Mobile support is key for CRM. But how far do smartphones and tablets change the way CRM is used? And how important is mobile support if a company is about to select a CRM solution? A recent PAC study shows that for 70 percent of German companies mobile support is a key selection criterion for a CRM solution.

For the multi-client study PAC interviewed 107 sales, marketing and customer service managers of German companies with at least 100 employees. In addition, we talked to a number of these managers directly for a deep dive into the topic.

Although all the companies have CRM in place, a large number of them (38 percent) have plans to invest into new solutions or to extend an existing one in order to better support mobile users.

Among the sponsors of the study were solution and service providers that are relevant in the market for CRM in Germany: BSI Business Systems Integration AG, Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH, SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG and update software AG. Once again, we would like to thank all the project partners for participating!

While today, the majority of companies use their CRM solution via laptop, every second manager expects that tablets will become the device of choice for mobile CRM.

Regarding mobile applications, companies favor standard apps that can be customized. Some managers even want their apps to be custom-developed.

PAC’s view

One thing we have learnt from this survey is that the role of mobile devices is going to change. While they used to be a way of remotely accessing customer data, they turn into complete working environments that help to make customer-related processes more efficient. This is not just nice to have as companies want to be able to react to customer demand more quickly.

We believe that mobile support will have a strong impact on the further development in the CRM space.

A study like this would not be possible without the interviewees willing to participate in the survey. So thanks again to all the 107 managers who contributed to this study. And many thanks to those we talked to in one-on-ones.

Nicole Dufft and Melanie Flug from PAC contributed to this study. Thank you for your valuable insights and comments.

The study (in German language) can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/MultiClient_MobileCRM