Sonoma Partners Launches Mobile Sales Kit for iPad
Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner-reseller Sonoma Partners launched today an enterprise-grade application, the Mobile Sales Kit for iPad designed specifically for field sales presentations.
Synched with enterprise collaboration software Microsoft SharePoint, the app also gives sales reps access to documents while offline with document emailing capabilities within the application.
"Certainly life sciences and pharma stand to benefit there because their field reps are often out there in Internet-suppressed areas, such as hospitals," points out Jim Prothe, marketing director at Sonoma Partners. "In financial services there can be rate changes, or the packages they offer can change, and it’s a good way to ensure the field sales teams have the most up-to-date information” on the road.
Mobile Sales Kit for iPad also comes equipped with Google Analytics for tracking and accessing data about the materials in-app that got the most usage for marketing purposes. Mike Snyder, principal of Sonoma Partners, said the app is "built with custom user interfaces and functionality" depending on use case and industry.
Enterprises that have a number of remote field sales reps "who may or may not check into the home office frequently," Prothe adds, would be a natural user. That way, "they don’t have to worry about getting materials printed or shipped to them or worry about staying in constant communication with the corporate office."
And with a growing demand for enterprise applications that are tablet-compatible, Sonoma Partners recently built out a Windows 8 tablet app for client New Belgium Brewing Co. to synchronize with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The app crafted for the brewery's field reps, called beer rangers, was appropriately named the Ultimate Beer Ranger.
"Those field reps were originally recording interactions [at stores and bars] while on a mobile phone, and it was too small a device to do that work effectively," Prothe explains. "They also didn't want to carry around hefty laptops to plug into Microsoft CRM to record what was happening in the field, so the tablet was sort of a good compromise for them in terms of power and portability."