only a small percentage of companies are using mobile CRM currently -- and many of those only on a limited basis. The good news is that the early adopters (which surprisingly are mostly SMBs) are reporting great success with mobile CRM, therefore it appears to be a market segment that is poised for explosive growth over the next few years. Recent research from Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Compass Intelligence LLC suggests that businesses in the U.S. will spend roughly $9 billion on mobile applications by 2011, up from an estimated $3.8 billion this year. You can be sure that a large chunk of that money will be spent on mobile CRM.
 
With mobile CRM, changes and updates made in the field can take effect in real time (or near real time) on the servers at the central office. This “virtualization” of the company network means business information can be seamlessly shared across all channels, mobile or otherwise -- a huge leap forward compared to the clunky interfaces of the not-too-distant past. With mobile CRM, workers can share documents and have full access to their company’s CRM or ERP system while they’re in the field, at home, or traveling. Plus, depending on the software being used, management can get centralized, Web-based “dashboard” views of business activity and do real time analysis of the information which is coming from every end point, including the mobile devices. In most cases, mobile workers don’t have to perform additional operations or follow up work upon returning to the office: It’s just as if they had their office PC (or latop) with them the whole time.
 
But mobile CRM isn’t just about improving internal processes, it’s also about improving the customer experience. When a mobile worker is doing business with a customer, say, at their home or office, it helps tremendously if he has all of the customer’s information, past and present, right at his fingertips. The ability to, for example, get the status of an order, see past buying trends, get the model number of the last item purchased, or find out if a particular part is available at the warehouse, while in the field, while the customer is there watching, leads to a much more satisfying experience and, as a result, higher customer loyalty.
 
To learn more about mobile CRM and the many advantages it holds for organizations, ContactCenterSolutions recently interviewed Chuck Dietrich, vice president of Salesforce Mobile, the mobile division of leading CRM solutions vendor Salesforce.com. What follows are selected responses to our questions:
 
What is Salesforce currently offering in terms of mobile CRM?
 
As a part of the Force.com platform, Salesforce Mobile makes it possible to mobilize your entire suite of Salesforce CRM applications. This includes being able to access Salesforce SFA, Salesforce Service & Support, certified ISV applications on the AppExchange, as well as your own custom applications built on the Force.com platform, all from your mobile device.
 
What are some of the major benefits of this (these) solution(s)?
 
The great thing about having your Salesforce applications available on your mobile device is that you never have to miss out on a single transaction when you are in the field. Salesforce Mobile gives you the opportunity to access all the information logged into Salesforce instantly, while also allowing you to enter in real time information, such as new leads and contact information generated from meetings on the go. Finally, you can directly initiate calls and emails from your salesforce.com contacts -- all this activity is automatically logged in salesforce.com.
 
One feature that is unique to Salesforce Mobile is its ability to let you access information even when your mobile device is not connected to a network. Information is automatically delivered to your device when you are connected so that you always have access to the latest information, even when disconnected. Updates occur automatically, and offline use allows for changes to be queued up for automatic delivery once the user returns to a wireless coverage area.
 
When’s the right time in the CRM selection process to start looking for mobile tools?
 
It’s never too early for a company to start looking into and start implementing CRM tools onto mobile devices. However, there are some key factors that can help determine whether or not a company is ready to take on mobile applications. The selection and deployment of handheld devices that Salesforce Mobile supports is extremely important in this decision, as the latest devices often have more memory and faster processors, giving users a better mobile experience.
 
It is also important to make sure that users are familiar with these devices and comfortable with mobile email before deploying a mobile solution. Salesforce.com offers a number of training options such as a two-day Mobile Admin bootcamp class, a half-day Mobile Success Coach class, and on-site Custom Training to help users become familiar with Salesforce Mobile.
 
What are the two or three most important ways CRM must be modified for mobile usage? Please explain the differences/advantages/disadvantages of each method.
 
The key to a successful deployment of any mobile application, including CRM applications, is giving the mobile users access to the data they need in the field, and not flooding them with non-essential data. A good business process review is a great step in identifying the correct data set. Our Salesforce Mobile product gives customers two options for selecting the correct data to mobilize. One, via a simple point and click web based administrative interface, a Salesforce admin can configure data filters for each type of mobile user. Second, the mobile user can easily run a search from the device for any Salesforce record. These records become marked and over time the user has constructed their own mobile data set.
 
What are the two or three considerations companies should pay particular attention to when selecting mobile CRM?

The ultimate goal for a company in selecting any type of CRM solution is to align the particular solution with the business needs of the company. To determine your organization’s need for a CRM mobile solution, it is very important that you first identify clear and simple mobile use cases that will provide benefit and drive adoption. By defining which tasks and processes are going to be important for your mobile users, such as record lookup, edit/create accounts, log emails, or assign tasks, you are able to compare mobile CRM solutions and see which system aligns the best with your goals.
 
Once these goals are defined and your CRM mobile solution is in place, there still remains the challenge of implementing the system and driving adoption throughout the company. That said, another important thing to keep in mind is how your CRM mobile solution provides support and service for their customers during this process. In addition to providing training sessions for customers on how to deploy their mobile solution, Salesforce Mobile additionally offers consulting services from certified AppExchange partners who are trained and authorized in Salesforce Mobile implementation best practices. With their training and experience, they can help you to quickly and correctly implement Salesforce Mobile and provide support in a number of areas including: defining a mobile business process that caters to your mobile users’ specific jobs and needs, assisting in configuring your Salesforce Mobile console to develop the right data set for each group of mobile users, deploying the Salesforce Mobile client to mobile devices locally or worldwide, training your Salesforce Mobile administrators and field users, and by providing ongoing Salesforce Mobile management and limited support.
 
In terms of mobile CRM, who are your target users and what’s your market focus? If possible, give an example of how one of your customers is benefiting from the implementation of a mobile CRM solution.
 
We want to target sales or business development executives, customer service executives, and IT operations executives for Salesforce Mobile solutions. These are the people who are constantly in the field and often rely on laptops to store important data about prospects and accounts. This can be a problem when these executives have stale information when they show up for an appointment, and can potentially face long delays before they can update their CRM system with the latest details or to-do’s.
 
Such was the problem faced by Karl Strauss Brewing Company before implementing Salesforce Mobile solutions. With Salesforce, Karl Strauss Brewing Company sales reps now have access to customer information instantly and can create real-time orders in the field. They have also created customized applications on Apex, transforming their field reps from phone-bound order takers into true relationship managers.
 
What would the mobile CRM tool that comes to dominate the mobile space do that the others didn't do? (What might end up being key differentiators?)
 
Ultimately, the CRM tool that will come to dominate the mobile space will be differentiated by its ease in use. Companies are always going to focus on the top handful of activities that sales and service reps need to do their jobs effectively: account and contact lookups, deal or case information, and follow-up activities. Although most mobile device CRM applications can do much more than just serve as an on-demand database, keeping it simple ensures that users can quickly and easily access core functionality without getting bogged down by extraneous bells and whistles. In the same sense, the mobile tool of the future should also extend beyond CRM so that companies can extract additional value out of their mobile CRM deployment by extending access into these other areas, such as inventory, order and time management, and expense tracking. Achieving this balance between simplicity and extension into other arenas besides CRM will be the determining factors in what will be considered an effective composite mobile application.
 
What features do mobile users ask for the most?
 
Like most things in life, the most obvious use cases provide the greatest value to customers, and end up being the most requested use cases. Simple activities, like looking up and editing records, assigning activities and tasks to colleagues, and initiating and recording emails and phone calls from the device are some of the features Salesforce users have requested the most.
 
What are the two or three mistakes you see companies making when selecting CRM tools?
 
Too often, companies selecting a CRM solution are often thrown off track by vendors leading the selection process. This leaves most companies with a CRM solution that has unnecessary and complex features that they may never use, making management more difficult and costly. To avoid this, define your rationale for installing a system up front before you begin discussion with vendors. Make sure that the user community is at the center of defining your requirements. If you are looking to improve how everyday employees collaborate and share information, your primary concern should be usability and achieving high adoption. If you need greater control over complex, regulatory-driven processes, you may want to focus on a long checklist of features. The solution you choose in the former case should look very different from the one you pick in the latter. It’s easy for vendors to feel that they know what is right for users but the reality is that the users are better at defining what they want and what they don’t want.
 
Additionally, many other mobile solutions require significant custom development work that results in hidden start up costs and time delays. Mobile should be a service that is as easy to set up and use as Salesforce.
 
What are the next moves for Salesforce in the mobile space?
 
Salesforce continues to set the pace for device support, platform functionality, and client side integration. Additionally, we are constantly looking for wireless network and device technology improvements that allow for semi-mobile browser based experience. Finally, more and more of our users are using our mobile technology to mobilize their custom applications. Increasingly, we expect our customers to easily build custom applications on the desktop using our Force.com platform technology and leveraging the existing mobile product to instantly mobilize those applications. This last point is a huge step forward in allowing companies to easily build and deploy mobile applications. Gone are the days of having to be a mobile software expert to build mobile applications.

For more information, visit www.salesforce.com/platform/mobile-platform.

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Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for ContactCenterSolutions and Associate Editor for Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.



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