The failure rate in CRM adoption is very high; estimates vary from study to study, but are always a minimum of 18%. In other words, 1 in 5 CRMs would be rejected by teams or abandoned at an early stage of use.
And yet, many experts believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg: users forced to fill in a tool they don't like will do so incompletely, or without respecting protocols. The result can be a huge loss of efficiency for your company.
But now companies have a new lever for efficiency: as we'll see in this article, mobile CRM is the number one factor in the adoption of sales software.
CRM is dead, long live mobile CRM!
Historically, the use of mobile applications could be a challenge due to the low adoption of smartphones, and the youth of software engineering in terms of mobile user experience.
Today, we could turn the argument on its head: it's the mobile version that encourages users to adopt crm. And with good reason: when the application has been designed on the basis of their daily lives, sales reps (and technical sales reps) immediately understand that this new tool will save them time, make their daily lives easier, and therefore potentially sell more, and improve their remuneration.
It's not for nothing that everyone has a smartphone: technology meets users' need for practicality, and the mobile is the best proof of this!
But first things first: what is a mobile CRM?
First of all, let's remember that CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a tool used by companies to manage their relationships with prospects and customers. This includes the collection, organization and analysis of sales and marketing information to improve an organization's sales and financial performance. It's also known as CRM (Customer Relationship Management).
A mobile CRM is an application that enables users to manage their relationships with customers and prospects from their smartphones and tablets, offering greater accessibility and flexibility. Most business software publishers design versions adapted to mobile devices. These are installed applications, not responsive sites accessible from a browser.
Secondly, many companies still use mobile sales forces. Furthermore, their sales activities are linked to multiple stakeholders (customers, suppliers, third-party applications). Finally, companies themselves are often divided into different sites (head offices, branches, subsidiaries, etc.), and telecommuting has developed spectacularly in recent years.
For all these reasons, mobile CRM has established itself as an indispensable productivity tool for business performance. So the question is no longer whether you should equip yourself with a mobile CRM, but rather what you can expect from it.
That's what we're going to see now.
Mobile CRM typically offers instant access to customer data, enabling sales, marketing and customer service teams to quickly access relevant information and respond more effectively, whether in face-to-face meetings, on the move or working remotely.
A mobile business software package is thus equipped with features designed for mobility and roaming. Here are just a few examples:
To provide a comprehensive service, mobile CRMs generally include integrations with the applications most commonly used by their users. Here, for example, are Sidely's mobile CRM integrations.
Mobile applications have thus enabled CRM to offer uses that are revolutionizing performance in the field.
ᯅ And this is just the beginning... In the not-too-distant future, mobile CRM could very well be integrated with emerging technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality to deliver innovative, differentiated customer experiences.
The ability of mobile CRM to meet the challenges of mobility and distance working will bring a host of benefits to businesses:
Communication and efficiency are enhanced, whatever the type of interaction and functional dependency:
The field of possibilities reinforces the need to connect mobile CRM to other enterprise applications. An unavoidable topic in large enterprises, interfacing CRM with ERP presents challenges such as data integration, business process alignment, data security and personalization, but offers significant benefits in terms of increased visibility, process automation and improved customer experience.
Finally, it should be pointed out that mobile versions are mainly used for sales CRM (SFA), and much less for marketing or technical support CRM, whose users are generally sedentary.
Last but not least, all those involved in your company's business issues benefit from the use of a mobile CRM.
If you read blogs from five to ten years ago, you'll find a recurring piece of advice: focus on user training to encourage adoption of mobile software. However, this is less and less true: software publishers who develop quality programs start precisely from usage to develop user paths. In other words, the employee connects to the application for the first time, and intuitively finds his or her way, because the application is adapted to his or her reasoning, and not the other way round.
By way of example, supermarket brands that choose Sidely CRM have ready-to-use sales software in just three hours. No need for additional training, as the application has been designed around their business processes! That's right... The first criterion for adopting a software program is its suitability for the tasks performed by its users. That's why, whenever your field teams have to enter information during their sales missions or delivery rounds, it's essential that they use a mobile-first application.
A typical case in point is the survey of supermarket shelves, which has prompted many companies to use a mobile CRM incorporating forms designed for this extremely specific purpose. And there are as many cases as there are industries (inventories, work at height, car fleets, property visits, etc.).
Finally, a mobile application must function offline, in the event that the employee is not connected to the network at the time of use. On this point, it's worth remembering that the first CRMs to be launched were subject to data synchronization cycles, which are now automated and take place in real time, provided the device has an Internet connection.
⚠️ Be careful not to jump to the conclusion that the mobile version of a CRM is sufficient; a CRM remains a professional solution, used in certain cases for complex operations that would be difficult to design and run on a mobile device (sales reporting springs to mind).
Mobile CRM = YES, but for actions where mobile saves time or enables the mobility that advisory management needs. To create reports or analyze performance, the desktop remains indispensable!
For all the reasons outlined above, there are no disadvantages to using a mobile CRM. However, any professional mobile solution requires precautions to be taken, and protocols to be put in place, to guarantee the security of both the company and its employees.
To start with, it's important that companies deploy mobile device management (MDM) policies to ensure that the devices used to access mobile CRM are secure and compliant with corporate standards.
Your developments and deployments must also meet the requirements of the RGPD regarding the protection of user data.
Furthermore, professional software installed on a mobile device can encourage its use outside working hours. Both labor law and employee well-being must be respected.
In fact, these best practices are helping to drive the adoption of mobile CRM. It's a win-win situation!
