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Touchtone Debuts Wireless CRM Offering
by Alex Woodie
If your company requires sales staff or support personnel to use customer relationship management software
out in the field, you know how difficult it can be sometimes to synchronize the work done offline with the
CRM database back at the office. To that end, Touchtone
recently announced a new solution that allows field personnel to log on to a Wintouch eCRM server, using a
common cell phone modem installed in a laptop PC, and maintain real-time contact with the CRM server indefinitely.
iSeries-based CRM
Wintouch eCRM is a full suite of application modules that run only on the OS/400 platform, making it one
of the few CRM packages that are iSeries-specific. With integrated modules--such as contact management,
customer service, and sales force automation--Wintouch eCRM is designed to improve the customer service
experience for people who deal with companies that have implemented the software and learned to use it
properly.
Touchtone brought Java technology to Wintouch eCRM (then known as Wintouch) in 1998, four years
before CRM giant Siebel Systems announced its Web-based offering,
Touchtone officials are keen to point out. Today employees can access the application entirely through a
Java applet that downloads from an AS/400 or iSeries server to the Web browser on an employee's thin
client or PC.
With wireless access improving in many urban areas in the United States and mobility continuing to be a
top priority for the traveling worker, Touchtone decided it needed to offer its customers a simpler way to
access the host-based application remotely. While its customers can buy modems and wireless service on
their own, Touchtone has wisely decided to streamline and package the solution itself. You would expect
this sort of thing from a company that makes its money selling software that stresses the importance of maintaining
strong customer ties. Touchtone appears to be practicing what it preaches.
CRM Without Wires
Touchtone's new wireless solution consists of two very simple elements: a wireless modem and a wireless
network service. Touchtone chose to partner with Sprint PCS
for the modem and digital service, although Wintouch eCRM users are free to sign up with any
combination of modem and network provider that can give them wireless access to the eCRM server and the
DB2/400 database.
Wintouch eCRM users can go through Touchtone to buy a Sprint AirCard 510 modem, which is actually
manufactured by a company called Sierra
Wireless. The AirCard 510 is a PCMCIA card that slides right into a laptop and provides up to 14.6
kbps of usable code division multiple access (CDMA) network bandwidth to the user.
Wintouch eCRM users who have a cell phone that also uses the Sprint PCS network will find their coverage
areas for wireless real-time access to an iSeries server is identical to that of their cell phone. Sprint PCS
provides access to the 300 largest metropolitan areas in the United States and services a total of more than
400 cities. Monthly access fees vary by usage but are usually $40 to $60 per month--the same as a cell
phone. The modem itself is about $50 to $60.
"It's extremely economical to offer users a wireless connection out in the field," says Rich Hall, vice
president of communications and marketing at the Costa Mesa, California, software vendor. "We found
Sprint to be very good as far as coverage goes, and it'll be launching third-generation service in the middle
of this year," which will increase the bandwidth even more.
Bandwidth Economics
While the forthcoming third-generation network will increase the response time of the Wintouch eCRM
application over a wireless network, Hall says the response time is quite suitable already over a 14.6 Kbps
connection.
"We haven't found anyone that can match our technology from a data packet viewpoint," says Hall. "Most
of the time, while our software is running, some other CRM applications for the AS/400 have a lot of I/O
taking place, while its working and waiting."
The ILE RPG used to write the application, which is now in its 11th year, is largely responsible for the
software's miserly consumption of AS/400 and iSeries system resources, Hall says.
"The RPG code allows us to be very efficient in accessing the AS/400 data, and the Java code makes it very
efficient running on the client side," he says.
A license for Wintouch eCRM includes all of the modules and ranges in price from $700 to $1,500 per user,
depending on the number of users. The server component of the suite costs $4,995. For more information,
visit www.wintouch.com.
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