If you missed the CRM BlackBerry seminars that recently toured the country, Sage Software is giving you another chance to gather the information -- this time over the internet. Sage Software and Research in Motion are again teaming up to discuss Mobile CRM on the BlackBerry. You can register for the event here.
Mobile CRM Roadshow Webcast
Tuesday, February 13
2-3:30 PM CDT
Register
As for the actual seminars, I think they went very well. Speaking from my personal experience in Chicago, we had a little over 100 people show up, a testament to the demand for mobile CRM. Of the participants I talked to, most indicated they had a sales force with mobile devices, such as a BlackBerry. The time that could be saved by accessing CRM information on those devices rather than waiting for a laptop to boot up would greatly increase user acceptance. That's something every CRM system administrator strives for. So the demand is clearly there, the benefits recognized, and it appears the technology ready.
SalesLogix, for the time being, appears to have a clear lead over the competition in terms of CRM on a mobile device. Based on the demand in the market place, I can only assume other CRM firms will begin putting more time into mobile development, but for the time being SalesLogix has the lead.
SalesLogix has three distinct advantages over the competition -- Persistent Data, Easy Customization, and Integration with Phone & Email.
By far the biggest advantage over the competition is SalesLogix's persistent data, or the fact that your CRM data is directly imported into the device. Most CRM mobility products have to go out to the internet to collect the CRM data every time you request it. Peristent data allows you access to the information faster and in cases when you don't have online accessability, such as on a plane. Besides those advantages the whole user experience is better. Have you tried to surf the web on a mobile device? It works, but certainly you'd rather deal with an application directly on your device. That's how SalesLogix designed their tool.
That's the biggest advantage, but SalesLogix also provides a good tool to customize the screens as well as direct integration with existing phone and email. The demo featured a variety of customizations, and each was done relatively easy with some simple drag and drop and renaming. It also directly integrated the email and calling technologies of the existing BlackBerry software. You weren't using a different email program to send from CRM, and when you got an incoming message, you could easily record it in the notes and history. In short it worked, and it seemed the group in attendance was impressed.
BlackBerry, for their part, was equally impressive as the platform of choice for mobile CRM. Andrew Vardon, of RIM, spoke of how BlackBerry was the leader in mobile CRM and wowed with this fact:
"A recent Aberdeen study indicated that 89% of companies surveyed use BlackBerry as a platform to support Mobile CRM and SFA."
If you'd like to see some of these ideas online, I advise you check it out at the webcast I mentioned above. Registration is required and can be done so here.
Comments