The CRM Advisor

You ask the questions, and our resident CRM guru shares her wisdom.

This week’s question: “Do I need mobile CRM capabilities?”

A: The experts say that if more than 20% of your customer-facing staff frequently work from off-site locations, the answer is YES.

And today, many businesses fit that bill. More and more employees are “on the go” – for example, sales reps and field service technicians travel from one client site to another, marketing professionals attend trade shows and other industry events, and call center personnel often reside in “virtual” or branch offices. And, they all need instant access to vital customer data when they are at these remote locations.

Mobile capabilities extend and enhance CRM systems by eliminating the restrictions of client/server environments, and allowing any user to access and update critical customer information, even when they’re away from headquarters. Sales reps can add notes about customer visits or check inventory levels, field technicians can order spare parts or provide an updated status of an open job ticket, call center staff can retrieve billing and payment information, and much, much more – any time, any where using the Web, handheld devices, and other mobile appliances.

Submit your question to the CRM Advisor at CRMadvisor@business-software.com.