If your reps make frequent trips to visit customers, the additional cost of implementing a wireless solution should be balanced by increased customer satisfaction, more efficient business processes, and a boost in employee morale. Furthermore, if your employees currently use laptops to run the CRM client, you can achieve a significant cost savings by replacing them with smaller, less expensive machines, which are easier to maintain. Understandably, due to some input and graphical limitations, adopting these new devices may not be always possible or practical. You will have to decide according to your specific application requirements. For example, entering scads of data can be challenging, even on the latest omnipresent Palm VII because it lacks a built-in keyboard and requires users to either scribble Graffiti or tap in single characters with the stylus.
Employees can simplify that task with an add-on keyboard.
As technology evolves, these machines will offer better graphics. Future versions of the Palm OS promise support for higher resolutions, but for now, you'll have to make due with what's available. If your company is in a business environment that can't wait, you might have to bite the bullet and trade weight and size for the better graphics and easier input of a Windows CE device. This, in turn, will improve your company's image, shorten your response time to customers' demands, and ultimately improve the efficiency of your sales and support structure. Such machines provide almost limitless freedom to communicate and take care of business from anywhere.