iPhone app reconnects Holdfast sales force with their CRM

Holdfast’s 22-strong sales force had smart phones with a custom-built application to connect to their customer relationship management (CRM) system, Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Over time, handsets were replaced and hardware, operating system and software became less compatible.  Holdfast wanted to upgrade to iPhones, and needed a new way of connecting with their CRM, to keep their sales force working at maximum efficiency.

They had already received a proposal from another vendor to develop an iPhone application, but it seemed too costly and complex.  They asked Joerg Rau, our Microsoft Dynamics NAV Practice Manager, to put forward alternatives.

Working with our Theta Software team, Joerg recommended an off-the-shelf iPhone application, CWR Mobile CRM, which can be configured to provide the features the sales force were used to on their old Windows Mobile system.

The application can also synchronise data between server and phone and work offline – an important consideration for Holdfast’s well-travelled sales force, as many parts of New Zealand have limited connectivity to a mobile phone network.

Even better, our expertise in both Microsoft Dynamics NAV and software integration meant that we could configure and extended the iPhone application to run price lookups on Microsoft Dynamics NAV via a web service, and extract sales statistics using Microsoft Reporting Services.

After a short and successful testing phase, Holdfast accepted our proposal, purchased the software, ordered iPhones for their sales team, and had them on the road using the new application in just 6 weeks.

And they are delighted with the result. Holdfast CEO Brett Henderson says:

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Theta really understood our requirements, and gave us excellent advice.  They sourced a product with a great track record and implemented it quickly. They extended the product to integrate with our existing business systems, and now everything works seamlessly.  They also saved us a lot of money – developing an iPhone app from scratch was going to cost more than ten times as much.

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Theta is now a CWR partner in New Zealand.  We can help you implement CWR Mobile CRM as a mobile client for Microsoft Dynamics CRM - whether you use Windows Phone, iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry or Android.