how to choose a mobile solution

[Former Member]

hi,

discussion point here is how to select a mobile sales solution. client has implemented SAP CRM but is not sure if they should go ahead with mobile sales solution (laptops). key concern is the cost associated.

sales is pushing for a mobile solution but IT/management is not convinced about sap' mobile capabilities.

can someone share their experiences, SAP's roadmap on mobile sales solutions.any document which can be referenced

thanks

RH

[stephenjohannes · Accepted solution]

RH,

An easier solution would be to consider using "aircards" or remote access to the CRM online soution via laptop. This elminates the hassles of doing mobile sales and only has the expense of cellular/wifi access for your sales force. In addition you may want to consider instead the blackberry solution that is coming out in the near future as a mobile approach.

I have heard there is a strong trend to go away from traditional off-line mobile sales solution and instead use an on-line remote access instead.

The business question would be is do you need offline access to data and would your sales force always be in areas with wireless data coverage. You could addition use Adobe Interactive forms to act as a bridge to those times when you need some offline access. Think in terms of customer fact sheets or customer visit sheets.

Take care,

Stephen

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

another one, in a scenrio where we already have crm 2007 implemented and now if we wish to implement mobile sales solution (laptop) how big the effort would be in terms of time and money.

do we need more hardware to support mobile sales solution? how much maintenance this solution would need once implemented?

any pointers would be helpful

thanks

rh

[stephenjohannes · Accepted solution]

RH,

I really haven't done mobile sales in an offline laptop mode, so I can't answer your questiosn directly. You could post this question about time & effort in the mobile sales forum and you might have a little better luck than this forum.

In general If I remember correctly there is an additional piece of hardware/software for mobile sales called the communication station. Once again unless you definitely need true off-line access to the data, then you are still better off using a VPN based solution with laptops to access CRM instead of doing the mobile off-line laptop solution.

Good luck,

Stephen