Medical Design Company Launches CRM Initiative For Field-Based Sales Force

CardioDynamics International Corporation, the leader in Impedance Cardiography (ICG) technology, develops noninvasive hemodynamic diagnostic and monitoring technologies, which measure blood volume and velocity changes in relation to heartbeat. The company's primary product, the BioZ®, uses proprietary ICG technology to noninvasively assess a patient's hemodynamics – data which was previously only available through a time-consuming, costly, and potentially dangerous invasive procedure called Pulmonary Artery Catheterization (PAC).

In late 2006, the increasing global demand for ICG technology led CardioDynamics to evaluate its customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. Upon closer examination, it was apparent that the sales team was lacking a CRM tool that helped advance sales initiatives in the field. Simply stated, the company had no effective method for tracking or reporting sales developments while workers were out of the office. With the entire sales staff operating from the field most of the time, it was critical that the company add a mobile solution to its CRM initiative to help grow sales. The company was familiar with the productivity, efficiency and collaboration benefits of smart wireless devices and thus decided that the new CRM tool should work on a rugged handheld device, such as a smart phone.

After thoroughly researching handheld devices, CardioDynamics selected the Palm Treo™ 750WX with the Windows Mobile® 5 OS due to its seamless interoperability with the company's Microsoft-centric IT environment. Aware that these phones are the equivalent of small computers, CardioDynamics demanded they be managed just like corporate laptops. Yet with only a handful of smart phones deployed prior to this initiative, the company did not have the technology in place to quickly roll out and manage a new fleet of devices.