Top BYOD trends for field sales

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is an essential component for any B2B sales rep in the field. Every year, mobile technology sets a new precedent from the year before. 2015 is said to be the biggest year in mobile consumption making the line between business and personal rather unclear.

By staying up to date with the trending topics in BYOD for sales, you can adapt your technology and prepare your sales teams to make the most effective use of the new technology trends. Here are the top trends to look out for in BYOD for field sales this year.

Security and Data

A rather large concern when it comes to BYOD is always the issue of security. Instead of focusing on securing individual devices from multiple locations, the trend will be focusing primarily on protecting data. Especially important for sales reps in the field is the ability for them to be able to manage all of their data and necessary work information from any location and at any moment. While they may be busy running multiple different solutions on their personal device, it’s imperative that companies begin securing the data instead of focusing solely on the hardware being secure.

Prioritization

The trend of prioritizing your team’s tasks and applications that need to be mobilized is no easy feet. Yet at the same time, there’s no reason to import your entire SAP system or every employee’s portal on to your personal device. The best practice is to pick out the most essential tasks and upload only those on to your mobile workforce. There are several different ways in which you can prioritize these tasks. First decide how large the impact a mobile device has on the sales process, and whether or not employees will turn to the mobile app to get things done or there’s an alternative. Once you’ve asked yourself these questions you can easily prioritize which solutions belong on your own device.

Increase in mobile literacy amongst staff

Even though sales reps today are more technologically inclined than ever before, it’s still too early for these field salesmen to have a solid understanding of complex mobility systems and encryption capabilities that sales teams require. The trend that is picking up now is companies becoming more proactive in implementing mobility education and BYOD policy communication. This should be thought of as continuous education, rather than a one time deal in order to improve skills for good.

The shift to the cloud

If the end goal is to give our field staff a higher level of performance, which it inevitably is, the shift to cloud-hosted or cloud-connected applications is the natural next step. Considering a new approach that allows your reps to view an entire in-app customer portfolio, all of their task management systems, and smart real-time interactions within the team and externally makes their lives more flexible and on the go to fit their lifestyle.

Sales apps can provide you with device agnostic solutions that provide their sales reps with all of the convenience in their own personal device, be it a tablet, hybrid laptop, or even a PC.  Allowing reps to view their customers’ location, analyze their performance, and view history. It also streamlines the order taking process by utilizing all of the available stock and performing the entire order taking process completely from your own device to make a sale.