Columbia, Md.There are many solutions for sales force automation which extend enterprise and corporate information to wireless devices. The adoption of this technology by industrial sales has been slow, however, says Unwired Express, Inc. vice president Tom Young.

The problem is not all of the information is available in one place, which impairs the effectiveness of these solutions.

"What is unique about Unwired Express Sales Force Effectiveness™ is that it connects a wireless device to all of the corporate information sources including ERP, CRM, and email systems."

He says it is a "snap-on" solution added to existing applications which provides a one-stop source for all of the pertinent information across multiple backend sources and platforms. It can be set to give alerts for events like incoming email, client problems, changes that affect upcoming sales calls and more.

"In industrial distribution, the sales force in the field needs to access a wide variety of information at the point of decision to be effective, from special pricing and promotions to shipping information," says Young.

Having all of the information available in one place, instantly, can make the difference between making the sale or not, he says. The alerts can let salesmen know if there are customer service issues with their customers. This can be important in customer satisfaction and retention, says Young.

CEO David Erath of New Orleans-based Selltis agrees that the information needs to be centrally available.

"There is the impression that the sales force needs to be more nimble and access information on PDAs," says Erath. "We do that, but most industrial sales are very technical and salesmen need more information than they can get through a [wireless device]."

The industrial sales force often finds value in using laptops with robust, full-blown applications like Selltis, says Erath. Designed for the industrial sales market, it offers lead, opportunity, project and quote managers to store all relevant information in a distributed database that is synchronized on a central server.