Salesforce.com Deploys Own CRM Application On BlackBerry For Its Worldwide Sales Force

"We had a pretty straightforward business goal," says Brett Queener, Vice President of Worldwide Operations. "Our sales reps were accessing Salesforce via laptops, which as we all know, can be trying if you travel a lot. We wanted a way of keeping them connected with prospects and customers.

"Since Salesforce.com was already a BlackBerry user and a BlackBerry Alliance Partner, it seemed like an obvious decision to extend the proven abilities of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution to make their own CRM solution wirelessly available to their team. Salesforce.com also uses BlackBerry devices, with applications and mobile email, across other departments including IT, Corporate Marketing and senior executives.

"BlackBerry is easy to use," says Queener. "Our teams get all the functionality they need in one device; a phone, Outlook email, and a wireless calendar that requires no need to synch with the desktop. With wireless CRM access on the device, it's the whole package. BlackBerry helps them keep up even when they're in the field and not at their desks."

"Before I had access to Salesforce in the field with my BlackBerry device, I would look up information via our offline edition on my laptop," says Erik Yewell, Sales Engineer. "That meant making sure I would synch my laptop before I left, and pulling it out to find the information, which isn't always convenient, especially while traveling."

The goal was to deploy a wireless application that would connect the CRM application to the BlackBerry devices. Salesforce.com would draw upon their partners, Vettro and Sendia for assistance.

"We decided to deploy both wireless CRM solutions offered by both Vettro and Sendia, and give our sales reps the choice of using one or, in some cases, both of them," says Stephanie Gilmour, Manager of Field Operations. "It was an excellent way for our reps to really understand the functionality of the two solutions, and they use this know-how to demonstrate this wireless functionality to customers on their own devices."