The next 12-18 months promise to be a period of continued transition, as each carrier delves further into the MRM sector and as today's MRM application developers and middleware vendors each fight to maintain/increase market share.

New analysis from Frost and Sullivan, North American Mobile Resource Management (MRM) Markets: Handset-based Field Productivity Solutions, estimates that U.S. handset-based MRM revenues totaled over $154 million in 2007 and projects this figure to surpass $1.6 billion in 2013.

Moving MRM from large, proprietary in-vehicle systems to less expensive GPS-enabled handsets and web-based tracking has opened up the solution category to all size businesses and a wider array of vertical industries.

Actual rollouts show that MRM brings tangible financial returns such as reduced overtime, fuel, and labor costs, increased job completion rates, and more accurate billing processes. As these solutions are used to magnify visibility across a company's entire supply chain, the financial benefits expect to intensify accordingly.

However, a key challenge to widespread MRM adoption is simply lack of customer awareness. No true mass marketing effort has taken place, as wireless carriers tend to promote at the local market level and often count on an under-trained sales force to identify and close sales.

The wireless carriers are still learning how to effectively market handset-based MRM and educate the marketplace.

Their ability to promote and sell the more sophisticated MRM field service applications can be haphazard due to uneven training, a lack of clear differences among MRM offers, and some confusion regarding just who the MRM purchase decision-maker is in the enterprise.

"To stimulate awareness of and interest in MRM solutions, both the carriers and application vendors must clearly define the value-add of MRM and proactively educate high-potential customer segments," says Frost and Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst Jeanine Sterling.

"This entails a careful, market-based evaluation of the carrier's emerging MRM portfolio, improved sales force training and tools, and a closer sales and marketing relationship with key stakeholders such as MRM application and middleware developers, systems integrators, and independent software vendors."

Frost and Sullivan views the current North American market as being extremely under-penetrated, with substantial revenue and subscriber growth percolating in multiple market segments.

"MRM services appeal to companies of all sizes, with the small and medium business (SMB) segment focused on point solutions, instant connectivity, and fast ROI," notes Sterling.

"Larger businesses are interested in richer workflows, scalability, and more robust integration with multiple back-end systems hence wireless carriers and MRM application developers need to sharpen their marketing plans and forge tighter relationships in order to reap this product category's full revenue potential."

North American Mobile Resource Management (MRM) Markets: Handset-based Field Productivity Solutions is part of the Mobile and Wireless Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: mobile asset management, mobile office solutions, location-based services, and mobile premium downloadable content and applications.

All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

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