End-user demand for mobile access to desktop customer relationship management (CRM) solutions has spurred the mobile sales force automation (SFA) market in North America. In fact, CRM vendors have sizeable customer bases waiting to incorporate mobile capabilities. Addressing customer concerns regarding installation expenses, data security, and deployment difficulties will add to the SFA market's growth.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Mobile Sales Force Automation (SFA) Markets, finds that the market earned revenues of more than $434.0 million in 2012 and estimates this to reach $1,010.3 million in 2017.

Mobile SFA solutions are a top application choice in North America, as they allow sales employees on-the-go access to contacts, leads, sales materials, and a wide assortment of customer and company data on smartphones and tablets. The benefits of SFA, such as faster sales processes, reduced paperwork, increased sales revenues, and quick return-on-investments have further fueled adoption.

"The advent of the tablet has contributed to market revenues," said Frost & Sullivan Information and Communication Technologies Principal Analyst Jeanine Sterling. "While the small size of the smartphone screen limits the amount and type of data shown, the tablet's larger, high-resolution screen can display information, charts and videos in an easy-to-read, professional format, widening the application scope of mobile SFA solutions."

The vast majority of current users are satisfied with the technology's results and have planned for expanded deployments over the next 12 months.  However, other high-potential businesses have yet to deploy, remaining anxious about costs, especially in a still-slow economy. These enterprises are concerned about the cost of new mobile devices for sales teams, the integration of backend systems, and the implementation of new data security processes.

Nevertheless, cost concerns will dissipate as traditional desktop CRM providers realize that they can no longer impose a separate fee for mobile access to basic SFA services. It remains to be seen if they will employ tiered pricing for mobilizing their more sophisticated CRM capabilities.

"While traditional CRM vendors continue to wrestle with price and portfolio issues, they face strong competition from mobile application developers that choose to implement standalone mobile SFA solutions," noted Sterling. "These solutions are typically hosted, so implementation is quick and monthly per-user pricing is affordable."