Mobile CRM app helps construction firm diversify its business

VCC, based in Little Rock, Ark., deployed an application called Mobile Edge, from IBM business partner iEnterprise, to connect about 80 project managers mostly using BlackBerry Bold smartphones to a custom-built CRM (customer resource management) application. VCC runs IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8 and also deployed iEnterprise's product for extending CRM data, called iExtensions CRM.

The Mobile Edge CRM app shown on a Blackberry Bold is being used by project managers at the VCC construction company. Some managers have switched to using the CRM app on the iPad tablet because of its larger screen.

The mobile access to CRM data is "a great force for us," said VCC Vice President Wayne Alley in a telephone interview.

While not every bit of CRM intelligence is available from a mobile device, the system has helped streamline access to customer information across six nationwide offices, Alley said.

"We can see what business has been done with a client in the past," as well as organize data for greater business intelligence, he said.