Microsoft announced today that their customer relationship management software, Dynamics, is coming to BlackBerry via MobileAccess 4.0 in Q3. I don’t know how much room there is in the BlackBerry CRM software market, what with SAP announcing a fairly tight partnership with RIM at WES this year, but hey, if you’re already using the Dynamics archietecture, it’s good to have the option. Check out TenDigits for more info on the software.
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Microsoft Dynamics CRM coming to BlackBerry
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We talked for a bit with the glue that put SAP and BlackBerry together, namely involving the ability to push out approval requests over the SAP server. This was kind of a big deal at WES this year, and this interview really outlines the extent of SAP and BlackBerry’s partnership for integration. Check out 3i’s site for more info, and you can download our interview here.
After the recent announcement of SAP’s CRM software appearing natively on BlackBerry, ZDNet editor Larry Dignan got a chance to sit down and talk with RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie about a number of things. High on the list of subjects was, of course, the recent Kickstart leak, as well as the rumors of a touchscreen. Balsillie pointed out two things: first, that RIM is “not religious” about any form factor, and secondly that leaks aren’t always correct. They also spent a great deal of time talking about RIM’s strategy in the B2B (business to business) space, as compared with their efforts in the consumer or B2C space. Balsillie said that you need both to successfully sell phones, and that “ninety percent of the work you do in B2B works for B2C.”
German-based enterprise powerhouse SAP has announced that they will be natively integrating their CRM software into the BlackBerry, with the rest of their business suite to follow. BlackBerrys with SAP’s CRM software will be shipping in the next couple months, and SAP’s EVP and general manager promised that the rest of the suite would be brought on board in “months, not years.” The article raises concerns over the outages that plagued RIM earlier this year, and the effect is might have on mission-critical business apps, but RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said they were “not acceptable” and that they had taken steps to prevent them from ever happening again.
SalesNOW from Interchange Solutions is a contact and deal management suite. It comes in solo, web, and enterprise flavors, but all feature a web-based backend and full-featured BlackBerry client. All changes made on your phone are synced with the web server and vice versa, and you can tie in your emails, calendars, and task lists with clients in the SalesNOW database. They boast companies with over 200 sales reps and half a million records in their client roster. If your interest is piqued, you can check ‘em out in booth #551 at WES.
Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, I know, but there are some companies that are putting iPhone before BlackBerry, such as German software developer SAP. Their latest mobile customer relationship management package will be coming out for iPhone before BlackBerry or Palm. It’s easy to fob this decision off as one company making a poor business decision, but the fact is RIM isn’t completely stone-walling Apple’s progress into the enterprise market. Even if Apple remains the underdog in enterprise mobility, not unlike its status in the computer market, they can still manage to nab a healthy slice of the pie. Nobody’s expecting BlackBerry to be ousted as Corporate King anytime soon, but there will be points where it’s rubbing shoulders with Apple. It’ll be interesting to see who else makes the switch as the iPhone settles in.
