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Mobile Crm

Why Mobile CRM Is Vital in a Recession
Shorten the sales cycle and make reps more responsive with mobility.
By Pam Baker | February 10, 2009

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• Business at the Speed of Mobility: Best Practices for Mobile CRM
• Getting the Most Out of Mobile CRM
• Mobile Communications in the Pharmaceutical Sales Force
• 4 Questions to Ask Before Going Mobile
In a sinking economy, businesses are desperately hanging on to existing customers just to stay afloat. Without a doubt, CRM is the best way to strap your company to its customer base and ride out the worst currents. The software is a powerful tool to reach customers more effectively and efficiently.

But some organizations are doubting the importance of CRM — especially add-on features, like mobile CRM — as they reassess their budgets. “In the present economy, all major decision are being second-guessed,” said Martin Schneider, director of product marketing for SugarCRM Inc. “And when it comes to CRM, there is always a question of hard ROI versus soft ROI. It can be difficult in a down economy to justify making a major software expenditure on something like mobile CRM extension, especially if adoption levels and hard ROI are not there in the core CRM deployment.”

That doesn't mean that extra features like mobile CRM aren't important, though. In fact, mobile CRM can help your company reach more customers — and keep existing ones happy — better than ever before.
PAYING IT FORWARD
The decision to invest in mobile CRM is difficult because its uses are anything but clear-cut. For most people, only visions of road warriors come to mind as the field players. But in truth, mobile CRM offers another channel for customers to reach your company.
“An estimated 6.3 billion texts are sent per day. That’s ten times the number of emails worldwide,” said Jon Stine, director, Cisco IBSG (Internet Business Solutions Group). “When you do the math, you realize that personal communications today is all about...