Why mobile CRM for small business fails

The use of customer relationship management is a well-known strategy in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business organizations. Mobile CRM can save organizations time and resources, build their customer loyalty and increase their sales target. If you don’t take proper strategy, however, it can be a huge disadvantage and waste of money. There are several reasons why implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) solution may not produce the desired results. Here are few disadvantages of mobile CRM software.

• Poor Return on Investment: Integrating CRM data and processes with other systems sometimes becomes a big and unwise venture that results in cost overrun and longer duration for management to see positive results. Adopt a strategy of continuous change, allowing the effects of small completed projects on the business to become clear so that the lessons can be incorporated in the next project. You should primarily focus on revenue generation and cost savings by working towards specific goals.
• Data Synchronization: The same mobile technologies, that offers so much promise just a few years ago, have since failed millions of mobile workers. Regular Data Synchronization problem leaves these workers frustrated, uninformed and alienated from vital CRM information which could signify the difference between business success and failure. There is a better way to keep mobile workers and their laptops in sync with the latest CRM data stored on the company server so that synchronization does not pose threat any more. I realized from my experience that mobile workers only have to synchronize the specific information in order to achieve his or her job. In doing so, synchronizations take minutes, not hours.
• Design of Mobile CRM: The most difficult part of getting ready for mobile CRM is to understand the differences between mobile and regular screens and the way users use their mobile devices. In general it is not wise to try to transfer your desktop CRM screens directly to a mobile device. It doesn’t work because of differences in screen size and the way mobile users apply their devices. The menus are the most important part of CRM application so that you will need to redesign the screens for smartphones and small tablets. One of the important design consideration is redesigning the screens in order to split up the menus in an efficient way. Even if you can accommodate all the menu buttons on a screen, it is generally not a good idea because the touch screen selection takes up so much space.
• Processing of Power: Mobile devices are optimized for low power consumption, not for processing speed or memory capacity, so they simply do not have the performance of most desktop or laptop units. It becomes important when you consider speed of updating and processing. An application which is quite fast on a desktop PC can perform very slow when transferred to a mobile unit.

• Technical Support: In order to use your CRM system effectively, you need good technical support and all CRM providers may not be able to give it. If they don’t back up data on a regular basis, for example, you could lose everything. Some web-hosting companies have also been known to use or sell sensitive customer information. Customer and tier-one support teams are often focused on issues specific to their product or service rather than the product’s role in a larger network or technical environment.
• Data Loss: One of the main concerns with mobile CRM is the risk of compromise of customer Data. It happens often because of the fact the majority of organizations are going to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies. BYOD has become a trend of the company. However, not many companies understands the risk. Devices are lost very often. It’s up to the organization to make sure that what percentage of corporate data on that device are secure. However, a cloud based on-demand mobile solution like Relaso Sales CRM can address this type of problem because user data is synched and encrypted with the centralized server all the time unless user is off line.
• Privacy: Any type of mobile strategy comes with a privacy issue. Privacy of customer data, corporate data, and the users’ personal data in case of a BYOD strategy. Businesses must develop strong policy in terms of how privacy for all parties should be maintained, and then use it to build mobile device-management strategy. Then, the new strategy should be clearly communicated to users and enforced on continuous basis.
• Failure to have a Strategy: Maybe you’ve deployed your Mobile CRM system and you’ve created roles and profiles, migrated the correct data, setup workflow automation, put webforms on your website, setup lead assignment rules and scheduled your sales pipeline reports. The next thing comes the challenge how you will get your team used to it. My be you didn’t think about that part. You thought your job was done. Setting up your CRM and deploying it, is just the first step of your strategy. Your CRM implementation continues after deployment. Remember, it’s a long-term strategy. Questions should come in your mind like what ongoing CRM training will you make available to your team or how will your CRM system support your current sales, marketing and customer support processes?