Last Updated Apr 24, 2013 — App Management expert
Enterprise Mobile Apps for Marketing and Sales – Where to Start?
App Management
We keep hearing about mobile, BYOD (bring your own device), and the consumerization of IT -- but what does that all mean for you, your business unit, and your sales and marketing employees? The answer is simple: enterprise mobile apps can help you sell more.Mobile application management (MAM) and enterprise apps are especially relevant for companies with large, geographically dispersed sales teams, who can use their personal devices and mobile apps to demonstrate products more effectively and take orders real-time while with the customer.
From the marketing perspective, enterprise mobile apps enable marketing teams to utilize multimedia marketing collateral, which is much more effective at showcasing products and services than the traditional PDF brochure. In addition, with real-time campaign analytics at their fingertips, marketing managers are able to make smarter decisions more quickly and deploy marketing dollars more effectively, thereby higher returns on investment (ROI).
In a recent study of 500 US companies conducted by Microstrategy, 1 of every 2 salespeople stated that limited mobile access to key sales systems is a challenge, while 50% of executives stated that failure to keep product knowledge current was a major barrier to success for their sales teams. Clearly, moving to mobile is the way to go if your company is not headed that way already. But to do what? What functions should be mobilized?
CRM (customer relationship management) is huge for the mobile enterprise -- sales people hate having to go back to their office after weeks on the road and tediously update their company’s CRM system. The information isn’t timely, leaving sales and marketing managers in the dark about the sales pipeline and follow-up opportunities not optimally leveraged.
What’s more, without having the information at their fingertips while in the field, salespeople don’t have as much information about the customer as they should, leaving them at a disadvantage. Automating the sales force as a whole is important too, and encompasses a broader spectrum of tasks including; inventory control, order processing, team collaboration, and measurement of sales analytics, and performance.
Some other popular functions that can be mobilized include:- Pricing scenarios and quote generation
- Sales proposal creation
- Lead tracking/contact management
- Real-time collaboration with sales and marketing colleagues