Mobile CRM delivers on business promise

With Vivek Thomas, MD EMEA for Maximizer Software

Mobile CRM is a relatively new solution what are the main issues you have in developing a successful Mobile CRM infrastructure?

We had to take into account that the needs of mobile workers varies from those of internal employees. Simply replicating the entire desktop CRM application onto a handheld device would not prove beneficial to mobile workers.

For Mobile CRM to be valuable to travelling and mobile professionals, it needs to provide a two-way bridge between a mobile workforce and corporate information systems. It was therefore imperative to design a two-way synchronisation system. Mobile workers need to be able to look-up customer information and update it so that it that is automatically updated on their desktop and servers back in the office as well. This provides value for the professionals in the field, as well as their colleagues in the office. Moreover, with updated information from mobile workers, executives always have real-time intelligence with which to make decisions.

Another consideration in developing a successful Mobile CRM application was offering both offline and online access to customer information in Maximizer CRM to ensure mobile workers had on the spot access to customers, leads, schedules, sales deals and forecasts. Providing instant access to account information, including customer profiles, past notes, proposals or other documents was also vital in developing a mobile CRM application that supports the demands of today’s smartphone-savvy professionals. Lastly, in order to satisfy the needs of customers in various industries, it was important for us to support multiple platforms including BlackBerry and Windows Mobile.

What functions are the predominate focus for Maximizer - is it the usual SFA (sales force automation) and contact management or are you looking at other avenues such as field service automation as well?

Maximizer Mobile CRM provides solutions for contact management (including email and call logging and mapping), sales force automation, time and task management, and customer service management as well. We see customer service case management as important not just for field service professionals, but for sales executives in the field to see the status of their clients’ outstanding and past cases. For sales executives, access to this information will help improve customer satisfaction and build stronger, more profitable relationships for the future.

How are you addressing Security issues, which will clearly arise in the development of new application such as Mobile CRM?

Customer data is invaluable to an organisation and adequate security of that data is paramount. Basic security methods such as login protocols can prevent people who are not authorised users from logging on to the CRM from a mobile device.

If an employee were to lose their mobile device, corporate IT can remotely delete any or all information that was stored on the Mobile CRM application on the device. With wireless synchronisation, the server should be deployed using SSL to ensure the security of the data packets being sent through the air, making them useless to an unauthorised packet sniffer.

Do you find it beneficial being more of a focused software company developing this technology as opposed to a large CRM player in the marketplace?

Our focus is on developing CRM solutions that best fit the needs of our customers. We have been successful in the SMB market for many years because we have a strong understanding of what they need, and have continually updated our software to meet those needs. This means keeping our software simple for them to manage and use every day, and providing the best value for them in the marketplace. How people want to interact with customer information in a CRM system has evolved from Windows desktops to web browsers and laptops, and now we see the demand for mobile access exploding. By focusing on creating Mobile CRM solutions that our customers demand – this will help them be successful, and in turn, help us be successful.

What would you say are the main benefits from using Maximizer Mobile CRM technology?

Our mobile function carries on from our desktop CRM solutions in the sense that we wanted to offer our customers a user-friendly CRM solution with numerous options to best suit the end-users need. The most popular option now is to use Maximizer Mobile CRM with a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device and store data resident on the device. Maximizer is flexible in that we also enable synchronisation of some data by using Outlook and Exchange. Other customers have opted to use Wireless Web Access, which leverages the wireless browser on virtually any mobile device. And now, we are blurring the lines between offline access and real-time access to live data, which means all corporate customer information is available at your fingertips.

With Maximizer Mobile CRM, sales teams based out of the office now have instant access to up-to-date customer information. They are equipped with valuable customer information before a client meeting or service call. This will help those teams greatly enhance customer service and establish differentiation in a competitive environment. Ultimately, the sales person with instant access to customer information through a BlackBerry has a much higher chance for success than the sales person who has to open up a laptop and try to get an Internet connection to look up the latest details on customer orders and proposals.

Mobile CRM also reduces employee downtime. Field workers who have spent countless hours waiting in traffic, in the airport or on a train can now have real-time updates of the next field service call or new customer meeting details no matter where they are. For a business, this means greater productivity, and for the mobile professional – more flexibility to get information and do the job when and where they want.

The easiness of navigation with any Mobile CRM application is essential, how do you ensure this ease of navigation?

As I previously mentioned, mobile CRM applications should not just be a duplication of a desktop CRM application onto a handheld device. However, we have designed our Mobile CRM solutions so they are intuitive for both people who are familiar with Maximizer CRM through Windows or Web Access, as well as people familiar with the use of a BlackBerry or other device. Mobile workers need information quickly, so we follow the standard BlackBerry rule of minimal clicks to get the information you need or perform the action you want. We believe that one of the reasons why we’ve been successful in the past is focusing on intuitive use of the software, and it’s no different in our design of the mobile solution.

Efficiency and effectiveness are also key traits that Mobile CRM should embody, how quickly can your Mobile CRM solutions be installed and be fully functional?

Rapid time-to-success is another reason that over 120,000 companies worldwide have selected Maximizer CRM. This belief that CRM solutions should be simple to install, configure and use extends to our Mobile CRM offerings as well. A single user could install our application on a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device within minutes. Overall, where many CRM solutions take months for a corporate system to be functional, our SMB customers are up and running within a week, including enabling different access options for Mobile, Web, and Windows.

What are the main differentiators between Maximizer and others pushing for dominance in ‘The Year of Mobile CRM’?

We pride ourselves on producing CRM solutions designed with the small and medium-sized business (SMB) marketplace in mind. SMBs are a very important part of the European economy. We recognise their continued growth in sophistication and saw a need in this market sector for instant customer access outside of the office. We wanted to continue to provide SMBs the simplicity and cost effectiveness in our Mobile CRM solution as we have done in the past.

We believe that the reason that companies continue to choose Maximizer CRM to help drive success of their business is because we provide a comprehensive CRM solution that is easy to use, quick to deploy, supports multiple access options and mobile platforms with a very rapid ROI. This is how Maximizer is pushing for dominance.

We work closely with our mobile device and operating system partners such as RIM and Microsoft to provide SMBs with a Mobile CRM solution that truly empowers mobile workers and executives, yet makes it easy and seamless to do so.

About the author:

Vivek Thomas is Managing Director EMEA of Maximizer Software, a global leading provider of award winning CRM software systems for organisations ranging from home offices to multi-billion dollar global organisations. For more information on Maximizer Software and its CRM products please visit: www.max.co.uk.