Evolving your business to match your mobile lifestyle is not going to happen overnight and will require vision, planning and real intention.

This is the first in a series of articles where we hope to layout some guidelines to help you consider when and how to mobilize your workforce. Our primary focus concerns manufacturers and distributors selling B2B, but our hope is you will find some common themes to consider whether your business is real estate, services, construction, hospitality, government or any other business.

Part of the attraction of modern mobile sales apps is that they are easy to deploy and easy to use. Mobile apps also lend themselves to subscription pricing further lowering the barriers and encouraging business owners and operators to look at their businesses operation in a new light.

ERP has been a notorious laggard when in comes to delving into new technologies. But that may be changing. The young people entering our workforce now expect to be always connected — and they are building electronic networks sometimes before they reach their teen years. They are beginning to stand in the doorway of business and today most would not be impressed by the lack of mobile accessibility to their jobs.

But now we have phenomenal mobile development platforms, internet and bandwidth access that improves seemingly on a daily basis, and we have developed habits of monitoring our smartphones and tablets morning, noon and night – blurring the lines between work and personal life.

Are mobile apps ready for primetime? To me that is a question with an obvious answer, but it is one still being asked a lot. I think the questions should be – what do you want to do – and when do you start planning.

Our series will provide a step-by-step guide, a thought process, designed to help you better understand your opportunities, some of your options, and some of you investment and ROI considerations.

Here is how we will break it down:

1. Business goals (because its important to always start with the end in mind)
2. Functional needs by end user role
3. Integration and data management
4. Hardware, device and platform selection
5. Deployment, ease of use and pricing concerns

Other resources distributors may be interested in:

• Choosing the right mobile sales app 
• Why Apple vs. Android is not the question for mobile business
• 6 questions to ask before deciding to invest in mobile business
• Manufacturers and Distributors: a checklist to help understand your unique mobile sales needs

We’ll see you out there.

By Paul Ziliak, co-founder, xkzero

If you would like to learn more about xkzero Mobility, Sage Mobile Sales, or would like to share your mobile ideas with us, please contact us at info@xkzero.com.

Interested in attending an upcoming webinar to help you create a plan to mobilize your workforce?  Please join us!

(9/25) Mobile ERP Sales – How Do I Start 11:00am-12:00pm CST  https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/571903254

(10/23) Mobile ERP Sales – How Do I Start 1:00pm-2:00pm CST https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/266156734