3 Must Have Apps to Keep Your Mobile Salesforce Productive and Secure

In today's world, sales people are naturally mobile. Although non-sales people tend to view successful sales people as “demigods,” there is no doubt they are often dynamic, have “nerves of steel,” make things happen, and are always available. For all of these reasons, your salespeople must have access to resources 24x7.

When visiting a customer or prospect on site, the meeting might not go well if the salesperson doesn’t have the right customer data, product information, presentation, collateral, and so on. And of course, there is always the “what can go wrong, will go wrong” scenario. Salespeople always face unexpected, last-minute problems or needs for additional information.

The good news is that thanks to the mobile revolution and the many great apps now available, IT managers everywhere are in a better position than ever before to help salespeople safely access the content and information they need to close deals and better serve customers — anytime and anywhere.

Here are some excellent apps that can help salespeople get better organized, be more productive, improve their service to customers, and close more deals faster.

Customer Engagement & CRM

CRM systems have been around since the 1990s and today 47 percent of all CRM systems are now SaaS-based according to a Gartner 2014 report. Most SaaS-based CRM solutions offer a mobile app. Salesforce®, for example, offers the Salesforce1 mobile app. All CRM information is available in real time, all the time — contacts, leads, sales cycle information, log details from meetings, dashboards, etc. If you use another CRM system, you should check out to see if they too have a mobile app. If you want your salesperson to use your CRM system, provide them with a mobile app for access.

Conferencing and Collaboration

There are a variety of video conferencing services that your salespeople can use to host and participate in online meetings and conference calls, including GoToMeeting®, WebEx™, and Skype™. Using these tools, the participants can view presentations, whiteboards, reports, and webcast sessions. These apps make it easy to schedule meetings and eliminate travel time and expenses. While GotoMeeting and WebEx charge for their apps, you can use Skype free of charge for basic functionality. Here is a listing of the most widely used video conferencing services in 2015 and the features they offer.

Secure File Sync & Share

Companies typically store business content in SharePoint®, in other content management systems, and on file servers for enterprise file sharing. If a customer needs a datasheet, pricelist, product document, or press release, the sales rep needs a way to securely access and share these files, wherever they are, from any device without using a VPN. Many employees use insecure public cloud file sync and share services today. They can be putting your company's critical data and information at risk.

Take a look at how your salespeople are working when on the road and at customer sites. Make sure they have all the info they need at their fingertips – on laptops and mobile phones – and that they are accessing and sharing company materials in secure and safe manner.

Does Your Mobile Salesforce Have the Tools They Need to be Productive and Secure?

A good place to start is looking at your salesteam’s practices for sharing documents and content: are they using Dropbox? With Acronis, your sales people can have secure mobile access to files and documents, breaking down the barriers between people, information, privacy, and security. Your sales people have immediate access to files to better drive your business and respond to customer needs, while giving IT complete control over business content to ensure security, maintain compliance, and enable BYOD.

To learn more, see this video with Enterprise Strategy Group’s Kerry Dolan – it provides a great overview on secure file sync & share and mobile content management, and how Acronis can help!