Companies warm to wireless customer relationships

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By Bob Trott

(IDG) -- Touted as the Next Big Thing in CRM (customer relationship management) for some time now, wireless technologies finally seem poised to live up to expectations, as companies for which it makes sense slowly but surely open up to the idea of wireless CRM.

The technology promises to give employees instant access to vital customer and transaction data, improving CRM responsiveness when away from the office. However, wireless CRM still faces hurdles ranging from the technological -- sorting through WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and other standards as well as ensuring uninterrupted wireless coverage -- to the practical, such as ensuring an ROI.

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"The wireless Web technology, like all great Internet breakthroughs, is surrounded by hype," wrote Sheryl Kingstone, an analyst at The Yankee Group in Boston, in a recent report. "However, the reality is that the United States has a growing mobile work force that could turn the hype into solving real business issues, inasmuch as wireless creates a new paradigm that no longer restricts workers by physical boundaries or a tethered desktop PC system."

As do many companies that hope to take CRM on the road, Logicon Commercial Information Services sees wireless CRM as a way to truly make customer information available anywhere, anytime. And like a lot of companies interested in wireless and mCRM (mobile CRM), Logicon, the Bohemia, N.Y.-based information technology division of Northrop Grumman, doesn't have a wireless CRM solution up and running -- yet.

"We're looking at wireless for three reasons: productivity, responsiveness to customers, and just being on the leading edge of technology for a change," says Janet Wilson, program manager at Logicon.

After a pilot program this fall, Logicon will deploy a Siebel Systems wireless CRM solution to 300 of its field engineers in a larger test phase in January, ramping up from there until all 700 field representatives are armed with the solution.

But the process to implement wireless CRM can be a slow one: Although Logicon decided to go wireless last summer, it will take two years before the solution is fully deployed. At present, Wilson is evaluating devices to be used with the system, such as Research in Motion's BlackBerry pagers, PDAs, and cell phones. Other questions include area coverage -- the engineers are spread out over 100 locations -- as well as security.

"We won't have top-secret information going back and forth, but it still must fit in with firewalls and the infrastructure," Wilson explains. "Security and coverage are questions we don't have answers to right now."

Finding market 'sweet spots'

It's been more than a year since CRM leader Siebel Systems first announced plans to go wireless, and since then many CRM vendors have followed suit. The going has been slow, as vendors and customers examine initial versions of wireless technologies and consider all the angles.

"We're making wireless simply another CRM channel, a channel that complements the call center, Web, field sales, and service," says Brian Stone, director of product marketing for wireless products at Siebel Systems in San Mateo, Calif. "It's yet another way to access critical information in the database."

Logicon represents field service, one of the key arenas CRM vendors are targeting for wireless applications. Organizations that send support technicians or other staff into the field can rely on wireless messaging to access critical customer information when they are on site, improving their efficiency.

Another potential wireless CRM sweet spot is the financial services market. The market is ripe for customer-facing applications that allow investors to track stocks and get instant customer service, as well as internal applications that allow employees to conduct transactions, such as mortgage or claims processing, at the customer's site.

At Pioneer Investments in Boston, plans are already drawn up, and senior program manager Kevin Bubier hopes to arm Pioneer's 60 field representatives with devices that support E.piphany's wireless CRM solution later this summer.

Bubier says Pioneer's field sales force has been asking for wireless CRM because the company currently has "an archaic system that gets updated monthly. To go to real-time updates from monthly will be a very big win for them."

"I want to allow our people to get the information they need [immediately], versus having to log on [to the company network]. You never know what information they'll need," Bubier adds. "The challenge is to push the key information onto the small real estate of a Palm or cell phone. Most CRM applications offer all sorts of information in a full-screen environment, but we want to pull out the critical pieces and put them on a WAP device."

Spreading the word

Wireless carriers themselves are potential wireless CRM users -- a no-brainer, really, because carriers are up to speed on wireless technology and have millions of customers wrestling with coverage, billing, and other issues. Siebel, for one, has forged alliances with companies implementing wireless software, such as Sprint, AT&T, and Cingular.

Vendors are rushing to fill the needs of wireless, field service, and financial markets and are obviously hoping to crack others. Motive Communications, in Austin, Texas, announced a partnership with Compaq earlier this year to target the enterprise with its Motive's Customer Care solution on the Houston OEM's iPaq PDAs.

The Texas duo is counting on wireless CRM picking up speed in 2001, a year that most observers say will see considerable CRM spending despite the economic downturn.

"They'll be ramping up this year, and it'll be bigger next year," says Sunil Patel, director of IT segment marketing at Motive. "Lots of IT shops are adding wireless devices to their 'approved' lists. They'll buy based on being able to deploy mission-critical corporate applications."

Messaging goes mobile in the wireless village
April 27, 2001
Yahoo! wireless users get access to Google search
April 12, 2001
Wireless leaders get real
April 9, 2001
Analysis: Will wireless tech erode privacy?
February 21, 2001
Research In Motion readies Lotus-enabled wireless pagers
January 17, 2001

CA launches wireless initiative
(IDG.net)
Oracle offers CRM in bite-sized chunks
(IDG.net)
Users mix and match when it comes to CRM
(Computerworld)
The CRM payoff
(InfoWorld.com)
SAP updates CRM suite
(IDG.net)
ShowCase releases CRM product for B2B
(Publish.com)
Wireless still has a few hurdles to jump before it can go mainstream
(InfoWorld.com)
Software gives offline handheld users apps access
(Network World Fusion)

Logicon
Siebel
E.piphany

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