LONDON, United Kingdom – Businessmen are smart when it comes to phones and Mark Lavender has to be one of the smartest, because he advises other businesses which mobiles to use.

So naturally we wanted to know what the Sales Director of CCS Mobile thinks about the Nokia Lumia 800 as a business tool.

And we can reveal that his company is one of the first global adopters of Nokia’s cool Windows Phone.

“It’s unbelievably good for certain tasks. We use Microsoft 365 with SharePoint so most of our resources are stored in the Cloud,” he says.

“This means that the sales force can update orders instantly from anywhere, saving them a wait until they can use their laptop. Nike and Puma are big customers of ours and when our sales guys get asked questions, it means they can get information instantly from the Cloud, rather than have to promise to get back to the client later.

“Not only is being able to use SharePoint on the go saving us time, it makes us look really cool.

“It’s enabling us to upgrade our service to the client. And it’s improving our staff’s work-life balance, because it’s saving a lot of travel time. It’s also saving us money on travel costs.

“I can see a lot of companies using it.”

Mark and his team already have three Nokia Lumia 800s and have been putting them through their paces since Nokia World last month. Their team of 19 people just couldn’t function without the kind of mobility the Nokia Lumia 800 is providing.

“I’ve had all types of smartphone,” says Mark. “But the Mango OS really fits with our business model.”

“The operating system is a business class tool. The email client shows everything by conversation. The richness of the email experience makes it very easy to stay on top of work.

“And People won’t just invest in the Lumia 800 for what it can do now. They know it will go on delivering, version after version.”

And after advising business on mobiles for 25 years, his company is in a great position to appreciate the importance of such continuity.

I asked Mark about the uses for OneNote, which comes with the Nokia Lumia 800 and provides access to 25GB of free storage in the Cloud, via a Windows Live account.

OneNote

“We haven’t even scratched the surface of what OneNote can do for us yet,” he says. “But one client, who specializes in maintaining cranes can’t wait until they get it on their phone.

“It will enable them to take a picture of a fault, describe it in text and even add a voice note, then upload it to the Cloud to share with people back at the office.

Mark is already finding more ways to make his business run more smoothly and efficiently, thanks to the Nokia Lumia 800 and its Windows software.

“We are starting to use SharePoint for expenses. So staff can take a picture of a receipt and submit it straight to accounts. And I’ve seen the beta of Microsoft Lync so we are really excited about that being added to the Lumia portfolio.

The phone will launch fully for business early in the new year. But this early indication, from an expert in the field is that the Lumia is a real winner for business uses.

“The Lumia is more Tweeted about than any other phone in my circles at the moment,” says Mark. “We’re hearing Nokia is a trusted brand in ways no other can match. They are world class and the business community is starting to wake up to its longevity.

“There’s a clear quality benchmark established with the Nokia Lumia 800.

“It’s the first iteration of an OS that genuinely puts the desktop on your mobile.”

image credit: kwanwoo