We want CRM! We want CRM!

According to a LAN 2 LAN survey, CRM and Field Force Automation is the most popular BlackBerry device application for UK companies, according to a survey conducted on behalf of the networking and mobile integration specialist by market research specialist Vanson Bourne. The survey questioned 100 senior managers across a range of vertical sectors.

The survey found that 29 percent of senior executives nominated mobile CRM as the highest priority for their companies’ BlackBerry users, and higher numbers were registered in the manufacturing, retail, distribution and transport sectors.

Further, it was found that 57 percent of financial service organisations were not thinking of migrating to the next generation of BlackBerry applications, though 81 percent of these organisations use BlackBerry. Job dispatch and helpdesk service management came out as the second highest priority, with financial services and retail, distribution and transport sectors scoring 19 percent and 25 percent respectively.

Integrating ERP databases with the BlackBerry platform was seen as the third most popular “must have,” with the highest affirmative tally of 22 percent scored in the manufacturing sector. Disaster recovery mobile applications came bottom of the survey with just five per cent of organisations interested in moving to such systems.

Nearly 80 per cent of companies employing more than 3,000 were current BlackBerry users, compared with just under 70 percent for smaller businesses. CRM applications proved more popular with larger businesses at 32 percent versus 26 percent.

Conversely, job dispatch and service management was a higher priority for smaller businesses at 22 percent against 17 percent. ERP and database mobile integration was equally popular with both sizes, at about 17 percent.