Mobile CRM at Nutricia
A unit of the international food company Danone (www.danone .com), Nutricia (www.nutricia.com) develops, markets, and sells medical nutrition for people who are sick or who need extra energy. The company records most of its sales in Europe, but it is expanding its services throughout the world. Nutricia interacts with many stakeholders, including government organizations, nursing homes, hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, and patients. One of Nutricia's greatest challenges is government regulation. The company must obtain government approval for its products so that users can be eligible for government reimbursement. The company must also manage its wide geographic reach. Its sales and customer service representatives must cover a great deal of territory, and they need tools to help them work effi ciently. Nutricia had an existing CRM system that was unable to keep up with the rapid changes in the company's regulatory environment. The old system was not user friendly and did not supply a 360-degree view of its customers. Consequently, only 20 percent of the fi rm's agents utilized it.
Compounding this problem was the fact that most of Nutricia's fi eld staff are former nurses who are unaccustomed to working with computers. Nutricia decided to implement CWR Mobile CRM (www .cwrmobility.com) because the software matched the company's demanding requirements. Nutricia found that using mobile devices instead of notebook computers improved the quality of the conversation between the fi eld agent and the doctor by removing the physical barrier of the computer screen. Some agents also used their smartphones to record parts of their conversations with physicians (with permission). By adding the audio fi le directly from the smartphone to the contact record, the information is instantly available to anyone working on that particular account. The percentage of fi eld representatives who utilize the new mobile CRM system has risen to 85 percent, and it is growing. The new system has increased Nutricia's productivity to an unprecedented level.
Prior to implementing the system, Nutricia had eight representatives who visited 9,000 customers per year. The company now has six agents who make 20,000 customer visits per year. Sources: R. Grainger, "The Future of Mobile CRM," CRM Magazine, February 22, 2013; P. Hernandez, "CRM Is Most Wanted Mobile Enterprise App: Survey," Enterprise Apps Today, February 8, 2013; D. Henschen, "Microsoft CRM Embraces iPhone, iPad, Android," InformationWeek, February 6, 2012; "Nutricia Boosts Its Productivity and Sales Health with Mobile CRM Solution," CWR Mobility Customer Case Study, 2012; www.danone.com, www.nutricia.com, www.cwrmobility.com, accessed March 16, 2013
Questions
1. What are disadvantages of mobile CRM for Nutricia? (Hint: Nutricia is a healthcare company.)
2. Identify two additional advantages of Nutricia's mobile CRM application.