Mobile CRM

2013: The Year of Mobile CRM, Part 2
January 15, 2013

2013 is just two weeks old, but executives in the mobile CRM space have a clear idea of how they hope the rest of it will unfold. What they want, in a word, is more: more mobile CRM functionality; availability on more devices; more vendors supplying applications. More mobile CRM is indeed on the way as economic growth picks up, said Atri Chatterjee, CMO of Act-On.

Call Centers Jump on the Mobile Bandwagon
January 14, 2013

Mobile devices are changing both how customers get in touch with call centers and how companies respond to those calls. The days of customers sitting at kitchen tables on landlines waiting for agents to answer their calls are gone. Now, they're calling from smartphones and clicking on apps, and call centers are adapting to this new mobile reality.

Answer Customers' Calls - Even When the Phone's Not Ringing
January 10, 2013

By now, common sense, the business media and practical experience have taught the lessons of multi-channel engagement for service. Businesses have come to realize that they need to provide service in whatever way their customers wish to receive it, whether it's through the phone, via chat or text, over email or through social media.

2013: The Year of Mobile CRM, Part 1
January 08, 2013

Mobile CRM is decidedly one of the hot trends for 2013, but just what new permutations can we expect as the year unfolds? CRM Buyer informally surveyed a number of executives in this broad space and came up with a wide range of predictions -- from the specific to the overarching.

The Lowdown on QR Codes
December 18, 2012

A year or so ago, digital marketers were head over heels, breathlessly in love with QR codes. Bearing a close resemblance to Rorschach inkblot tests, QR codes quickly became ubiquitous on labels, posters, signs, magazine ads, billboards -- pretty much any ad space a consumer might conceivably want to scan with a smartphone to download more information about a product or service.

With Great SOMO Tools Come Great Responsibilities
December 17, 2012

Enterprise CRM of the future is all about social and mobile. In fact, Blackbaud, which specializes in providing CRM products and services to the nonprofit sector, even has an acronym for it: SOMO. "We're looking at how we can extend our technology into social and mobile spheres," said Tiffany Crumpton, senior marketing manager for CRM with Blackbaud.

Mobile CRM Apps: Easy In, Easy Out
December 11, 2012

It is a truism that consumers' smartphones, armed with a slew of sophisticated apps, function as mini computers. That being the case, smartphones programmed with sales force marketing and productivity applications have almost become sophisticated enough to be compared to mainframe computing. They're not quite there yet, but mobile sales force software has become quite formidable.

Mobile CRM's Lofty and Contagious Expectations
December 04, 2012

The mobile experience has clearly changed consumers' expectations of the shopping experience, creating higher expectations. With in-stock notifications, a mobile shopper doesn't have to run around to various stores. Want to ask a question about a product? Many apps offer chat. If mobile has changed just this one piece of the consumer experience, one can only wonder what else it has changed.

Blazeloop Collects Customer Feedback on the Spot
November 30, 2012

Benbria has launched Blazeloop, a customer engagement platform that revolves around one pointed question aimed at the consumer: How did we do? The theory behind the Web-based app is that most customers do not take the trouble to complain about little things -- but it is those very little things that can drive them away.

The Mobile Retailer's Multi-Screen Challenge
November 27, 2012

Based on recent statistics, one would think Houston is the mobile-commerce capital of the United States. Shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday, the Interactive Advertising Bureau released its list of mobile-savvy cities. Houston was ranked No. 1, followed by Seattle-Tacoma, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.

Avaya Puts More Eggs in BYOD Basket
November 26, 2012

Avaya IP Office joined the BYOD revolution with the release of version 8.1 earlier this year. Now the company is gearing up for more changes, including a forthcoming release that will integrate video functionality into its feature set. It will continue to expand its functionality around mobility in 2013, said SVP Tom Mitchell, president of Avaya Go to Market.

CRM's Eeny, Meeny, Miny Mobile Problem
November 20, 2012

In the beginning, there was Apple's iPad. For a long time, "tablet" meant the iPad and nothing but the iPad. Then competitors began to make an appearance in the tablet market. For CRM vendors, that state of affairs made developing mobile products and strategies much easier. Now, there are several tablets of varying sizes competing in the market.

Getting Your Mobile CRM Mojo Working
November 13, 2012

As companies rush to offer mobile CRM apps to their customers, they are in danger of repeating the same mistake made a generation ago with the launch of early online initiatives: not placing enough emphasis on security. We know how that worked out. Untold millions of customers were compromised financially because the companies they chose to do business with online did not take proper precautions.

Following the Mobile CRM Money Trail
November 09, 2012

Mobile CRM and its related technologies have intrigued developers and users alike for years. However, it wasn't until Facebook announced it would acquire Instagram for an eye-popping $1 billion that the money began to pour into this space. "That was the transaction that crystallized for us and a lot of folks that mobile is a hot growth area deserving of investment," said CB Insights' Anand Sanwal.

Mobile CRM Strikes Geolocation Gold
October 23, 2012

Increasingly, CRM vendors are incorporating geofunctionality into their offerings. It is a must-have marketing technique for brick-and-mortar retailers competing with e-commerce providers. While that use is indeed still a big driver, vendors are also beginning to view it as a technology that has multiple CRM-related uses, such as a complementary technology for contact management.

Nimble CRM 2.0 Adds to the Social Whirl
October 22, 2012

The name of the product is "Nimble CRM," but the "CRM" part is almost a misnomer -- if you accept the traditional sales-marketing-service definition of CRM, that is. A startup that launched early last year, Nimble CRM chooses to embrace a morphing view of CRM. This is a view of CRM driven by social media, by mobile computing -- and most of all, by savvy contact management and networking.

The Social, Mobile Challenge to Customer Service Consistency
October 19, 2012

It used to be that your business could provide a basic level of service and your customers would be perfectly happy. Some form of help, delivered at the speed of the business and within the parameters of your company's policies, was usually OK -- and if it wasn't, you could probably get away with it. I mean, who would hear about it, right?

Waiting for B2B Mobile CRM
October 16, 2012

It is not hard at all to find an example of a mobile B2C CRM app -- all one has to do is fire up the nearest smartphone. But B2B mobile CRM? That is a qualified yes -- assuming one is willing to limit one's thinking to salesforce automation as a B2B discipline. To be sure, there is a case to be made for that argument. When, though, will B2B mobile CRM expand beyond this traditional deployment?

Mobile CRM Gives Retailers Ammo Against Showrooming
October 09, 2012

Showrooming enabled by the proliferation of smartphones has become the bane of brick-and-mortar retailers. Basically, consumers waltz into a local Best Buy or similar big box store, find the product they are thinking of buying and check it out. So far, so good, from the retailer's perspective -- only then they go online to buy it from an etailer like Amazon.

Bizness CRM Homes In on SMB Prospects
October 05, 2012

There are countless of CRM apps for small businesses, Bizness Apps CEO Andrew Gazdecki readily admits. But CRM apps aimed at companies that sell to small businesses? Not so much. Enter Bizness Apps, which has launched Bizness CRM, a Web-based app, as well as native iPhone app, that is aimed precisely at this constituency.