Smartphones have taken the world by storm not only for consumer applications but for business use as well.
Many people who are looking for a new CRM system for their organization understandably state that CRM smartphone access is a requirement for their sales and account management teams. However, the initial, stated requirement often doesn’t go much beyond, “mobile access.”
If you’re investigating a new CRM system for your organization, it’s important to define some specific requirements or use cases for your mobile sales users.
It’s also important to determine what the predominant smartphone platforms are among your salespeople and account managers. Do you need a CRM system that supports both iPhone and Android? How important a consideration is Blackberry or Windows Phone support?
Basic CRM Smartphone Use Cases
What are some of the specific mobile CRM use cases that your salespeople or account managers will need in order to be more productive? Here are some use cases to consider in the form of questions:
- Can a salesperson quickly search for a Contact and then dial that person from the person’s Contact record?
- After completing the call, can the user easily log that activity and then schedule a follow-up activity?
- Can a user quickly log meeting notes against a Contact record after walking out of a customer or prospect meeting? If there’s a lot of information to enter, can the user instead dictate those meeting notes using the smartphone’s speech-to-text capabilities?
- If a salesperson is sitting in his or her car between meetings, can they view a list of scheduled follow-up calls and then make a series of calls with minimal navigation?
Extended CRM Smartphone Use Cases
Next, should salespeople and account managers be able to view custom CRM information on their smartphones?
ERP Information
If your company’s ERP data flows into your CRM system, mobile account managers may want to see recent sales orders on their smartphones before walking into an account.
How easy is it to expose data, such as integrated ERP data, on a smartphone that can be easily viewed in the desktop CRM interface?
Marketing Automation Data
If a salesperson has time between meetings to make some calls to new Leads, they may want to first look at the Lead’s online behavior and the Lead’s score from the marketing automation system before making the call.
What are other smartphone CRM use cases that should be considered for your organization?
