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Empowering the Mobile Enterprise

Executive Summary

In this paper, you will learn how enterprises can achieve a competitive advantage by giving remote workers access to complete CRM application functionality, with or without network connectivity. By ensuring mobile users always have up-to-date customer data and business rules, as well as the latest application updates and platform upgrades, organizations can increase mobile user productivity, and facilitate timely, enterprise-wide implementation of new business process improvements.

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The Business Challenge of Mobility and CRMToday’s distributed workforce requires a sophisticated computing environment with a solid and cost effective solution for both data and application synchronization. The complexity and expense involved in keeping data, application upgrades and customizations synchronized with database replicas distributed across WANs, LANs, and mobile clients has become one of the critical factors in evaluating a mobile CRM solution.

Mobile CRM solutions differ in terms of completeness, architectural approach, and synchronization method. The key to an effective mobile solution is ensuring mobile users have access to all the functionality of their CRM system wherever and whenever required, facilitating peer collaboration and uninterrupted productivity.

Pivotal Mobile Sales is designed to support an enterprise’s mobile workforce—whether disconnected or connected via broadband, dial-up or wireless—delivering 100% of the CRM functionality and access to critical customer data, anywhere, anytime from the same application and user interface as LAN-based systems.

Mobile Work Force RequirementsDistributed teams are vulnerable to communication breakdown. Nowhere is this more apparent than with mobile and remote sales teams where important decisions can be painfully delayed, resulting in lost opportunities. The key to overcoming broken communication is ensuring all relevant prospect, customer and product data is available in an offline or disconnected environment seamlessly integrated into other CRM components, thereby guaranteeing consistent, integrated business processes between in-house, remote and offline users.

Enterprises with highly mobile workforces require different degrees of access to critical, accurate business information using a variety of access methods, depending on their current location:

Remote Connectivity—With today’s ubiquitous access to broadband, mobile users are able to work from the field as if they were in the office. Broadband ubiquity, however, has resulted in the expectation that mobile users always have full access to their CRM application and current data—connectivity failure or unavailability is no longer acceptable.

Disconnected Use—With expectations rising, organizations have even greater need for full offline capabilities to ensure they are never without access to critical functionality and data. Effective disconnected use must include 100% of application functionality, a local database containing the user’s data, and the ability to perform bi-directional synchronization between the offline data and the main system.

Wireless Access—When on the road, mobile personnel need to be always connected—always aware of current account and opportunity developments. Real-time access to data is provided by wireless technology via web-enabled PDAs and cell phones, and is typically restricted to reading/writing contact, company and opportunity data, as well as To-Do lists.

Pivotal CRM’s mobile computing solution allows for all three types of access:

Mobile users can employ Pivotal Windows Client™, •or take advantage of the versatility and convenience of Pivotal’s web-based client, Pivotal Rich Client™, to access the entire Pivotal CRM Suite over broadband connections. For more information on the functionality offered by the Pivotal CRM Suite, refer to the individual suite brochures.

The Pivotal Mobile Client™ includes all the functionality •of the Pivotal Windows or Rich Client, giving mobile workers offline access to the Pivotal CRM Suite, as well as critical prospect, customer, and product information.

Pivotal Wireless™ provides continuously connected •access to real-time Pivotal CRMdata and opportunity information.

Remote and Disconnected AccessMobile users away from the office for days or even weeks at a time require full access to account/opportunity records and product data. The Pivotal Mobile Client is a complete, scaled-down Pivotal CRM system designed to run on a laptop, delivering complete CRM functionality, with or without a network connection. When offline, mobile users utilize the local database for read/write access to account and product information; can leverage Pivotal Sales functionality such as offline product catalogs, complex product configuration, quote creation at the customer site; take advantage of Pivotal Service functionality to access complete customer service records, and so on.

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Full platform functionality is also available in offline mode, including the ability to reference Pivotal CRM data within any Microsoft® Office application, or create, manage and queue email for delivery in MS Outlook®. Disconnected mobile users work as effectively and productively as though accessing Pivotal CRM from head office.

Mobile users typically work with a subset of Pivotal CRM customer data on their laptop and are expected to intermittently connect to the main or a satellite system in order to synchronize any data changes. Pivotal SyncStream is the synchronization technology powering the Pivotal Mobile Client, enabling mobile users to manually or automatically send/receive data, and gain high performance even over low-band width connections without fear of data conflicts.

Wireless Data AccessAll mobile users require the ability to be alerted to critical opportunity and account information. Some mobile users only require access to specific data, but need it on demand. PDA-based extensions of standard CRM applications are not the best answer, because of the need to navigate through too many screens, which can be a frustrating experience where wireless broadband is unavailable.

Pivotal Wireless fulfills these requirements by providing an out-of-the-box application designed and built for mobile users. It delivers real-time, secure (HTTPs, with the ability to implement 128-bit SSL certificate) read/write access to Pivotal CRM business logic and customer data via wireless handheld devices, such as Web-enabled cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Pivotal Wireless is a server-side solution that supports a variety of mobile devices, including RIM BlackBerry, Palm, and Pocket PC equipped with a micro-browser. No other client-side software is required. This allows users to quickly find and edit customer data, view current meetings, calls and tasks, as well as edit opportunity information.

Custom wireless applications can easily be created to fit any organization’s mobile requirements. For example, one Pivotal CRM customer, a major capital markets player,

customized the Pivotal Wireless solution to create a sophisticated task automation and information delivery system that tightened the information triangle between its sales, research, and trading departments. The company recouped their investment in just two months as a result of dramatically increased productivity, revenues and margins.

The IT Challenges of Supporting a Mobile Work ForceFor mobile applications to achieve maximum value in the enterprise, they must provide full interactive access when disconnected. But to support such a disconnected deployment, organizations need to decentralize enterprise databases without compromising the overall integrity of corporate data. Reliable synchronization that can consolidate data from multiple inputs—including connected and disconnected users—is key to ensuring the delivery of consistent, accurate and timely information.

Companies considering a synchronization solution should focus special attention on four key criteria—key differentiators that must be carefully evaluated when looking for a solid and cost-effective mobile CRM solution:

Application Synchronization•

Data reliability and Integrity•

Performance•

Mobile Administration Cost•

Application SynchronizationPivotal SyncStream provides for centralized synchronization of all aspects of the Pivotal CRM system, including customer data, application customizations and platform upgrades across LAN clients, satellite systems and mobile clients. Customizers centrally modify the Pivotal CRM system and move customizations from an off-line development system into production with a single command.

Called a UFO (Upgrade From Offline), changes made to the metadata repository are compressed in a message and placed into the web s enterprise, and ensuring all users are always operating with erver outbound queue,

“ Mobile functionality is adifferentiator of CRM salesvendors: The application is either fully functional mobile, or it isn’t: 100-percent disconnected functionality is the ‘gold standard’ for mobile sales applications. ” Joe Galvin

Vice President and Research Director, Gartner Inc.

Pivotal SyncStream is the technology that synchronizes all aspects of the Pivotal CRM system, including customer data, application customizations and platform upgrades across LAN clients, satellite systems and mobile clients.

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thereby distributing all application changes to the extended the same functionality (for more information on Pivotal CRM’s metadata-driven architecture, please refer to the white paper, “Pivotal CRM’s 3-tier CRM Architecture”).

LAN updates are performed first, with Pivotal SyncStream orchestrating an orderly shutdown on the LAN so no data changes will be made during the upgrade of the enterprise server’s metadata. All LAN users are instructed to exit the program to accommodate the application update. Unattended workstations are logged off automatically and new metadata is applied on the server. When the update is processed, usually within minutes, end users can pick up where they left off and begin using the new system. Satellite upgrades follow a similar process, shutting down attached systems while the update takes place.

When mobile users synchronize their mobile systems, application and data changes are automatically synchronized in the background, allowing mobile users to continue working in their Pivotal CRM application. Files, such as service packs and hot fixes, can be delivered to the mobile system in the same synchronization session, making the traditional, resource-intensive, in-office upgrade obsolete.

Assured Data Reliability and IntegrityThere are many kinds of CRM data synchronization (role-based, time-stamp, etc.), each with its own pros and cons, making it critical to match requirements to vendor capabilities. For any synchronization solution, data reliability and integrity remain key. When data conflicts arise, the ability to gracefully and accurately recover and resolve them is critical.

Guaranteed Data DeliveryPoor connections, unexpected disconnections, and line interruptions are a fact of the mobile employee’s life. Robust synchronization solutions build in the ability to recover lost or truncated messages automatically, eliminating the possibility of data inconsistency.

Pivotal SyncStream verifies the success of each synchronization session. Synchronization messages are not deleted until a confirmation message is received from the recipient indicating that the change was successfully carried out. This approach allows for a high degree of confidence that mobile databases will synchronize correctly, and it protects against message loss due to accidental disconnection, viruses, machine crashes, or other connection problems. Lost or out-of-sequence messages are recovered automatically.

If a session is interrupted or unsuccessful, the Pivotal CRM system automatically coordinates recovery. For example, if a mobile system receives a message that is out of its numbering sequence due to line interruptions during a synchronization session, the mobile system sends a message to the parent system requesting that the missing data be sent again before any other updates are made. Once the missing data has been received, the synchronization session resumes.

Fundamental Data IntegrityAs organizations grow, the likelihood that two or more users will be working on the same record at the same time increases. As a result, the synchronization technology’s ability to prevent data corruption becomes vital. It must be able to resolve the inevitable tug of war in a graceful, fully predictable and informative way.

Pivotal SyncStream does not use role-based rules to resolve the tug of war. Instead, it determines which user made the latest change by comparing the time and date stamp integral to the message—Pivotal SyncStream messages carry the timestamp value that a record had before the update, and the one after the update.

To better illustrate how Pivotal SyncStream resolves data conflicts, take the example of an account representative and her regional manager who are both attempting to update the same record while on the road. If the account representative’s update reaches the enterprise server first, the change is applied because the original timestamp matched the one in the database. Because this update succeeded, the record now has a new timestamp. When the regional manager’s update reaches the enterprise server, the original timestamp does not match the timestamp in the database, so the update fails. Timestamps can be thought of as version identifiers—every time an update occurs the version is changed. Data synchronization changes are rejected if the version the change was made on doesn’t match the current version in the database.

In this case, the regional manager receives a detailed notification message with a shortcut to the Pivotal CRM record. The message requests that the manager review the record since updates were made to it, and requests a re-submission of changes if those changes still make sense based on the new data in the record.

Employing Pivotal SyncStream’s HTTP synchronization can yield a 60% reduction in connection time over traditional email-based systems by optimizing available network bandwidth.

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User StatusWhether themobile client is successfullysynchronizing

Last Sync TimeLast time themobile user synchronizedtheir system

Out QueueNumber ofmessages waiting to beprocessed bythe receiver

In QueueNumber ofmessages still to beprocessed by the server

Web QueueNumber ofmessages onthe web serverstill to bedownloaded

UFO SentWhether themobile userhas receivedthe latest systemupdate/upgrade

Pivotal Mobile Administration

A High Performance Approach to SynchronizationMobile users are too busy to wait for data to be synchronized. Any mobile synchronization solution needs to be simple, fast and powerful, and yet still offer mobile users some measure of control. It’s critical to ensure that the synchronization solution works in such a way as to minimize the necessity for end user interference, while maximizing the user’s ability to work productively with the CRM system.

Pivotal SyncStream is automatically invoked as soon as the mobile client makes a connection to its main or satellite parent server. Mobile users have the option to send in the background and continue working while synchronizing, as well as the ability to stop and resend at a later date. For example, if a mobile user has not synchronized for a few days and is on a slow connection, he or she can elect to send messages before receiving any queued messages, then restore synchronization settings when a faster connection becomes available.

Pivotal SyncStream runs a continuous real-time net change analysis to enable asynchronous distribution of changes. Performance is optimized and bandwidth maximized by exchanging information bi-directionally, synchronizing the net changes to data on a field-by-field

basis. Since changes are distributed using message packets, mobile systems incorporate changes in a disconnected environment. This is a faster method which, in addition to reducing the load on the database, can also result in cost savings over mail-based synchronization systems due to reduced connection time requirements.

A one-step synchronization process automatically alerts mobile users when they need to synchronize, protecting the system from synchro nization backlogs. Business rules are processed offline, resulting in faster synchronization—measured in minutes, not hours, so disconnected users can gain both fast synchronization and timely read-write access to the data they require.

The Total Cost of Mobile AdministrationTraditional synchronization systems employ a mail server to send and receive data between mobile and remote systems. But access to corporate mail servers is often restricted, and where it’s not restricted, monitoring of queues, inboxes and the necessary skill sets to effectively administer such a system place a high overhead burden on administration resources. Pivotal SyncStream offers a lightweight solution in the form of HTTP-based synchronization, which greatly reduces the overhead associated with maintaining a mobile workforce. Any administrator with knowledge of Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) can easily administer Pivotal SyncStream.

When a mobile systemis plugged in, it’s continuously updated by the connection. Unplug, and the database is as current as the Enterprise Server, allowing Mobile users personnel to ‘unplug and go’.

Based on Microsoft Internet Information Server, Pivotal’s mobile synchronization solution scales up affordably simply by adding another web server.

For more information or a complete list of our worldwide offices, please visit www.pivotal.com.

Copyright © CDC Software 2007. All rights reserved. The CDC Software logo and Pivotal CRM logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of CDC Software.

HTTP-Based SynchronizationHTTP-based synchronization reduces administrative costs by facilitating centralized administration. Role-based security and permissions allows groups to access specific functions in their personalized workspace, known as the Pivotal SmartPortal™.View filters can be set to restrict data access from the workspace. Synchronization filters can be set in the metadata repository delineating which information mobile clients can access and update. A global view of the entire system, including all mobiles and satellites, allows administrators to maintain, monitor and troubleshoot all attached mobile and satellite systems. If the administrator fails to notice an impending issue, the system will automatically send a message notifying the administrator of the problem.

ConclusionMobile CRM is no longer an option—it’s a critical part of any organization’s strategy. Mobile personnel must be empowered to work from the field with the same level of functionality as workers seated at corporate headquarters, employing the same business rules as the rest of the organization.

Business rules represent core business policies, controlling or influencing business processes. They indicate what is possible or desirable in running a business—and what is not. Improving and implementing business processes more quickly and more effectively than the competition can provide a significant business advantage. But if mobile systems are not updated in a timely manner, the full benefits of business process improvements cannot be realized.

Implementing new business processes across distributed enterprises is typically time consuming and geographically challenging, in some cases requiring laptops to be sent to a centrally-located head office. Depending on the complexity of the organization, this upgrade process could take anywhere from days to months to complete, inflating administration costs and creating confusion while different parts of the business operate with a different set of processes.

Pivotal CRM’s mobile computing solution broadcasts application, platform and customer data updates to all users within a single synchronization session. In this way, mobile users always have up-to-date applications and business rules on their laptop, ensuring smooth, enterprise-wide implementation of new business processes to boost productivity, expand market share and improve financial performance.

When complete offline functionality is combined with the ability to reliably synchronize not only data, but application updates and platform upgrades, the result is up-to-date business rules across the distributed enterprise.