Gedeon Richter Vietnam (Gedeon Richter) is a representative office of the multinational pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter PLC. The sales team of Gedeon Richter is already quite mobile, using motorcycles as their primary mode of transportation to meet with clients and navigate the traffic of Vietnam. As with any sales force, the team needed easy access to information and communication, but with maximum convenience and low bulk.

BlackBerry® smartphones were used to further mobilize their on-the-go sales force, allowing them to travel light without compromising the access to company data. With the abundance of Wi-Fi® hotspots available in the cities, they were able to cut data costs, further increasing the return on investment of the mobile equipment.

You may not live in Vietnam and ride a motorcycle as part of your work, but mobilizing a sales force with the proper equipment and keeping them connected to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution is still a crucial parallel that can be drawn. BlackBerry® Enterprise Express allowed Gedeon Richter to manage the devices and plug into their existing CRM tools and Microsoft® Exchange mail server, rounding out the solution and representing cost efficiency. Check out the PDF below to read the full case study:

If you’ve got a customer success story, don’t hesitate to let us know at success@rim.com. Does your sales force use BlackBerry smartphones? How have they benefited from the mobility and connectivity? Share in the comments below.

A while back we ran a post on the growth of co-working spaces amongst Small and Medium Businesses (actually, amongst anyone – it seems that the appeal of co-working spaces is vast, spanning from the entrepreneur right through to travelling road warriors from F100 companies). Check out the Co-Work directory that we posted last year.

That said, Co-Works may not be the best fit for everyone. There are a number of other very viable alternatives out there that might work better for you. In these times of total mobility and working wirelessly from anywhere at any time, I expect that we will see more non-traditional workspace options coming up. Here is a brief synopsis of some other alternatives for the mobile worker, along with some links for more information.

Workplace Solutions – The most common non-traditional office-type suppliers are the very large providers of ‘workplace solutions’ along the lines of Regus. There are many types of packages and options to choose from to meet any business’s types of needs. Plus many are global so you may be able to opt for access to their buildings in various locations depending on where your business or personal life takes you.

Office Business Centers – These tend to be more in line with the Regus model of office space rental/lease than Co-Works, but there are many and they are varied across North America and the rest of the world. Business Centers in this category tend to be more local and individually owned, so they likely have their own flavor and style. They sometimes have reciprocal usage options amongst them as well.

Incubators or Accelerators – These are usually based on an application for entry and come with additional services and consulting to help get your company off the ground. Normally, the expectation is that you wouldn’t stay in an incubator or accelerator for the long term. They are meant to do what the name implies: get your business going to the point where you ‘graduate’ and go it on your own.

If none of these are what you are after, the local coffee shop with free Wi-Fi® is also a tried, tested and true solution.

Where do you like to work? Do you use a combination of these solutions to be most productive?

BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System (MVS) 5.1 with voice over Wi-Fi® calling is now available for Avaya in North America, in addition to the existing North American Cisco® and Mitel® functionality to support BlackBerry MVS. BlackBerry MVS is available to the UK through the Cisco® platform. This connection system allows calls to be transferred between networks, further enhancing employee connectivity. For details, check out www.blackberry.com/mvs.

What is BlackBerry Mobile Voice System?

BlackBerry MVS provides the opportunity for unique cost savings by unifying the broad array of voice hardware into single handheld devices. Full control of the connection – as well as managing incoming and outgoing calls – rests with the company, and comes complete with a variety of options and settings for administrators. BlackBerry MVS was designed to: boost productivity, enable IT groups to manage calls, allow employees to remain easily connected to the organization without the need for a desk phone, and to deliver overall value through increased mobility and connectivity.

So What’s the Benefit?

Beyond conceptualizing the idea of unifying mobile communications and managing voice packets with ease, there are tangible bottom-line benefits to MVS. For example, consider the cost savings of voice plans once a percentage of your company’s calls are routed via WiFi. Concerning hardware, consider how much an average desk phone costs, and imagine the savings of cutting this expense time and time again. Lastly, picture a new employee that has less to learn due to less hardware and more unified systems, saving you the cost of time and increasing the speed at which he or she begins to contribute productively. Clearly the positive impact of MVS extends beyond the full list of features, beyond the supporting concepts and industry trends, and spreads throughout your organization in a surprising number of ways.

Real World Example

An example of BlackBerry MVS finding success in application can be found in LTT Vending Group, one of the UK’s leading independently-owned vending machine company. LTT Vending Group implemented BlackBerry MVS to further enhance their existing BlackBerry® solution, increasing phone and customer relationship management efficiency, as well as company image. Because the implementation of BlackBerry MVS unified all employee voice communications to one phone number each, the availability of employees increased and the customer experience was simplified. In cost savings alone, LTT Vending predicts that the solution will provide a 50% cost savings on their communications bills in just over a year, which would provide a full return on the investment.

Learn More

To learn more about BlackBerry MVS 5.1, head over to www.blackberry.com/mvs, and to explore the details of the mentioned example, view the LTT Vending Group (UK) Case Study.

Share Your Thoughts

Are control, organization, and simplicity just as important for your phone as they are for your email? Share your thoughts in the comments below!