Salvaging sales force automation: are PDAs the missing link to SFA return on investment?

AS THEY SAY IN SALES, you're only as good as your last deal. Creating a repeatable process to maximize all your accounts and close all your Ideals just like the last one is what most companies strive for. Sales force automation (SFA) and its highbrow cousin, customer relationship management (CRM), have changed the way businesses interact with their customers. The sales process, once considered a secret, singular liaison between clients and individual sales representatives, in the 1990s, suddenly became part of the corporate consciousness and treated as a science.

The logic was that SFA and CRM systems could help companies maximize the commercial potential of every account. By better understanding and even predicting customer needs, companies could create a more reliable pipeline, forecast more accurately, deliver and measure marketing initiatives, and even coordinate service management.

However, few SFA/CRM solution deployments have been able to deliver on their full potential. In fact, analysts regularly report CRM failure rates as high as 75 percent. Despite their perceived added value for managing the sales cycle, SFAs don t fare much better. Salespeople, already distinguished by their distaste for administrative processes, are known to regard these tools as a necessary evil--and sometimes not even all that necessary.

What went wrong?

Without exonerating solution vendors and integrators of their part in this failure rate (the hype-masters know who they are), they aren't totally responsible. Even the most elaborate and elegantly deployed SFA/CRM solution offers no more value than the CD it came on if it isn't fed good data. Data quantity and quality drives SFA value--an empty order book is of no use to anyone.

The majority of analysts attribute the failure rates to a lack of corporate support for SFA/CRM values and culture. The result is that employees don't adopt SFA/CRM behaviors, and the systems go unused. In a study performed by software manufacturer AvantGo, less that 50 percent of sales representatives surveyed use their SFA/CRM systems the way management would like.

It's true that corporate culture and values motivated from the top down must be aligned with SFA/CRM use. But, even companies with evangelical CEOs touting the virtues of their CRM/SFA on a daily basis have reported less than stellar field adoption levels.

So, why exactly is user acceptance still so low?

Aside from assuring you provide an appropriate and stable SFA/CRM system and have implemented tangible ways to recognize and reward its use within the organization, there are still two user-based obstacles that impede appropriate SFA/CRM behavior in the field:

1. The user doesn't see personal value in the solution.

2. The solution fails to meet usability requirements.

It seems the axiom still holds: You can lead the horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Put another way, you have to provide value in a usable form if you expect your field workers to participate in your SFA/CRM solution.

Mobile SFA/CRM

Understanding and tailoring your SFA/CRM solution to your field workers and optimizing it for their behavior are essential steps to success. Data garnered may let you extend your sales process across other levels of your organization, but the primary conduit for customer information and interactions will always be your sales force and fieldworkers. And, the essential behaviors required to support your SFA/CRM deployment (such as sales staff actually using the system) seem to break down right about the time the users realize they now have to lug around an eight-pound, hip-displacing laptop while they pound the pavement day in and day out. This is because, until now, the vast majority of all SFA/CRM field deployments have been laptop-based.

Laptops however, are unsuitable when evaluated against the realities mobile field workers face. Sure, you can pick up a laptop and take it with you, but when it comes to practical use, they're greatly hindered by their non-negligible weight. ("Have you met my chiropractor?") Even as laptops slim down, you still have to deal with prohibitive boot/resume times ("Let me just check that for you ..."), limited battery power, and the need for seating or flat surface area. In addition, the typical fat-client SFA/CRM solutions deployed to laptops can be clunky, saddling your remote users with hefty training, support, and maintenance requirements. Inconveniently long data access times and sometimes dubious synchronization quality are also obstacles.

Laptops do have their place. They're certainly appreciated by roaming workers who travel from city to city. But, there's a difference between "nomadic" requirements and the day-to-day "mobile" requirements of a field worker. Field workers making a few quick system interactions on the go have different needs than someone working on a bulky multimedia presentation in a hotel room. Not that dragging a laptop around is the only option; some salespeople prefer the bulk-entry method, spending their evenings updating customer activities from memory after a day of calls. Either way, your chances of obtaining timely quality data are dwindling fast.

A day in the life of a sales rep

Five years ago, while involved in project to help optimize an SFA solution for a major pharmaceutical company, I participated in a "day-in-the-life" activity with a sales rep. After I was comfortably installed in the company-issued minivan, I tried to warm up to my new sales-buddy-for-a-day by commiserating about the lack of closed trunk space and how it must be inconvenient when leaving her laptop in the car. I was promptly and unabashedly told that, in fact, the laptop rarely left the house. This statement was immediately followed by the confession that she often entered customer call reports from memory, and no more than once a week (the day before her manager compiled the regional sales activity reports was her day of choice). This user did get some value from her company's SFA solution, in this case, she used it to access much needed sales literature and product information updates. However, the solution was limited; because it was laptop-based, it was still somewhat unusable for someone making four to six customer calls a day.

Although it certainly didn't take long to identify the problem with this company's deployment, there was little I could do technologically to support the required work behavior given the tools at the time. The primary problem was the cumbersome laptop, and enterprise handheld computing was still vaporware at the time.

PDAs to the rescue?

All that has changed now. PDAs and their supporting systems are ready to move laptops to the sideline by delivering mobile computing on an entirely new level. Today's PDAs provide respectable computing power similar to modern low-range PCs. Their highly portable, convenient form factor, economical power requirements, and speed with which they can be activated and made ready for data input or access are all well suited for an active sales rep or field worker on the go. Add to that the availability of a new line of robust enterprise-grade mobile device management and data synchronization products and you have full-scale enterprise networking potential on pocket-sized scale.

Are PDAs the missing link that will help your organization realize the full potential of your SFA/CRM investment? It looks like a natural fit, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. CRM is one of the enterprise application areas that hold the greatest promise for mobile enterprise applications, according to the Aberdeen Group. Furthermore, AvantGo reports that more than 80 percent of sales reps and their managers think a PDA sales solution would make them more productive. 90 percent say they would use their CRM/SFA system more if they had handheld mobile access. Granted, the second survey was conducted by a major mobile solutions manufacturer. However, I think it's impossible to deny the logic: You have to give mobile workers truly mobile tools if you expect timely and quality information on their activities in the field.

Extending your SFA/CRM solution to PDAs

So, is that all there is to it? Just throw a few PDAs out in the field and watch that precious SFA/CRM data roll in? Not so fast. As with any project, there's a right approach and a wrong approach. Let's look at some of the more important steps you need to take.

Clearly articulate the business problem and establish a way to measure success

Mobile projects aren't different than any other technology implementation (okay, maybe just a bit sexier); your business strategy must still determine your mobile strategy. Define exactly what you want to get out of this project and ensure you have the metrics in place to determine whether you've achieved these goals.

Listen to your users

Although your primary objective may be the collection of data for forecasting and decision-making, don't expect your sales team to get excited about that--no matter how slick the application looks or how cutting-edge the PDA is. If you ever want their help in realizing your SFA/CRM objectives, your PDA solution must provide genuine value to your field workers, on their terms. Let them tell you what information they need to do their jobs effectively. Use that feedback to determine and prioritize your PDA features and functions.

Go light

Think of the PDA as a just in-time computing tool and don't try to squeeze your entire SFA/CRM suite onto it. Instead, focus on the features that add value in the field and Foster use-as-you-go behavior. Stick to delivering components Instead essential by your sales team: contact information, current activities, pricing, and order placement. You should probably continue to make your full-featured laptop/desktop SFA/CRM application available to your salespeople for the more sophisticated and processor-intensive functions, such as call trend analysis and business planning, or to manipulate bulkier content such as marketing materials.

Don't reinvent the wheel 

Your first stop in porting your SFA/CRM solution to the PDA should be your current CRM/SFA software vendor. If they don't already offer a PDA client version, they probably have one in the works. Evaluate this offering before considering a custom solution. If the technology isn't restrictive or the solution too cumbersome, it should be your first choice, If you have to build a custom solution, take heart. Because of their inherently simple functional requirements, PDA development projects typically require much less effort than their PC counterparts.

Simplify data entry

PDAs offer limited screen real estate and are only conducive to entering short text strings. Ensure your mobile solution is easy to navigate and data-entry requirements are minimal. Solutions that favor checkboxes and key-word selection for data entry will be well received by PDA users. Work with your sales team to find out where you can simplify text entry.

The caveat: calendar integration

Users have been asking for integration between their personal calendar and their SFA/CRM activity lists for years. However, few vendors have been able to truly deliver on this, typically providing a one way write to the user's calendar, but no actual sync that makes an update to an activity in a personal calendar also update the SFA/CRM application. PDA users have had mobile activity management for years-in fact, this has been the primary function of the PDA for nearly a decade--and there are many sophisticated third-party calendaring tools available. Delivering on a joint SFA/CRM and personal activity calendar may still require back-end integration with your corporate mail system. But, by scaling down your requirements to reflect the minimum data inputs favored by the PDA, it just got a whole lot easier. Your mobile workers will love you for this one--and happy users greatly increase your odds of success.

Mobile or wireless?

Unless you're selling pork bellies door-to-door at market price, you probably don't need to provide real-time network data access. For the most part, a mobile synchronization solution can satisfy your SFA/CRM requirements. This keeps your communication costs to a minimum and you won't have to worry about cellular blackout zones in rural areas or in the downtown core where building density can cloud wireless signals.

Palm or Microsoft Windows Mobile for Pocket PC?

The time has come: You're just going to have to pick one. Doing so will help you conserve deployment efforts and maintenance costs while reducing your project risks. There are some subtle differences between these two platforms. For example, Pocket PC is known to drain more power from your precious battery, which may be important should you require intensive use of the device during the day. Plus, Palm is still the leader in providing off-the-shelf software. However, Microsoft is gaining momentum here.

Overall, these are both viable and relatively equal options. While there's no definitive "right" choice for PDA platforms at this time, one might eventually emerge as dominant. You should consider this in your long-term strategy and protect yourself and your solution from becoming obsolete by assuring the other components you put in place can eventually support both platforms.

Centralized administration and support

Now that you've finally gotten your users entering data in your SFA/CRM, the last thing you want is to have it sit idle on their local desktop/laptop computer. Desktop synchronization tools are fine for simple personal information management, but you should avoid them in your SFA/CRM PDA deployment. They just don't offer the features necessary for a full-scale enterprise solution.

Instead, you should strongly consider incorporating network-based mobile middleware into your deployment architecture. These products, available from vendors such as Extended Systems, iAnywhere, and Pumatech, let yon centralize PDA synchronization with multiple back-end systems. They also offer many administrative features that will help you support your remote PDA pool. Other features include support for wireless access and multiple PDA platforms, and configurable field mapping to control synchronization. These are all features that can reduce the lifecycle costs as you evolve your project and update your hardware.

If your current SFA/CRM vendor has its own PDA solution, it might rely on one of many native SQL sync engines such DB2 Everyplace or Oracle Mobile. These are good solutions for moving data around, but they don't preclude the use of a mobile middleware tool to manage administrative tasks.

Lock down your data

Remote workers pose a unique set of privacy and information security concerns. Your solution should protect your customers and your organization in the event a PDA is lost or stolen. Consider the impact of one of your sales people accidentally leaving his SFA/CRM application behind after a customer call. What would they find there?

There are essentially two types of local PDA security tools: those that lock the device against unauthorized access, and those that protect the data locally--usually through encryption or by automatically erasing data after an elapsed time or several unsuccessful login attempts. Because of the mobile nature of these devices and the ease with which someone can gain physical access to them, you have to cover both bases. There are many third-party security tools for both the Palm and the Pocket PC platforms. It doesn't take much to protect data, and failure to consider security as part of your roll out could be construed as negligence.

Policies

What happens if a PDA is lost or stolen? Who is responsible for its replacement and what is the procedure? What employees get PDAs? What, if any, software can your users install on their PDAs? Like any business tool, you must ensure its use is well established, communicated, and governed by firm set of corporate policies.

Getting users up to speed

Because they're designed to be simple for on-the-fly use: PDA apps typically require little user training. However, you shouldn't completely neglect training. Instead, orient it around work-based scenarios to encourage the behavior modification you're addressing in your deployment. Also pay extra attention when explaining the sync process, particularly if you re deploying both a PDA and laptop/desktop client. It may be frustrating for your users to find clients out of sync. It's important for users to know best practices for synchronization and the impact when they don't follow them.

Wrap up

To date, SFA/CRM success has been hindered by low-level user adoption rates in the field. PDAs appear to offer a solution to bridge the gap between your field workers and your goals for enterprise-wide participation in your SFA/CRM initiative. In fact, SFA/CRMs are cited as the two enterprise business applications with the most potential to benefit from PDA use. Solutions and technologies exist to get you up and running quickly, so it's time to take your SFA/CRM to the street and go close some deals!

MOBILE BUSINESS BENEFITS

In the late 1990s, the concept of using software to automate the sales process and improve customer relationships seemed obvious. SFAs would do for the sales process what spreadsheets and accounting packages did for finance. SFAs/CRMs became "must-have" applications.

So, why did so many SFA/CRM initiatives fall? More importantly, can mobile technology help recoup that investment?

Louise Davey is a 12-year veteran of the IT professional services industry. As chief operating officer of Imagina Technology Solutions, she is responsible defining and delivering the organization's solution offerings. Her areas of expertise include business process reengineering, collaborative and B2E solutions, as well as messaging and LAN/WAN technologies. Her experience with mobile-wireless computing dates back to 1999. Imagina maintains a dedicated mobile-wireless business practice and is a leading service provider in the Canadian marketplace. [e-mail].