AvantGo muscles in to mobile CRM world

Mobile data portal AvantGo has started a concerted push into the world of CRM with the launch today of a product aimed at speeding up the wireless deployment of sales force automation applications.

The product is effectively a purpose-built mobile gateway for sales force automation (SFA) application software.

Using the technology a company with a SFA product from a vendor such as Onyx, Oracle, Pivotal or Siebel can give its agents access to sales data on mobile computers by plugging AvantGo's system into its existing database.

The company promises a "plug and play" implementation - which suggests implementation times in the region of three months, and a lower implementation cost than it might expect by using the vendors themselves.

Catroina Pennington, enterprise marketing director EMEA at AvantGo, said: "For a while now, we have been trying to move higher up the value chain than just being a mobile solutions provider."

If the product proves successful, it will represent a significant challenge to the CRM vendors whose products are being integrated. Siebel, for example, has its own range of mobile solutions.

However, a big question mark over AvantGo's offering will be security.

The company will have to work hard to convince customers that its wireless systems are capable of delivering sufficient security to vital customer data.

AvantGo is using its mobile expertise to make a bid for the systems integration dollars which are a major part of the revenue for CRM players like Siebel in the wireless space, which promises to be one of the most lucrative areas of a rapidly expanding sector.

AvantGo is best known for its solution for downloading news from websites (such as silicon.com) onto handheld computers.

However, the company makes most of its revenue from providing services to the corporate market.

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