Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future: mobile SAP crm

Showing posts with label mobile SAP crm. Show all posts

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sky Technologies' Neil McHugh

I caught up with Neil McHugh from Sky Technologies the other day. He is a transplant from Scotland to the USA via IBM and is now on the Texas side of the Sky Technologies family. He is VP of Marketing and Business Development – Americas.

Kevin: Neil, tell me about Sky Technologies. I have been working in the mobility industry for many years, but only recently started hearing about Sky Technologies.

Neil: I can understand that. We have actually worked through partners in the US for many years, but never really pushed our brand until last year when we decided to change our go-to-market model and sell directly to customers under the Sky brand (imagine a Scottish accent when you read his answers).

Kevin: How are you finding the market today for enterprise mobile applications (imagine an Idaho accent when you read my questions)?

Neil: We have been very fortunate. The mobile market is strong, and we are winning deals on a monthly basis so our market presence is growing quite rapidly. We also have excellent partners in SAP, RIM, and Motorola and each of these companies bring us business.

Kevin: SAP, RIM, and Motorola all have partnerships with your competitors as well, so how much business do they really bring Sky Technologies?

Neil: Fair question - let me put it this way, these companies will always have multiple partners, but we are known for our ability to support mobile requirements that most other mobility vendors cannot. We are the go-to-guys when they are not getting the answers they want from other mobility vendors.

Kevin: Is this why I see a flurry of press releases from you guys recently. Do you get bonused on the number of press releases you write?

Neil: No, but that is a good idea. We are experiencing record growth in 2010, and every department in Sky Technologies is working around the clock with new implementations, new products, new opportunities, and there is much more to come. In addition, recently some of the very successful and experienced SAP partners have realized mobility is hot and have approached Sky to become their mobility partner. So, the flurry of press releases you see are not just issued by us, but by partners also. It is nice to be receiving this recognition.

Kevin: I remember a mention of Colgate as a recent Sky Technologies customer in the SAP CRM space. Tell me about that.

Neil: You are referring to the EntryPoint statement, right ? This will be a great relationship. EntryPoint are known experts in the SAP CRM market, and we were very excited when they approached Sky. As for the Colgate account. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on that due to confidentiality. Sorry, Nice try Kevin.

Kevin: How significant is the SAP CRM space to Sky?

Neil: All areas of the SAP market are significant. We are not vertical industry focused. We are SAP focused. Anywhere there is an need to mobilize an SAP application, Sky Technologies is there. We have customers both inside and outside the four walls across every industry that SAP works in. So, although we love CRM, we are just as active in the field, manufacturing, utilities, construction and the list goes on…

Kevin: Do you see Sky as a Global solutions company or primarily US and Australia.

Neil: We have customers across 6 continents and 25 countries, so I guess I would classify that as global.

Kevin: Can you give me an example of a global typical customer scenario?

Neil: Certainly. A typical example of a global company utilizing SAP would be BlackBerry and iPhone CRM users in the US, with their field services in Latin America using rugged Windows-based mobile devices and the European operations running Symbian and internal sales using laptops. We can manage them all with a single mobile framework. I guess that also answers the question regarding why partners bring us deals.

Remember to check out the SAP EcoHub this week! It is focused on mobility.

More articles from the Mobile Industry Expert Series:

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles. ***************************************************

Mobilizing SAP’s CRM - Freedom to Succeed

I have been invited to participate in an upcoming webinar on Mobilizing SAP's CRM. The details can be found on SAP's EcoHub website, and it is scheduled for April 27 at 1:00 PM EDST. The topics will include:

• Position CRM in your company.
• How to avoid adoption issues.
• Ways of implementing to maximize efficiency.
• Simplifying for mobile access.
• How to deploy SAP’s CRM across any mobile device.

Mobilizing SAP CRM is one of the highest priorities for SAP CRM customers. In a recent interview that I did with EntryPoint's founder Pete Martin, he said that 100% of his net new SAP CRM sales prospects are now requiring a mobile extension to CRM. This motivated him to partner with SAP's partner Sky Technologies to provide mobile SAP CRM solutions. Anything that can be credited with helping a sales force sell more product is very interesting to a company. Making the sales force more efficient, productive and effective is the goal of all companies.

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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SAP CRM Partner EntryPoint Consulting Looks to Mobility for Growth

I read with interest today a press release about SAP partner EntryPoint Consulting. I know them, and they are a long term SAP consulting and channel partner that is involved in the CRM side of SAP. They were involved in some of the earliest implementations of mobile SAP CRM several years back and experienced a lot of first mover pain as a result. I know they have been watching the SAP mobility evolution with keen interest for several years.

From today's press release it looks like Pete Martin, managing partner at EntryPoint has decided it is time to get serious about SAP mobility again, and he partnered with SAP mobility partner Sky Technologies to deliver mobile SAP CRM capabilities. I spoke to him several months back, and he said 100% of his SAP CRM sales opportunities this year were asking about mobile device support so he was very interested in the SAP mobility ecosystem.

Here is a quote from today's press release, "We were convinced that we ‘chose right’ when some of the most sophisticated SAP customers, such as Colgate, chose Sky as their preferred mobile platform..." Martin goes on to say, "By combining our CRM consulting expertise with Sky’s leading platform, we now have the ability to offer companies a comprehensive set of CRM consulting in the marketing, sales and service functional areas. In short, we can offer them ‘SAP CRM in the palm of their hand.”

SkyMobile provides a single integrated framework that is used to mobilize and manage SAP applications on all major mobile platforms including Windows, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian, and iPhone.

I would like to hear more about what Colgate is doing in the SAP mobility space with Sky. I know that Colgate is often in the forefront of new technologies and trends. Perhaps, someone from Colgate will share?

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Kevin Benedict
Author of the report Enterprise Mobile Data Solutions, 2009
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Scrutinizing SAP’s Mobile Strategy from Managing Automation

On the website Managing Automation, http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/ they have an article this week by Stephanie Neil called Scrutinizing SAP's Mobility Strategy. Here is an excerpt, "... a quick search (on the SAP EcoHub) for ‘mobile infrastructure’ brings up Sybase, Antenna Software’s Concert development platform, and SkyConnect from Sky Technologies... I question whether or not SAP needs the same broad base of partners in mobility as it does in manufacturing. Most manufacturers are just starting to implement a wireless strategy, and since it is untapped terrain for them, they may just want a turnkey solution from SAP, not a menu of choices."

This is an interesting perspective. Neil seems to suggests that many SAP users (at least in manufacturing) would prefer just one designated turnkey SAP MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) and that having a plethora of partner selections is not necessarily useful. The challenge I have with Stephanie's comments is that I believe she underestimates the number of mobile applications and their complexity. Different mobile applications and mobile business processes require different workflows and expertise that may not all be present in one mobile software vendor. It will take a number of years before mobile applications support many of the more niche business processes which is why there is a need today for many industry experts to supply mobile applications.

Neil concludes with the following, "...SAP’s next move should be to acquire a mobile infrastructure vendor upon which it can build a stable of wireless applications that fit into its — and its customers' — long-term mobile enterprise plan. The company can continue co-innovating, but it needs to lead the effort. SAP has a rare opportunity right now to shape an emerging market."

I will dodge the acquisition issue, but I agree with Neil that SAP should take the lead. I believe SAP users would ultimately benefit from a standardized methodology for connecting mobile devices to SAP and managing these connections.

Thanks Stephanie for a thought provoking article.

If you are one of the plethora of mobile application vendors supporting SAP users, please make sure you add your solution to the SAP Enterprise Mobility directory so others can learn about you.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Mobile Strategy Consultant, Mobile Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert
www.netcentric-strategies.com
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Advice for Mobile Start-ups: Working with SAP, Part 5

Part 4 of this series may have demoralized some mobile start-ups hoping to work closely with SAP, but Part 5 in this series provides solutions to many of the challenges identified in Part 4. Let's now take a closer look at some of the comments I made in Part 4.

The SAP customer is simplifying their IT infrastructure to reduce complexity and no non-SAP technology will be added unless it is approved by 17 business and IT committees. Who has the time to fight this battle?

Embed your solution in SAP so it becomes a part of SAP and avoids these issues (Sky Technologies, a Certified SAP Partner embeds their mobile solutions in SAP)
Simply provide a mobile application or iPhone view of SAP's current applications (Mobile micro-apps)

The IT Managers only want to learn mobile technology that will add to their resume and help them get their next assignment. The cool mobile technology that they just witnessed does not have its own category on the IT recruiters' websites. They want NAME power on their resume.

Show IT managers how to extend their current SAP infrastructure and code to mobile applications. This will accomplish their purposes.
Show IT managers that your solution is from a Certified SAP Partner

The SAP system integrator does not support the mobile technology, so recommends some other mobile solution that they support and have trained experts on.

Go directly to the end user with your message and evangelize and educate them. Build support internally for the "best" mobile technology. Close the deal first, then motivate the system integrator to be trained on your mobile technology and play a role in the implementation.

The SAP sales team does not get quota credit on it, but they do on another mobile solution. If the sales person does not make their numbers they are fired, so they do not care which mobile technology is better if it does not help keep their job.

Find a way for your mobile technology to sell more SAP licenses and products. Perhaps the mobile workforce that is not currently using SAP licenses will need them if they are connected via mobile devices. This would encourage the SAP sales force to work with you to sell more SAP licenses. Think in terms of the SAP AE's interests as well as the customers.

SAP's Industry Principals and Solutions Managers also must be very selective as to the mobile technology they recommend. They would not want to recommend a product that was not on the SAP price list or Certified Partner list, unless there was no other viable choice or this product helped sell other SAP licenses that benefited the SAP sales team.

SAP has only identified a few mobile categories for partnerships; field service automation, route/delivery and mobile CRM. I can tell you from personal experience that hundreds of mobile applications are needed in most large enterprises. Mobile applications that deal with security, asset management, inspections, compliance, job estimating, fleet management, engineering, construction, logistics, etc. There are massive opportunities to mobilize these business processes.
Show the SAP user and the SAP sales team how you can help them.

SAP customers are often on 5 year plans. These plans include upgrades, roll-outs, add-ons, customization, old product sun setting, mergers and acquisitions, etc. What does this mean to the mobile entrepreneur? It means your product needs a 5 year road map that aligns with SAP and the SAP customer's. If it does not, you are unlikely to survive the first round.

Be the thought leader and explain where mobility is going to be in 5 years. Tell them why your solution is better aligned with the direction of mobility than any.

The biggest project and highest priority in the company is around route delivery improvement, and your project is mobile SAP CRM. The route delivery mobility vendor agrees to extend their mobile solution into mobile CRM and since it is a higher priority, you lose.

Understand the decision making process, organizational chart and budget limits within IT and the department you are targeting. Can you keep the project cost below the threshold that requires additional management approvals? Can you break down your project so that yearly costs keep it below the approval thresholds so you can simply focus on this one department until it is firmly established?

The CIO will never get invited to speak in front of thousands at Sapphire if they choose your solution. Your user conferences could be held at Denny's.

Become a Certified SAP partner and attend Sapphire yourself. Be a mobile solution provider in a different category than other larger mobility vendors. Be the mobile application provider for; food processors, engineers, bridge inspections, healthcare, quality assurance, sustainability, etc., and then expand your mobile offerings. That is exactly what all the other mobile partners of SAP are doing.

If you would like to discuss these strategies and/or my consulting practice please contact me.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert

http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert and as such I work with, and have worked with, many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Advice for Mobile Start-Ups: Working with SAP, Part 4

SAP can be like a giant aircraft carrier moving powerfully across the ocean. It is huge and heavy and if you are a swimmer in the ocean trying to make it change directions to suite your purposes, good luck. A more successful approach is to understand the direction the ship is going and jump on board. Sign on, offer them a hand and help them get there. Perhaps as you gain their confidence they will let you into the wheelhouse where you can learn about their intended strategies and influence future directions.

Mobile software companies and their entrepreneurs often feel their mobile technology and strategy is better than all others. They often feel driven by a messianic mission to carry their mobile technology message to the world, and then scream in frustration when others don't seem to "get it." I understand. I have screamed.

Mobility entrepreneurs are often focused on their specific mobile technology. Many have engineering backgrounds and believe they have solved a significant problem. The challenge they often face is not understanding the business of their potential partners, resellers and target customers. Let me provide the following scenario to demonstrate my point:

There is a large conference room with a long table. There are 2 mobility entrepreneurs, 12 IT managers for a large SAP customer, 4 sales and pre-sales folks from SAP, and 3 representatives from a large system integrator with a focused SAP practice in attendance. The mobility entrepreneurs stand up and present the "world's best" enterprise mobility technology to the attendees. When they are done presenting, lots of questions are asked; the entrepreneurs cover them all and leave to catch their flight home expecting a PO on the fax machine when they arrive. The PO never arrives. Why?

Here are some possible reasons:

The SAP customer has a $14 million problem, and the mobile technology presented will solve only $675,000 of that problem. They need a complete solution, not a partial.

The $14 million problem requires a full range of systems integration, business process design and SAP customization to fix. They want to fix this problem with one overall integrated solution, not many small solutions linked together. Complexity can kill.

The SAP customer has three preferred SAP systems integrators – none have a practice around this particular mobile technology.

The SAP customer is simplifying their IT infrastructure to reduce complexity and no non-SAP technology will be added unless it is approved by 17 business and IT committees. Who has the time to fight this battle?

The IT Managers only want to learn mobile technology that will add to their resume and help them get their next assignment. The cool mobile technology that they just witnessed does not have its own category on the IT recruiters' websites. They want NAME power on their resume.

The SAP system integrator does not support the mobile technology, so recommends some other mobile solution that they support and have trained experts on.

The SAP sales team does not get quota credit on it, but they do on another mobile solution. If the sales person does not make their numbers they are fired, so they do not care which mobile technology is better if it does not help keep their job.

SAP's Industry Principals and Solutions Managers also must be very selective as to the mobile technology they recommend. They would not want to recommend a product that was not on the SAP price list or Certified Partner list, unless there was no other viable choice or this product helped sell other SAP licenses that benefited the SAP sales team. Their priorities would be:
1. SAP solution
2. SAP price list solution (could be a partner's solution on the price list)
3. SAP Certified or Innovation Partner
4. Only in desperate times would a non-partner be recommended and then only if it helped sell more SAP products

SAP pre-sales teams learn about many different technologies, but if it does not help their Account Executive make his/her quarterly numbers, it is unlikely to be introduced to the customer. However, there is an exception; if the solution, combined with an SAP solution helps close more revenue for the SAP Account Executive, then you have a winner.

SAP customers are often on 5 year plans. These plans include upgrades, roll-outs, add-ons, customization, old product sun setting, mergers and acquisitions, etc. What does this mean to the mobile entrepreneur? It means your product needs a 5 year road map that aligns with SAP and the SAP customer's. If it does not, you are unlikely to survive the first round.

Large software companies like SAP often consider potential partners as possible acquisition targets. Issues like are you private or public, customer base size, intellectual property ownership, market presence, etc, play into these considerations. If two partners have similar technologies, the one that is a better future acquisition target may be chosen for strategic reasons.
The SAP customer may have outsourced their IT to a large service provider with their own recommended mobile solution.
The SAP customer may have a large server deal with IBM, and IBM agrees to throw in a software solution for free if the annual support contracts are renewed...it happened to me :-(
The biggest project and highest priority in the company is around route delivery improvement, and your project is mobile SAP CRM. The route delivery mobility vendor agrees to extend their mobile solution into mobile CRM and since it is a higher priority, you lose.
The CIO will never get invited to speak in front of thousands at Sapphire if they choose your solution.
Your user conferences could be held at Denny's.

In summary, a mobile solution needs to be viewed favorably by the SAP customer, SAP sales team and the SAP system integrator. Not always all of them, but most of them. It needs to align with most of their strategic visions, personal interests and compensation structures. The frustrating part of this list for many mobility entrepreneurs is that none of it has to do with "best" mobile technology. These are primarily business issues that relate to alliances, partnerships, self-interests, marketing, strategic directions and business models.

Since we live in the real world, not all of the players' motivations will be clear or have the same level of priority. Sometimes new technologies appear that do not fit these molds, but once you understand these underlying motivations it becomes more clear.

If you are interested in discussing these issues in more detail and/or learning more about my consulting practice please contact me.

Watch for Part 5 in this series - it gives hope back to the Mobile Start-Ups. You can follow-me on Twitter (see right sidebar) and by RSS.

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Author Kevin Benedict

Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert

http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert and as such I work with, and have worked with, many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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Mobile SAP CRM

In a recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan called, European Mobile Sales Force Automation (CRM/SFA) Markets, it is stated that mobile SFA is the largest application segment after wireless email, and this segment will grow close to 300% between now and 2013.

SAP seems to be making a big push in this area with mobile CRM partnerships with Sky Technologies (Certified SAP Partner, Certified SAP NetWeaver Partner) Sybase and RIM (Innovation Partners) in this area. What are the key areas covered by mobile CRM?

Activity management – Phone call, email, cold calls, what to do each day
Lead management – receive leads, contact, qualify
Opportunity Management – define, document and manage specific sales opportunities
Account Management – organizational charts, people, budgets, plans, needs

To me these are obvious needs for the mobile sales force. They work and travel in mobile environments so provide mobile tools that let them sell more product and make customers happier.

The future of mobile SAP CRM in my opinion is the combination of mobile SAP CRM and business intelligence. The ability to fully brief a traveling sales person on a customer’s account status, order history, shipments, credit status, financials, latest news and potential opportunities using text and audio files is very useful. Audio because many times a sales person is flying or driving and would benefit from having this information in audio format so they could listen to it.

In addition to the obvious account information, what additional kinds of mobile information do you think would be useful to integrate within a mobile SAP CRM?

For related articles please read:

The Future of Mobile and Route Sales Applications for Smart Phones, Part 1
The Future of Mobile and Route Sales Applications for Smart Phones, Part 2

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Author Kevin Benedict
Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Web 2.0 Marketing Expert

http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
twitter: http://twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/

***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert and as such I work with, and have worked with, many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future