In the early days of CRM and Salesforce Automation (hey, we didn't even call it that), we equipped our field agents with laptops and a printer. That proved to be too heavy, but the idea was that they were mobile enough to do everything they needed to close a sale.
The early adopters were our top sales teams who had the most experience. Translation: they were twice my age at least. The first day of classes was basics of computers, and in later courses, included typing!
That was in 1995.
The Toshiba Satellite T2400 had a really small screen. So screen real-estate was at a premium. We had to be creative in screen design and overall user experience (the term was not widely used then). Now, back on mobile devices, screen real estate is again at a premium.
The next year, I was speaking to a field operations executive from the local licensed Coca-Cola bottler, and we were talking about enabling their field representatives (who rode on their trucks) to do everything they needed on a laptop, and connect at the end of the day to upload everything. I never followed up on that lead, but at the end of the conversation the hesitation was the cost of the laptops (they had to be the rugged kind from Panasonic at that time), and having to connect at the end of their shift via dial-up.
Now, the idea is no longer outside the realm of possibility. Connectivity is instant. There is no need for an end-of-day synch. And there is no need for an actual laptop. The tablet has replaced the laptop as the mobile device of choice for field work. That same problem could be solved in a few months if not several weeks.
In 1999, we were experimenting with WAP apps (Wireless Application Protocol) for field reps and customers to access their customer and product information and make payments. Unfortunately the screens severely hampered the user experience, and the connectivity was spotty at best.
Up until 2009, I have had users clamoring for a mobile offline version of their CRM. They say they could be on a plane or on a train, and there is no connectivity. They have to be able to work offline and synch back up once they are in the office.
Fast forward five years and many carriers now offer Wi-Fi on board, and if they didn't, your phone will most likely have a signal and a data connection. And bandwidth is far cheaper than what it was then.
What you give up in computing power, you make up with the mobility, the ease of use. And you can always perform server-side heavy computing, much like the old days of mainframes and thin-client architectures. So a lot has changed, but some things remain the same.
Apps used by field sales are no longer designed with a desktop or laptop user in mind, now they are mobile-friendly first, or at least, considered at the same time as their PC counterparts. But mobile devices don't have a lot of storage, much like the old days of PC computing. So the same principles around efficiency that applied then still apply now.
I can hardly believe it has been less than twenty years. And yet, the technological evolution is outstanding. I'm sure that it will only get better from here. I've posted somewhere before about software programming, "The language may change, but the logic remains the same." In the same manner, the technology may change, but some basic principles will not.
The main thing that still holds true today for CRM and SFA, or any app that you expect a sales person to use, is from one of my early users who took time to write me a letter (on paper) in 1996. He was a seasoned sales rep and managed a large sales team in a regional office. Referring to one module in our app, he said, "This requires a PhD in Computer Science. I cannot use this. Keep it simple!"
No comments:
Post a Comment