Flooring Manufacturer Secures CRM Mobile Application with bowbridge
The Challenge
Companies around the world want to streamline their sales processes and make it easier for sales personnel to communicate with other reps, save critical customer information and close deals. One way companies do this is by allowing the sales force to upload key sales information — like contacts, visit details, product descriptions, and task assignments — to their CRM environments.
IVC, a global vinyl flooring manufacturer, is taking their CRM a step further. Sales representatives are able to upload important customer documents directly from their mobile devices. For the sales team, the mobility and user friendliness of the CRM application are major factors in their ability to quickly and easily close deals.
For IVC’s technology team, these same factors presented a major security concern.
The team knew the risk of malware being hidden in seemingly innocuous files. What’s more, the CRM integrated with IVC’s larger SAP infrastructure. However, the sales representatives were using their own devices, to connect to the SAP CRM application via multiple unprotected mobile gateways. Because the uploaded documents weren’t being scanned for viruses, even a single corrupted file could expose the entire SAP system to damage.
To eliminate this threat, IVC needed to be able to scan each file before it was uploaded to the CRM, without slowing down the highly active sales force. This would require a specialized, trusted solution designed to integrate with IVC’s SAP-FIORI CRM applications.
IVC began looking for a proven antivirus solution that would support its SAP-FIORI CRM applications. They took their security concern directly to SAP, who immediately referred them to bowbridge Anti-Virus for SAP Solutions.
At a Glance
Customer:
IVC Group
Industry:
Global vinyl flooring manufacturer headquartered in Avelgem, Belgium
Challenge:
To allow the sales force to upload sales-related files to its CRM from their mobile devices without exposing the entire SAP system to malware
Solution:
bowbridge Anti-Virus for SAP Solutions
Results:
The IVC sales force can now securely and confidently upload transaction- and customer-related data to the CRM with minimal exposure to external security threats.
“The reason we chose bowbridge? They offered the only SAP-approved solution that would let sales reps easily and securely upload files to our CRM without worrying about introducing viruses into our SAP system.”
— Ignace Opsommer, Chief Information Officer, IVC
The Solution
The SolutionHaving a solid antivirus solution on the company’s mobile gateway was essential. bowbridge Anti-Virus would do just what IVC needed: scan every external file that was uploaded, and protect the SAP system against potential malware.
With its extensive policy-managed filtering options, the bowbridge Anti-Virus guarantees the highest performance, tight integration with SAP’s monitoring and security audit capabilities, and third-party monitoring solutions.
IVC was also impressed that the bowbridge solution is the only SAP-approved product on the market and meets the certification criteria of the most recent NW-VSI 2.0 specifications. Bowbridge has been certified by SAP four consecutive times, and SAP’s demanding certification process ensures the application’s stability, reliability and data integrity.
Integrating the bowbridge solution with the CRM application required no changes to the application itself, and IVC was pleased with the overall speed and ease of implementation.
“If you’re planning on opening your application to the outside world, it must be 100% secure. Using bowbridge as the antivirus on our mobile gateway, we can confidently allow our sales force to upload outside information to their mobile devices.”
—Ignace Opsommer, Chief Information Officer, IVC
The Results
The ResultsSince implementing the bowbridge solution, IVC is confident its SAP-based applications are protected from a multitude of content attack vectors. Moreover, continued 24/7 support from bowbridge ensures the long-term stability of the solution as well.
IVC’s Western European sales force is now able to securely upload information on residential and commercial contract customers and prospects. The ability to safely process and access this stored information helps IVC improve its customer relationships and facilitate the deal-making process — ultimately improving their bottom line.
