What Is Mobile CRM? (The Advantages of Mobile)

Accessing your CRM (customer relationship management) on mobile isn't a nice-to-have. It's the standard. Your teams need immediate access to the latest information from their colleagues around the world and your customers expect a mobile-first experience.

Mobile CRM isn't only about being able to access your customer data anytime from any device, but a way to build your entire mobile strategy, from branded customer-facing apps to distributed customer service and support.

What we'll cover:

• Selling on the move - the next generation of CRM
• Mobile-first campaigns for mobile-first customers
• Expert answers, anytime, anywhere
• Mobile CRM – your new development platform
• Making the business case for mobile CRM

Introducing mobile CRM to your sales operation can be a dramatic change for the better. Your salespeople can update and synchronise information on the move, sharing the latest data from across the business. Day-to-day sales tasks are freed from the desktop, so a salesperson carrying a tablet or smartphone can:

• Plan the day with calendar integration
• Dial in to meetings with click-to-call
• Access and update leads, contacts and opportunities
• Open and share files
• Access dashboards

But today’s mobile CRM platforms can do so much more. Add cloud storage to mobile CRM functionality and you’re no longer synchronising data with a local copy – you’re accessing live, centrally held information from whichever device you choose. Distributed teams can share files and background information and can update, share and send proposals on the move.

Custom apps can feed information directly into your CRM back end, with new app releases rolled out to your sales team in real time. Every salesperson has the benefit of complete CRM data, analytics and customer-facing material at their fingertips, on any device – freeing them to spend more time on sales and less on administrative tasks.

The shift to mobile involves not one platform, but several. Your customers use mobile devices for texting, email, social media, and more. Mobile-first experiences are the norm – and are what your customers expect to see. Your CRM software can integrate with smart devices and social media to deliver amazing, personalised customer experiences.

Using a CRM platform to handle and track customer service activity already makes sense, and adding a mobile dimension brings even more benefits. Combining mobile with social CRM gives you a whole new range of capabilities. Not only can your customers now contact you where and when they choose, but you can track, manage and respond to every case with the full capability of your CRM platform.

A mobile CRM platform means instant, simple escalation, with issues routed straight to the right subject matter expert, product manager or executive, regardless of location. You can implement round-the-clock cover for urgent queries and respond on the same platforms your customers use – no more losing issues as they change from one channel to another.

The sheer pace of growth in mobile traffic has created a common experience among CIOs: you need to address your mobile strategy, but the scope keeps growing. Your sales team needs access to dashboards, logs, opportunities and client-facing content they can take into meetings; but you’re also being pushed to develop a customer-facing branded app for smartphones. And it all needs to connect to your CRM back end.

That’s potentially 5 or 6 separate projects – and a lot of development, in areas where you may not have established skills.

With the right platform, the potential for customised mobile apps can extend beyond traditional devices to self-reporting by smart, internet-enabled components. A platform such as Salesforce, with APIs that enable integration with almost any device, creates extraordinary new possibilities.

An internet-enabled component needing maintenance raises its own ticket ahead of time; the task is monitored and tracked directly in your back-end CRM system. An ordering system connects directly to the delivery driver’s GPS for real-time tracking. If you can connect it, you can track it – and every piece of data you collect can be put to use deepening your understanding of your customer through CRM.

An investment in a mobile-capable CRM solution, like Einstein 1, can pay dividends throughout your organisation – far beyond the traditional users of CRM. As mobile reach and usage continues to boom, your teams can reach your customers anywhere.

• Sales: Increase efficiency, reduce admin overhead, and access your data anytime on any device

• Marketing: Talk to customers in completely new ways, create personalised experiences, and tracking social media activity with familiar, easy-to-use tools

• Customer Service: Address cases faster, track them across channels, and resolve them using the knowledge of your whole organisation

• IT: Use a development platform for mobile apps, with integration to your back-end CRM system

As mobile reach and usage continues to boom, your customers are everywhere. Mobile CRM enables you to be there too.