A new Yankee Group report, "Enterprises Cut Their Sales Forces Loose," predicts that CRM software vendors, systems integrators (SIs) and mobile middleware providers will focus their selling efforts on early-adopter vertical markets like pharmaceuticals, financial services and high-technology manufacturing.

The research and consulting firm said 2ireless and other mobile technologies are spurring the market for mobile field sales solutions, but that is not the only market driver:

-- Field sales is the largest segment of mobile workers (34 percent) among major companies, according to the Yankee Group's 2002 Corporate Wireless Survey.

-- Many enterprises trying to capitalize on sales-force automation (SFA) are hindered by slow user adoption, but new technologies are providing more options.

-- Competition is pushing enterprises to improve sales efficiency and effectiveness; mobile technology is one way to do that.

-- Salespeople are adopting wireless and mobile technology on their own.

"Browser-based extensions of SFA applications will face implementation challenges due to their reliance on high-speed Internet connections--or worse, relying on ubiquitous wireless connectivity," says report co-author Gene Signorini, Wireless/Mobile Enterprise & Commerce senior analyst. "Instead, successful mobile field sales support will evolve into workflow-oriented solutions that integrate information from a variety of applications on devices such as PDAs with disconnected capability."

Sheryl Kingstone, Customer Relationship Management Strategies program manager and co-author adds, "The sales support gap will be bridged when field sales solutions become truly accessible tools that salespeople are willing to use. This report examines the ways enterprises can successfully use technology for mobile field sales initiatives and how vendors can capitalize on this market opportunity."