Lack of remote access hindering sales

Salespeople are suffering from lack of access to the Internet when on the road, according to a survey by CRM experts, Saratoga Systems.

Saratoga asked over 200 visitors to this year's Softworld for Sales and Marketing Exhibition and found that although the majority use the Internet for work and personal research in the office and at home, only 55 per cent claim to have the same level of access to customer and product information when out of the office. Sixty per cent said that this was because their company restricted access when out of the office.

Saratoga's UK managing director, Alistair Bremner, criticised companies for "ignoring their most important asset - customers - for far too long".

"Today's technology should make salespeople's jobs much more efficient," said Bremner. "Being able to access the Internet and sales information while out of the office is a huge step forward for the sales force and could go a long way to ensuring greater customer loyalty."

Laptops are the most popular method of remote Web access, while only 16 per cent are beginning to use alternatives, such as Palm Pilots.