In an article I published on The Enterprise Mobility Foundation earlier this week, I spoke of the challenges involved with managing a mobile workforce. Here is an excerpt: 
A few months back, Gil Bouhnick with Clicksoftware, told me about a mobile application he worked on that incorporated Union rules into a mobile application. It included a complete set of rules, above and beyond, simple work order management. This application would look at the tasks required of the service technician and review a database of Union rules to ensure the service technician was not doing anything counter to those rules. This conversation got me thinking.
At Sapphire this year I was able to interview Rich Padula, Syclo's CEO. I asked him to explain the "co-innovation" partnership program with SAP and what it really means.Pete Martin, the founder of EntryPoint Consulting worked for SAP for over five years. He managed field operations in his region which included sales and pre-sales. His consulting company, which was founded in 2003, resells SAP solutions to US based middle market companies and business units of the Fortune 1000. They focus on SAP CRM, an area where they have a lot of experience. Today mobility is a big issue for his customers.
Pete was involved in one of the first mobile SAP CRM implementations. It did not go well. Why?
After this first painful experience, Pete and his team stepped back and studied the mobility space for about three years. However, in 2009 they lost two SAP CRM sales because they did not have a strong mobile SAP CRM offering. This pain motivated them to jump back into researching good mobile solutions for SAP CRM. Pete says that now 100% of SAP CRM sales prospects are requesting mobile extensions. It is no longer an option. A mobilized version of SAP CRM is a requirement.
They looked at a lot of different MEAPs that worked with SAP. There were several things they wanted from a mobility partner:
The end result was that EntryPoint Consulting selected SAP Partner, Sky Technologies as their mobile SAP CRM partner. They are now confident in telling customers they can have a mobilized CRM in 90 days.
Mobility is a big focus for EntryPoint Consulting in 2010. Why?
I asked Pete what he thought about SAP's current mobility strategy and he said, "In markets where products and technologies are changing fast, it is hard for SAP to keep up. They are simply too big to be nimble. It is best for them to partner for mobile solutions today." In a follow up statement he added, "SAP's sales teams are still a bit confused by SAP's mobility strategy." It seems there is more to be done to evangelize SAP's mobility strategy and plans internally.
Pete also shared his thoughts on what SAP sales teams could learn from other CRM vendors. He said other vendors had learned how to sell to mid-level, line of business folks successfully. This according to Pete, is where CRM is sold. SAP sales teams are great at the C level sales process, but have historically been troubled when selling to the line of business. "If the VP of Sales can't connect to the CRM with his/her favorite mobile smartphone, the sale is lost," said Pete.
To read additional articles from the Mobile Expert Interview Series see below:
***********************************************
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.utilizer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
***Full Disclosure: I am an indpedent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
***********************************************
Small mobility projects are often very important to a specific department. The success of the department can be dependent upon the implementation of a mobile application that helps them do more with less. The department manager will be very keen to find a mobile application that meets their specific requirements. They often have completely unique requirements that are hard for a mobile software vendor to develop and then leverage with other clients. They also have smaller budgets. As a result mobility projects for 25 users are often custom development projects and can cost the same amount to develop as a mobile application development project for 3,000 users. Examples of these types of mobility projects are:
If the mobile application development project costs $500,000 USD to develop and deliver, then it only takes $167 per mobile user in savings and cost efficiencies to achieve a positive ROI if you have 3,000 mobile users, but $20,000 per mobile application user in cost savings and efficiencies if you have only 25 mobile application users. This makes it difficult for many MEAP and mobile application vendors to deliver a good ROI for small customized projects. Most mobile application or MEAP vendors focus on the $500,000 and higher projects. That leaves most enterprise mobility projects with limited options in the SAP ecosystem.
This is a challenge for mobile application vendors and the companies that require smaller customized mobility projects, but it is a big opportunity for mobile application and MEAP vendors that can figure out how to deliver these smaller customized projects cost effectively.
Some of SAP's mobility partners have solutions primarily designed to mobilize their own business applications, not custom SAP user requirements. It is the hundreds of smaller business processes that often fall between the cracks and cause the biggest challenges.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:
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.
Related Articles:
***************************************************
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.
**************************************************
All of these points are simply ideas as to how CRMs (customer relationship management) applications, business intelligence software, business analytical software, marketing and promotional management software, mapping/GPS and inventory management software all integrated together with pre-configured workflows can quickly produce, in real-time the information most needed by a mobile sales and/or route delivery person. This information can be packaged and synchronized out to the sales person's Smart Phone.
If you would like to discuss this topic in more detail please contact me.
***********************************************
