best practices for implementing an effective mobile crm system

8/14/2019 Best Practices for Implementing an Effective Mobile CRM System

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WWW.INFINITYINFO.COM 525 SeveNTh AveNue SuITe 1200 NeW YOrk, NY 10018 Tel: 800.354.4228

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Copyright 2009 by Innity Ino Systems Corp. All rights reserved. No part o this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any ormor by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission o Innity Ino Systems Corp. All trademarks, service marks andlogos reerenced herein belong to their respective companies. This document is protected by the copyright laws o the United States and international treaties. This documenis or your general inormation only and is provided As Is without warranty o any kind, including, without limitation, any implied warranties o merchantability or tness or aparticular purpose or non-inringement. Innity Ino Systems Corp. assumes no liability or responsibility or any errors or omissions in the content o this document.


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section 1

Introduction

Laptops have made it dramatically more ecient or salespeople to do business on theroad. But laptops can be rustrating or those who want to take advantage o a sparemomentwhile waiting in an airport taxi line, or instanceto enter notes about a meetingor check or details about the next sales call. By the time they power up the laptop andlaunch the application, the waiting cab will have honked twice.

Smartphones such as the Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry, Palm Treo, and WindowsMobile devices can be in hand and running in a ew seconds, creating the opportunityto immediately update customer relationship inormation. As these devices have becomemore capable, business applications that were once limited to laptops and desktops arenow migrating to smartphones.

Today, most major vendors o Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) solutions oer mobile

versions o their products. These mobile CRM applications mesh with the work-style o on-the-road sales proessionals, and that makes it easy to understand their allure.

The smartphones pocketable orm actor and instant-on capabilities can enable eldsalespeople to quickly access or add customer data. Better yet, they wont have to spendtheir evenings hunched over a laptop catching up on CRM updates.

The entire organization will benet, since mobile devices can automatically synchronize tothe CRM host database and ensure that customer accounts, contacts, activities, and salesopportunity inormation are always current.

Adoption by eld sta o mobile CRM is generally higher than standard CRM because itcan help them achieve sales goals and personal eciency in ways that complement withtheir working conditions. CIOs, too, understand the benets o mobile CRM.

A recent study by Forrester Research ound that 73 percent o respondents said mobilizingCRM had made their businesses more productive. And more organizations are seriouslyconsidering implementation o mobile CRM, according to the survey. Forrester ound that52 percent o respondents plan to launch a mobile CRM implementation in the next 12 to18 months.

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section 2

Mobile CRM Is More Than AnApplication Add-on

Because many companies see mobile CRM as an add-on toexisting CRM solutions, they oten believe they can simplymigrate CRM apps and data to a mobile platorm with littleplanning or training.

Its just not that simple. For maximum success, it is criticalthat businesses plan, design, and implement mobileCRM based on their employees unique needs. Businessleadership must help identiy the value and eciencies thatthe technology will bring to the companys singular businessmodel. The organization should start by determining themost eective unctions o its existing CRM system, andthen pair that with the best-suited unctions or use withmobile devices.

section 3

Include The Right Stakeholders

When mapping out a mobile CRM solution, ull participationrom the right stakeholders is crucial.

The project group should include CRM sponsors, a business-

unit liaison, the vice president o sales, and a ront-linesalesperson who can attest to actual eld practices andpotential uses. Also involve key IT and inrastructure sta,and i you have an in-house mobile platorm expert, by allmeans include that person.

As with any project team, its a good idea to keep the groupas small as possible. The logistics o assembling a largenumber o people or meetings will slow the progress othe project and inevitably prolong decision-making.

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Thoroughly Analyze Business Processes

The project teams rst task will be to identiy the relevantand meaningul data that empowers a successul salesteam. This should be examined rom the perspective o thesales team.

First, analyze the unctions that salespeople want and needto accomplish using mobile CRM. Focus on the top ewprocesses that will bring the greatest value to the eldemployees. Salespeople oten report that their greatestneeds center on activity planning and calendar unctionsThats a given, but delve deeper to uncover other potentiauses.

Next, build a matrix that details the most useul eatures,and then rank how the mobile CRM system will deliverthose unctionalities. Its a good idea to let members o thesales team rank the most important eatures, since theiinvolvement will help build consensus on unctionality aswell as establish buy-in or the project.

Also careully consider workfow. Core CRM systemstypically are built on a workfow and logic that should, tosome extent, be replicated in a mobile CRM workspaceNote, however, that too much attention to workfow andlogic could induce cost overruns and provide little value in

the end. You can avoid this problem by providing read-onlyaccess to certain elds in the mobile CRM application thathave complex workfow and logic behind them in the hostCRM system.

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section 5

Standardize On A Single Platorm I Possible

Businesses should standardize on a certain device ordevice platorm, such as BlackBerry or Windows Mobile.You should not support both platormsunless cost is notan issue.

Beyond the platorm, its key to decide what versions othe mobile operating system (OS) the IT departmentwill support. In the mobile world, operating systems areupgraded requently and support issues oten vary witheach version o the OS.

Organizations also should be aware that certain modelswithin a product line might have varying levels o usersatisaction. The touch-screen BlackBerry Storm, orinstance, has been a somewhat troublesome model in RIMsnormally stable smartphone line. Also consider that appsthat work well on one device (like the BlackBerry Curve)may not work as well on another (like the Storm).

When determining how to implement data andunctionality in the mobile CRM system, remember thatphysical characteristics o the smartphone will restrict howinormation is displayed and stored. Simplicity o navigationis absolutely critical in mobile CRM. Mobile devices have acompressed keyboard and a small display, and tasks must

be accomplished with a minimum number o keystrokes.

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Consider The Technological Limitations OSmartphones

Smartphones, with their less-powerul processors andmodest storage capabilities, interact with enterprise CRMsystems in ways that pale in comparison to their desktopand laptop counterparts.

A smartphones core sotware is not as robust as a laptop. Foinstance, the BlackBerry uses Java 2 Mobile Edition (J2ME)to support application development, and its capabilitiessimply will not be as comprehensive as ull-fedged client-server or Web applications.

Another limitation is the smartphones meager locastorage, which prohibits them rom containing largedatabases. The storage strategy varies by platorm. Dataand mobile applications can be completely stored on thedevice, completely stored remotely and accessed over theair, or a hybrid o local storage and over-the-air accessSome degree o local storage is critical or success, sincewireless access is oten restricted by actors like buildingstructures, limited speeds, and low or unavailable signals.

You must consider how these devices will access remotedatabases that house complicated data such as pricinginormation. Product pricing may be built upon a massive

amount o inormation that may be stored on a separatedatabase (or part o the CRM host database). Rather thansynchronizing potentially millions o records, companiesshould consider using over-the-air Web services to accesscomplicated pricing and then retrieve in real-time only therelevant data.



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section 7

Consider Data Security

Mobile devices transmit sensitive client and company dataover the air, and businesses must ensure that the level odata security oered by mobile CRM providers matches thecompanys security prole.

A secure transer must be provided or both data at-rest onthe device and in-transit during synchronization. In addition,a valuable requirement or always-connected devices is theability to remotely wipe the hardware should it be lost orstolen. All smartphones should use a device password toprotect all inormation stored on the handheld.

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Proper Training Is Key

A mobile CRM system is only as good as its user adoptionThats why proper training is critical to the success o anyimplementation.

As with most technologies, salespeople will adopt a mobileCRM system only i they understand how to eectivelyuse it. And CRM can present a doubly dicult challengebecause it requires training on the application and, in somecases, also the smartphone.

You may nd a ew mobile proessionals who do not usea smartphone, so organizations must ensure that trainingincludes basic instruction on using the hardware. Ideally, thisshould be done in advance o the mobile CRM training.

Training should also cover real-world issues that usersencounter on a regular basis. The mobile CRM teamshould present approximately 10 scenarios that illustratehow employees will use the devices with the mobile CRMapplications. Its a good idea to combine scenario-basedtraining with mobile CRM navigational concepts.

Finally, businesses should understand that rustration withthe traditional CRM system could spill over to the mobileCRM application. I salespeople have not embraced

traditional CRM, they are also not likely to be enthusiasticabout mobile CRM.

To that end, know the acceptance level o existing CRMbeore you venture into a mobile project. Be orthright inasking what salespeople likeand dont likeabout theicurrent CRM system. Thats a tough question to ask, butits important to guarantee the success o a mobile CRMsolution.

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section 9

About The Authors

Scott SnidScott has been responsible or the execution and strategicdirection o Innitys CRM consulting operations since 1999As a result o overseeing the Development, Training, IT andProject Management departments, Scott has been involved inmore than 200 successul CRM implementations.

This breadth o experience enables Scott to guide Innity tospecialization in several vertical markets including the nancialpublishing and lie science industries.

Beore coming to Innity, Scott was a Senior Project Manager

or Computer Language Research (CLR) where he was in chargeo corporate tax sotware implementations or Fortune 500companies across the country. Prior to that, Scott consultedor Price Waterhouse.

Jason AmsJason Ames is a Senior Project Manager or Innity InoSystems and has been implementing Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) systems since 1997. He has an extensivebusiness analysis and project management backgroundboth in CRM implementations as well as system and dataintegrations. Jason has worked or Accenture and severa

Financial Services rms, specializing in implementing xed-income trading and risk management systems, along withintegrating CRM applications. For the last decade, Jasonhas exclusively ocused on CRM or Fortune 100 and 500companies across a wide range o industries, includingFinancial Services, Manuacturing, Publishing, AdvertisingLie Sciences, Technology and Food & Facilities Services.In more recent years, Jason has ocused more heavily onMobile CRM, enabling sales orces by incorporating enterpriselevel CRM applications on BlackBerry and Windows Mobiledevices.Jason attended Binghamton University in New York and has aBachelors Degree in Computer Science rom the Thomas JWatson School o Engineering.



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WWW.INFINITYINFO.COM 525 SeveNTh AveNue SuITe 1200 NeW YOrk, NY 10018 Tel: 800.354.4228

About Innity Ino Systems

Founded in 1987, Innity Ino Systems develops Customer

Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Analyticssolutions or clients in the nancial, lie sciences, businessservices, media and manuacturing/distribution industriesaround the world. Innitys technology solutions, services,training and support help organizations become moreprotable by improving sales and marketing eectiveness.Innity has trained more than 130,000 proessionals andsuccessully implemented more than 3,500 CRM systems. Visit www.innityino.com or call (800) 354-4228 to learnmore about Innity Ino Systems.

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