When our clients build an app with us, they want to grab the opportunity to implement it quickly while still getting the full functionality needed in a particular role, in a specific industry. Any time these companies save on implementation and the onboarding of the team, they can immediately translate to increased productivity and profitability. They have been enjoying the benefits of the ready-made building blocks based on Scolvo’s industry-specific expertise in financial services, utilities or retail – you name it.

But we have also understood that the same simplicity and ease of use that building blocks provide is necessary for updates, too. Despite all due diligence during the implementation, the needs for new features or data options unavoidably emerge. Datasheets are incomplete. Not enough space for adding new assignees. Status update options not satisfactory. That’s just business as usual.

In a typical scenario, the updates mean a lot of hassle. Take an example from logistics: the sender takes on delivering a unique cargo and decides to require additional identification criteria from the recipient, to make sure the shipment is safe. So it wants to add another field to the app, for an ID number.

No big deal, you think? The traditional solution is to rewrite the code, to redefine the database, and to issue a new version of the app for all the users to make the changes visible. But our mantra of simplicity and the Scolvo app that we built accordingly doesn’t allow us to settle for something so long and complicated.

To prove our app’s value even in this situation, we have recently opted to store and manage the data using a more flexible method: a semantic database. It is driven by a configuration file that is in charge of telling both the backend and the admin interface how to handle the information. So when the client asks as to add a field, we expand the configuration file, and it tells the backend how to structure the new data and tells the web admin interface how to display it.

The semantic data management also makes maintaining data consistency simple. A “flow engine” keeps the modifications in order even if the network doesn’t allow for instant synchronization. In our logistics example, status updates for the loading and discharge of shipments will always appear in the order set by the workflow, regardless of network availability. When several changes happen in the offline mode, like the tasks of loading and unloading a truck get done, the flow engine will make them wait in line until it accesses a network and will make the updates in their original order. Because of keeping all modifications this way, they can instantly go live without causing chaos in the management of previously and recently added data.

For the clients, this background procedure is mostly invisible. They only see that the app can be seamlessly updated and they can manage the workflows or users correctly even when they add some new data to the mix.

The post Updating the Building Blocks in the SCOLVO App appeared first on Scolvo.

Meanwhile, clients expect even more personal and up-to-date solutions from the financial service providers. With mobilization, the sales of insurance can be better controlled, the data quality improves on the back-end, resulting in better, more tailored offers for the clients.

Digitalization with a Doubtful Outcome

Insurance distributors have already realized that they need to take steps to stay competitive, so the establishment of new working methods and technologies that make workflow more effective has already begun. There is some CRM to store client data and some registration system for the agents, and digital calculators, questionnaires became an essential part of everyday work.

But some problems emerge more often than others: because of the employment specialties of the agents, quality assurance is cumbersome, the administration is hardly free from paper, and there is not enough information available about the clients. The management is struggling to get an idea of what is going on at the personal consultations, let alone to control it, so the options to control the outcome is also limited, at least with management tools.

Have the agents made it to the meeting? How much time did they spend there? Did they present all the necessary documents? Did they ask all the essential questions? Did they assemble the quote according to the real demands of the client? If the client calls of the appointment, how can it be rescheduled efficiently?

When the agent faces these questions, the answers show the amount of administration (signing in to more systems, mixing paper and electronic documents, the difficulties of data recording and reporting) puts the margin of error too high.

Mobile Solutions Preferred

Finding all that you need for your job in one place, regardless of whether you work as an agent or a manager – sounds impossible? However, that is precisely what a mobile application has to offer. Adapted to the particular challenges of insurance distribution, SCOLVO Sales, for example, provides access not only to client data stored in a CRM or to corporate email but also to other back-end systems, and they can also be synchronized on the go. The agents can also find all the presentations, contract templates, or corporate calculators in the app.

All this is easily manageable on a mobile device since the agents only have to log in once, to a single application. After that, all the crucial information appears on a simple dashboard, together with the tasks for the day.

The mobile app offers an interface for the management as well, to communicate tasks and changes more simply and quickly. They can schedule the team’s resources on demand, in real time. They can also see where, in what timeframe, and what kind of information did the agents deliver to the clients, and what new data could he or she could get.

Well-managed Information = More Clients and More Engagement

Thanks to the central management available through the mobile app, the daily organization becomes smoother and more efficient, and it gives more information to the managers about the contents of a personal meeting. The work of the agents is trackable, and the team can do the tasks following best practices. Meanwhile, the management receives automatic and instant feedback on that.

The easy-to-use application and the easy-to-understand, easy-to-oversee functions allow the agents to record data easier and quicker, improving data quality. They don’t abandon the CRM for difficulties of usage, so it also becomes more accurate, more current, so more useful for the business.

The better data quality allows the management to get to know the clients better. The summarized information, completed with other, automatic reports made during the personal sales meetings (like the length of the session, the material presented, emails, follow-ups), result in offers that better suit client demand and promote further sales opportunities (upsell, cross-sell).

SCOLVO Sales – The ultimate selling machine for financial institutions has arrived:

The post Insurance Distribution with a Mobile Solution: Quick, Simple, Up-to-date appeared first on Scolvo.

Lost in Conversation

There are many steps in the retail banking sales process where it could be a demand for increased effectiveness. During a personal meeting, the agent might miss several opportunities to get to know the client and give them a more precise, more tailored offer.

There is, for example, one of the first steps of a personal consultation, when the agent tries to find out as much as possible about the client’s financial situation. The conversation will eventually shed light on the type of advice the client needs, considering their existing or non-existent savings (credit-focused or savings-focused), but the mid-term and long-term plans usually remain unexplored. As a consequence, financial institutions lose billions by not knowing the client enough.

With the current administration practices, documenting “hints” is accidental and depends on the preparedness of the agent. The management, on the other hand, only has limited possibilities to intervene in the process. They mostly have to rely on the onboarding and training period to get their messages through or suggest a necessary change while controlling productivity.

There is a problem with transparency, too. During the necessary data registration process, the retail banking agents don’t use systems that could allow them to share the registered information with the client (e.g., financial snapshot or sending a colorful PDF about the suggested products), and there is no possibility to make the necessary calculations together. It makes winning the trust of the “always-on” clients, and the fact that the agents only send out the quotes days or weeks later doesn’t help either.

Value for the Client

An application that was developed keeping in mind the priorities of personal sales meetings helps to complete the consultation and keep it transparent. A piece of software that serves as a central access point for the official documents, contracts, as well as the product brochures, client databases or quote calculators, will make it easier for both the consultant and client, as well as shorten the sales cycle. Such an application is a useful tool for the sales managers, too, to coordinate teamwork and to better distribute the available resources.

Because of the integration with internal legacy systems, many would think it a desktop application is the solution. But the surprising truth is that a tablet application is a way more modern sales tool, and it is also easier to implement. When using a tablet, the agent and the client sit next to each other, the client is involved in the sales process, increasing its effectiveness.

The application can easily integrate internal systems, so it can contain all the necessary information and also make it available to the client immediately or as an attachment of a follow-up email. If it’s a returning client, some of the data can be accessed from the database, so it reduces the administration. Even the calculators can be used outside of the corporate website, by accessing it directly from the application, and print a contract right on site if the client accepts the quote.

Financial Planning as an Experience

Using a mobile application in retail banking radically transforms the current processes without making them more difficult. Due to the smooth operation, the agents are happy to incorporate the tool into their workflows. The client will experience a new way of banking: during a personal meeting, sitting next to the agent, they can be active participants of the financial planning – a feature that builds trust and increases satisfaction.

By accessing the documents quickly, the agent can get from the first registration of data to the contract, and they can also complete their administration duties without paper. Meanwhile, the managers can control all steps of the process, keep the information up-to-date, and receive automatic reports. The sales agents can always see in the application what meetings they have and when do they have to follow up with a particular client.

According to SCOLVO’s industry-specific experience, the mobile sales enablement tool has dramatically increased task management, both on a team as on a personal level. The productivity of the banks has increased in general, with the help of the features accessible through the tablet and due to the modern sales tool. Further advantages that financial institutions mentioned included the seamless data flow, a proper CRM-usage, current reports, and paperless processes.

SCOLVO Sales – The ultimate selling machine for financial institutions has arrived:

The post Retail Banking: Sell More with a Mobile Solution appeared first on Scolvo.

Should security be one of your primary concerns, too, we give you a realistic overview of the threats and also some useful tips on how you can protect your business from such attacks. And not only on the good old desktop: as smartphones are on the way to become the most used devices in the workplace, you need to get ready to protect them as well!

Business desktops under attack again

Malicious code that blocks access to data or a whole computer by encrypting the files seems a successful recipe for easy money and extensive media attention. They provided an opportunity to talk digital security strategies good and bad as WannaCry hit corporations like Renault, Deutsche Bahn, and FedEx, and a reinvented version of Petya made its way to Russian and Ukrainian banks, Maersk, and WPP.

And this is not ‘just’ about the desktops anymore. With less publicity, attacks such as Fusob, Svpeng, and SMALL, also threatened mobile devices and systems  – just to mention a few. Enterprise mobility is no safe territory, anymore, and the vulnerability goes further than a weak endpoint: we’re talking about personal consumer devices storing or accessing company data.

Corporate security strategies revised

The broad reach of attacks forced many companies to alter their security policies regarding user control, transparency, the IT-departments’ role, and general awareness, especially as more and more enterprise software has its mobile version developed.

The risks can no longer be denied: there is much to do about:

• A workforce that is increasingly mobile but not necessarily more experienced in protecting corporate data.
• The volume and types of devices used in a workplace and how these devices handle data.
• Reshuffling IT’s priorities: taking security measures, educating a wider group of stakeholders.
• Analysing all the possible effects of a data breach on the business.

Besides the prevention measures mentioned above, you will also need protection. For example, anti-virus software makers are also adding their part in preparing for more assistance and expanding even more in the mobile space.

Symantec was the last to make the news with two recent acquisitions: the Israeli Skycure with a focus on predictive threat detection, and Fireglass with a browser isolation technology that helps to stop the spreading of malware.

VMWare has partnered up with Trend Micro to provide better protection against mobile attacks. It does that by allowing IT-administrators to get a birds-eye view of their (ever-growing) network, quickly identify threats, and make more informed decisions based on what they saw.

Securing mobile business applications in a future-proof way

The first step is to accept that every business is at risk: big or small, with or without a field team, working on any operating system. Also, every application is vulnerable to some extent. Then, take time to understand your current type and level of protection, so you’ll know what you’re missing: this way, you can react faster in case of an attack.

More focus on user behavior

In protecting your data in association with mobile apps, user behavior is crucial. From this perspective, your Millennial workforce might be the more at risk.

With a security awareness training, you can educate your staff about best practices, such as regularly updating the apps they use and the safety implications of sending mobile data through public wireless networks.

The best business mobile apps update themselves automatically for more protection, but it’s always worth to double-check.

Application control

As apps are becoming more and more dominant in the modern workplace, their integration becomes more important as well. The anti-virus software, the MDM or EMM should all work together in stopping any possible attacks and allow for maximum security.

Solutions that are independent of the location of the data, like precisely setting access rights and multi-level identification app by app, generally work well.

The successful combination of these methods might vary by company, but the goal is clear: to pass the five security checkpoints of a secure mobile business app. These checkpoints are the following:

• Secure code. Developers use encryption, audits, reviews, testing, approval processes to make sure no malicious code could appear.
• Secure data. Proper and up-to-date encryption of data ensures protection against misuse.
• Secure access. Role-based access provides an extra layer of security to passwords.
• Secure communication. The mobile app and the back-end should communicate with proper encryption and authentication protocols, like SSL/TLS.
• Secure third-party services. The risk of each provider should be assessed and their security and risk management program revised.

If you are aware of the industry standards, best practices, and user-generated issues that might have an impact on security, you have already taken a big step forward in securing your mobile business apps.

The post Mobile Ransomware Attacks: Don’t Let Your Business Apps Fall Prey to Malicious Code appeared first on Scolvo.

It is even more so for field sales where mobility and quick reactions, as well as interaction with prospects and clients, are crucial. There come enterprise mobile apps, the natural-born sales enhancers – see our compilation of the very best!

Linkedin Sales Navigator

For young sales representatives, Linkedin is already an essential tool to get in touch with prospects – it makes making connections easier and even cold mailings less annoying. The Sales Navigator is a unique application developed for sales reps to enhance credibility further and improve planning by getting to know the prospects more. No wonder reps like to take them on the road: Sales Navigator’s mobile app is especially useful in its selection of the most important features, like real-time update and recommendation of leads. LinkedIn’s dedication to cater more for this segment’s needs is shown by the latest announcements in March concerning the launch of a new enterprise product, and integrations offering new presentation and CRM-features.

Best feature: Real-time updates on saved accounts and leads

Mobile CRM (Salesforce and Co.)

Having a mobile version of the company CRM on their phones is a no-brainer for young professionals. Why wouldn’t someone use the advantages of having all client and prospects data at hand at all times? Salesforce and the likes have become popular because of the deep understanding of the sales professionals’ needs and providing them with a tool that covers all aspects of their work assignments. Think team synchronization, mapping routes, or e-signature.

Best feature: AppExchange in Salesforce, where you can find instantly connectable apps for even more productivity.

CamCard

An excellent addition to a CRM, CamCard assists the sales reps in archiving all the business cards they collect along the way. Many professionals have already discovered the method of making photos of cards and collect them in a separate folder, but CamCard takes this approach one step further by extracting data from the pictures and archive them. You can even exchange cards with colleagues or clients through the app. As simple as it sounds, the app helps to avoid making a small but annoying mistake that is possibly harmful to the business: losing valuable contacts.

Best feature: The app can process information in 17 languages.

Scolvo Sales

When the competition is heating up in financial services, utilities, or retail, salespeople need tools to tackle the challenges and beat the rest of the field in speed and personalization. You can assemble the Scolvo Sales application from pre-developed modules that are based on industry best-practices, can be customized in seconds, and giving you the advantage of a rapid implementation (within a few days). It helps sales agents track their tasks, performance, and access relevant documents for completing deals, as well as to add records themselves, such as notes or contracts.

Best feature: The user interface – it is so beautiful it makes you forget you’re using a business app and not a consumer one.

Sales Tracking Calendar

Sales pros are performance-driven and motivated by the numbers, so an app that assists them with tracking is likely to succeed. Sales Tracking Calendar by Pipeline Pro, as its name suggests, uses the calendar format to track data and calculate monthly achievements and remaining tasks based on the registered activities and set objectives. It also tracks the clients through the sales pipeline until the deal is closed.

Best feature: It creates a weekly plan based on the objectives, so you can focus on the clients and still hit your targets.  

Datanyze

Benchmarking and competition tracking is part of the background duties of B2B sales agents – these activities help find the best times to approach your prospects with an offer that you tailor to their actual needs. What Datanyze does is it analyzes data to determine which software your prospects use, which one they have just started or stopped using. It gives real-time insight into the technology choices and buying signals of business, also called technographics. It recently partnered with IVC and Interarrows to expand to the European and Asian markets.

Best feature: A scoring system that ranks your existing accounts and compares the best-performing ones to any new accounts.

Time Tracking

Although many of the apps mentioned above include time-tracking functions, when you don’t have access to any of these, it’s good to be at least in the know about your times spent on the job. There are several of such tools on the market, from the ones that are for self-control to those that are expressly designed to keep track of a whole sales team. The Timely app, for example, automatically tracks all the activities that you set in it, whether it be meeting a client, creating a presentation, or taking a lunch break – you can select which one of these might go in a final report. Another tracking app, VisitEye, does not only keeps a record of the activities performed, but also of locations, mileage, expenses, photos, and client-related info – everything related to a field sales rep’s working hours.

Best feature: scheduling and re-scheduling client visits based on real-time location data

The post Indispensable Business Mobile Apps Used by Young Sales Professionals appeared first on Scolvo.

Better User Experience

An app that has an easy and intuitive user interface and covers an effective workflow (e.g. no double input of data) will be used to a greater extent, resulting in more work getting done. On the other hand, mobile apps give the opportunity to be geographically flexible by definition, but if this feature is not combined with ease of use, then they quickly become redundant.In a Forrester study, 64% of respondents said they would not use corporate apps because of the poor experience.

When complicated business processes are translated to a few taps and swipes, though, it promotes finding and sharing information as well. Your employees are used to beautiful consumer apps to help with their personal request, and the same kind of experience will enable them to use the enterprise app from day one, drastically cutting training time or skipping it altogether.

Flexibility, Collaboration, and Time

The most obvious feature of a mobile application is that it gives a greater level of flexibility for the employees. Freed from a 9-5 schedule, your employees can benefit from individual peak times to improve overall performance. A recent survey by Vodafone found that 83% of the companies recorded improvements in productivity due to a flexible working policy.

With enterprise social apps and other channels, employees can easily update or even train each other for better outputs. This collaboration can be easily adapted to mobile. One reason to do so is the proven ability to connect workers at remote places who get to combine their expertise when it is most needed even in new ways, such as sketches and other visuals.   

Mobile also helps to get more things done when your team is out on the field for deals: the real-time input of the data (of prospective customers or of orders) results in a faster sales process.

Access to Corporate Data

Input is just one side of the equation – the output, wherever and whenever, is just as important. Mobile business applications help companies better manage their data to reach their full potential.

If everyone has access to the same dataset, regardless of whether or not they are in the office, it radically increases effectiveness and productivity. A good example is the checking of inventory before closing a deal, but knowing about the latest promotion or a recall on a product it’s also essential for the business.

More Savings

Let’s get down to business! For a new mobile tool to be considered for productivity improvements, it should prove that through the productivity gains, business gains are achieved. It could be visible as savings in time or money for the organization.

The better use of human resources through mobility apps, e.g. through converting manual processes to mobile ones, comes with significant costs savings most organizations, a recent mobile app usage survey revealed. Add streamlined business processes and again, finding the necessary information quickly, and you have also saved a good amount of employee uptime.

The post Why Use Mobile Apps to Improve Workplace Productivity appeared first on Scolvo.