Integrated CRM Roadmap for Revenue Growth

Content
Part 1: Topic Overview
Part 2: Reasons to Implement
Part 3: Value Drivers
Part 4: Challenges
Part 5: Performance Metrics
Part 6: Success Story
Part 7: Vendor Landscape
Sidebars
Survey Stats
Benchmark KPIs
Core Technologies
Gleanster Numbers
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terms of use.
Q1 2012
Gleansight
Integrated Customer
Relationship Management
Over the last decade, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales
Force Automation (SFA) platforms have matured and their adoption has become
widespread. Along the way, the distinction between the two has become blurred,
as many platforms now automate interactions with customers (sales processing,
order fulfillment, billing, etc.) – typical CRM functionality – as well as automate
key sales management processes and tasks – typical SFA functionality.
While many organizations achieve acceptable ROI from their CRM/SFA imple-
mentations, a number of published surveys have revealed alarmingly high failure
rates. A key challenge area involves integration with other company sales and
marketing processes and platforms. Leading CRM/SFA solution users and
providers are just now beginning to focus on this integration challenge, which is
ushering in the next evolution in CRM/SFA technology, what Gleanster refers to
as Integrated CRM or “iCRM.”
This Gleansight benchmark report explores why companies today are implement-
ing CRM/SFA platforms, in the first place, what challenges they are encountering
during and after these implementations, what business processes and organi-
zational resources they’re putting to place, and which performance metrics they
are using to track and measure their progress over time. Ultimately, it provides
a roadmap that companies can apply in the context of their own businesses to
achieve success.

Gleansight: Integrated Customer Relationship Management 2
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Survey Stats
The research findings featured
in this Gleansight benchmark
report are derived from the
Q1 2011 Gleanster survey on
Integrated Customer Relation-
ship Management.
• Total survey responses: 257
• Qualified survey responses: 216
• Company size: <$1M (2%); $1
- 10M (26%); $10-100M (18%);
$100M - $1B (43%); >$1B (11%)
• Geography: North America (76%);
Europe (9%); Other (15%)
• Industries: Restaurant and Hospital-
ity (23%); Financial Services (18%);
Pharmaceuticals (12%); Other (47%)
• Job levels: C-level (15%); SVP/
VP (20%); Director (35%);
Manager & Staff (30%)
Sample survey respondents:
• Vice President, Cognizant
Technology Solutions
• Sales Manager, Kimberly-
Clark Corporation
• Manager, Xerox
• Director, Sherwin-Williams Company
• Vice President, Securitas
Security Services
• Manager, Novant Health
• Manager, Business Develop-
ment, Regis Corporation
• Director, Bunge Ltd.
• Consultant, Hewlett Packard
Part 1: Topic Overview
Many companies have improved their customer service processes through
the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. The same
is true for improving sales productivity, though the use of Sales Force
Automation (SFA) tools. Yet, despite the growing maturity and widespread
use of CRM and SFA platforms, the tools and market continue to evolve.
One key way in which CRM and SFA platforms
have evolved is by expanding to include each
other’s functionality. CRM platforms, which
began as tools for interacting with existing
customers and tracking these interactions,
have now added similar functionality to interact
with and track sales prospects. Similarly, SFA
platforms have added CRM functionality. These
days, nearly every tool or platform contains
both CRM and SFA functions and the term
“CRM” has come to stand for tools that do both.
CRM tools have also evolved towards cloud-
based delivery systems. Initially, commercial
grade CRM tools were only available as
software packages installed on users’ own
hardware, which typically included a central-
ized database and individual PC clients. The
upfront purchase price and implementation
effort required by these “premise-based”
systems made the decision to implement a
CRM platform quite significant, both finan-
cially and operationally. To address these
challenges, CRM software providers began
selling access to “hosted” or “off premise”
CRM packages – a delivery model now
known as “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS).
In the SaaS model, the software platform
and associated databases now stay on
the providers’ servers, “in the cloud,” and
are accessed by users via password-
protected web portals. By maintaining one
master, “multi-tenant” and web acces-
sible platform – sold by monthly, per “seat”
fees – SaaS-based CRM providers enable
their customers to avoid upfront purchase
costs and implementation headaches.
CRM tools have also become much more user
customizable. Yesterday’s on premise CRM
software packages forced companies to adapt
their customer service and sales processes to
the package’s frameworks. This force-fitting
was often an early cause of CRM implemen-
tation struggles and failures. Today’s CRM
tools are typically easier to customize, so that
the tools can be (at least partially) adapted
to existing company processes. While still a
non-trivial task, the ability to adapt the tool
to the company, versus having to adapt the
company to the tool, has increased implemen-
tation success rates and CRM user satisfaction.
And yet, despite these advances, CRM
implementation failure rates remain alarmingly
high and customer CRM user satisfaction
rates remain frustratingly low. In particu-
lar, the elimination of up-front costs and
implementation work has proven to be a
double-edged sword. On one hand, it has
made CRM tools more accessible, especially
to smaller companies. On the other, this spike
in CRM adoptions has highlighted several
stubborn pitfalls of CRM implementations.
Nevertheless, having some sort of CRM
platform seems as necessary as having a
financial reporting tool. Also, companies’
expectations of where the value of a CRM
implementation will come from remain strong.
And yet, the challenges companies face when
implementing a CRM tool also remain quite
significant. Some of these challenges are
common to nearly all technology implemen-
tations, while others are unique to CRM.
A key challenge area forcing the CRM industry
to evolve yet again: the lack of integration
between third party CRM platforms with
other internal and external company sales,
marketing, and order fulfillment processes and
platforms. Many companies have begun using
marketing automation platforms, automated
lead nurturing tools, and marketing effective
measurement systems to streamline and more
accurately measure their online and tradi-
tional marketing efforts. Consequently, CRM
providers are scrambling to backward integrate
with these separate marketing platforms.
At the other end of the value chain, many
companies use CRM as a marketing and
sales force productivity and management tool,
but shift to a different order tracking, fulfill-
ment and customer service platform, once
an actual order is placed. This also has CRM
providers scrambling to forward integrate with
existing order fulfillment and ERP systems.
This overall integration challenge is leading
to the next evolution of CRM technology.
.

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Part 2: Reasons to Implement
CRM implementations are driven by companies’ desire to improve both
business processes and individual performance. In all cases, the key is
organizing a tremendous amount of ever-changing information across
thousands or even millions of interactions between the company and
its customers and sales prospects. The expectation is “what you can
measure, you can manage.” Specifically, companies believe – and many
successful CRM implementations have proved – that recording, analyzing
and more closely managing customer and sales prospect relationships
is an effective way to derive more value from these relationships and the
effort and resources being expended to build and maintain them.
Increase company revenue. For a company
to invest the significant expense and effort
of CRM implementation, the ROI has to be
there. While there are some potential cost
savings, primarily from sales and customer
service process efficiency improvements, it’s
no surprise that companies’ primary reason
for implementing CRM tools is revenue
improvement. Better customer management
should mean better customer retention and
increased up-sell opportunities to existing
customers. Better sales force manage-
ment should mean more closed sales.
Achieve tighter coordination between
Marketing and Sales. True story: A company’s
revenues weren’t meeting expectations. The
VP of Marketing made a presentation to the
board showing impressive statistics about
how many leads Marketing was sending to
Sales. Then, the Vice President of Sales
made his presentation, during which he
showed how too many of the leads he was
getting from Marketing were worthless. The
board fired both. Companies are looking
to CRM platforms to enable Marketing and
Sales to work together to improve lead
quality and sales follow-up effectiveness.
This is the essence of iCRM – a set of tools
that work well together and help various
parts of the company work better together.
Improve Sales’ information / reports/
forecasts accuracy and comprehensive-
ness. The first questions management asks
when revenue isn’t meeting expectations
are: “What is Sales doing?” and “What
are we getting for our Marketing spend?”
Today’s CRM platforms were designed
to answer this question, by tracking sales
opportunities and individual salesperson
activities. This leads to a host of valuable
information: lead-to-quote and quote-to-close
ratios, sales force productivity measure-
ments, and marketing ROI calculations.
Streamline company sales process(es)
and make it (them) more consistent.
Most managers today think that the way
to make sales forces more efficient and
effective is to make sales more of a repeat-
able process. The applicability of this axiom
varies by company and by what is being
sold. Nevertheless, for companies whose
sales can be matched to a process, a good
CRM tool is indispensible for implementing,
measuring and improving the sales process.
Benchmark KPIs
Gleanster uses 2-3 key performance
indicators (KPIs) to distinguish “Top
Performers” from all other companies
(“Everyone Else”) within a given data
set, thereby establishing a basis
for benchmarking best practices.
By definition, Top Performers are
comprised of the top quartile of
qualified survey respondents (QSRs).
The KPIs used for distinguish-
ing Top Performers focus on
performance metrics that speak
to year-over-year improvement in
relevant, measurable areas. Not
all KPIs are weighted equally.
The KPIs used for this Gleansight are:
• 12-month change in revenue
• 12-month change in return
on marketing investment
• Current return on
marketing investment
To learn more about Gleanster’s
research methodology, please click
here or email research@gleanster.com.

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Improve individual Sales representa-
tives’ performance. Individual sales rep
performance improvement is both one of
the leading reasons companies’ implement
CRM tools and one of the leading reasons
CRM implementations fail. The reason for
the latter is that salespeople often resist
the extra effort required of them to keep the
CRM databases up to date and the extra
management scrutiny brought on by the CRM
tool’s sales activity tracking capabilities. The
key to a successful CRM implementation is
balancing the tool’s demands on salespeople
with its benefits to them, including tools they
can use and incentives for using them.
Increase sales-leads-to-deals-closed
ratio. Leading CRM platforms enable sales-
people and their managers to follow every
sales lead through the sales process. This
includes scoring the leads to help salespeople
determine which ones to concentrate on first
and devote the most effort to. It also includes
analyzing which leads turn into opportunities
and quoted deals and which of those become
closed sales. A well-functioning CRM platform
improves the “quote to close” ratio by directing
limited Sales resources to the best leads and to
the opportunities that are most likely to close.
Decrease customer acquisition cost. All
CRM platform measurements are, funda-
mentally, like gauges that management can
use measure and guide how to turn their
companies’ process and personnel marketing
and sales “dials.” The idea, of course, is to
maximize yield while minimizing resources
expended. Very few CRM platforms actually
measure customer acquisition cost directly,
although leading marketing automation
platforms now calculate lead acquisition costs
and marketing campaign ROIs. Leading CRM
platforms interface with these marketing
platforms and continue to add measurement
capabilities, so direct customer acquisition
cost measurements that include sales efforts,
too, are not far from the marketplace.

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Part 3: Value Drivers
Gleanster research reveals six value drivers that 46% or more of the
companies surveyed focus on to maximize the return from implementing
a SFA/CRM tool. Their primary focus remains on sales and key themes
are quality, timeliness, and process integration. Interestingly, most of the
value drivers have to do with how the tool is used, versus a particular
tool’s unique features, and how well the tool integrates with other systems
and tools within the company’s marketing, sales and customer service
value chain. And, despite their focus on sales productivity, companies are
beginning to look to SFA/CRM platforms to improve marketing, too.
Improve sales data quality and analytics.
Nothing is more critical to a successful CRM
implementation than the quality of the data
collected by and input into the tool by users.
This goes for the information’s complete-
ness as well as its correctness. In order for
the full analytical power of a CRM platform
to be available, sales and customer service
employees must record all of the pertinent
information from every company prospect
and customer interaction. Companies that
implement CRM must pay particular attention
to data input requirements as well as the
incentives necessary to ensure compli-
ance by their individual employee users.
Enable sales management to receive
information and make decisions in
real time. While they are excellent “after
the fact” reporting tools, a CRM system’s
ability to increase a company’s revenue is
maximized when Sales managers use it to
make real-time course corrections to how
current sales leads and opportunities are
being worked by their teams. A company’s
senior managers approve CRM implemen-
tations with the expectations that sales
managers will use them in real time to improve
sales lead generation, lead-to-opportunity
conversions, and quote-to-close rations.
Streamline and establish consistency in
the company’s sales process(es). Company
managers are always investigating why some
sales groups and sales people have more
success than others. They attempt to uncover
best practices and encourage others to follow
them. By codifying these best practices
during the CRM tool setup and customiza-
tion, companies can embed them in sales
processes throughout the company and force
other employees and groups to follow them.
Integrate with other marketing, sales,
order management and customer service
software and systems. The CRM “holy grail”
is iCRM – a system that follows the seamlessly
enables, automates and manages company’s
entire marketing, sales and customer service
value chain, from first contact with a new
prospect through ongoing interactions with long
time customers. However, over time, nearly
every company has implemented different
platforms to enable and improve different tasks
within this change, from automated marketing
software to sales force automation tools to
order entry and fulfillment systems to customer
service platforms. Therefore, it is crucial that
any CRM platform, no matter how many pieces
of the value chain it covers itself, integrate
with a combination of new and legacy tools.
Core Technologies
Integrated Customer Relation-
ship Management is enabled
by a set of core technologies.
These include the following:
Website Traffic Tracking. Since a
primary way the current customers
and sales prospects alike interact with
a company is by visiting and using
the various features and functions on
the company’s website, an iCRM tool
must effectively track this aspect of
a company’s “relationship” with each
person or entity. This tracking should
include each website visitor’s initial
“source” (e.g., organic search term
used, Google Adword clicked on, etc.)
or referring page and each visitor’s
complete website history, including
pages visited, time on each page, forms
viewed and filled out, and functions
and features viewed and used. The tool
should capture each visitor’s originating
IP address, so that when a visitor from
that same IP address returns to the
site, a multi-visit history can be created.
And, after a visitor registers, the tool
must combine that visitor’s “pre-regis-
tration” website history (tracked
by IP address) with that visitor’s
registration information and “post-
registration” history going forward.
Landing Pages Editor. The first critical
“conversion” is turning website visitors
into registrants. An iCRM platform must
give companies the ability to create
attractive and customizable landing
pages and registration pages that effec-
tively capture user data and maximize
the visitor-to-registrant conversion
rate. Many studies show that landing
page content and registration page
simplicity / ease of use are critical
visitor-to-registrant conversion drivers.
Marketing Campaign Measurement.
An iCRM tool should also enable
a company to measure its various
marketing campaign’s website visitor
generation results by linking the initial
source of all website visitors to the
applicable marketing campaign. The
best iCRM tools enable companies to
track multiple marketing campaigns
simultaneously. The best iCRM

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Foster a culture of data-driven sales
decision making. Company managers want
to know, through data collection and analysis,
which marketing and sales decisions to make.
Gone are the days when marketing was all “art”
and sales was all “gut” and personal relation-
ships, although those aspects remain. Today,
company managers look to CRM tools to add
“science” to marketing and sales. Often, senior
managers will implement a CRM platform not
only to improve company performance, but to
also shift the company’s management culture
to one of more data-driven decision-making.
Improve marketing effectiveness, measur-
ability and ROI. As CRM platform providers
continue to add marketing automation
and management functionality to existing
CRM platforms, companies are looking to
these platforms to bring the same measur-
ability, data quality, analytics, real-time
decision making, and process consistency
to marketing activities, too. A major driver
of this trend is how marketing spending
continues to shift online, which enables
more measurability (e.g., website visitors,
registrations, and the resulting sales leads
and opportunities) and linkages back to
specific marketing campaigns and activities.
Stimulate sales representative performance
improvement. Improving sales representative
performance was the initial objective of most
sales force automation implementations over
the past decade and remains important to this
day. It is still true that the first thing managers
look to when measuring sales performance
is results. And, when those aren’t as high as
desired, their focus immediately shifts to their
sales peoples’ day-to-day activities – both
in terms of activity types and frequencies.
Improve customer satisfaction with
company’s sales processes and personnel.
For many companies, particularly businesses
selling to other businesses and companies
selling higher-priced product and services,
sales is a process in which both the company
and its customers participate. As companies
look to CRM platforms to streamline and
establish consistency in their sales processes,
part of their motivation is also to improve
customers’ experiences and satisfaction with
these same processes. Are salespeople
following up on time and with the right informa-
tion? Are quotes going out and adjustments
being made on a timely basis? Does the
sales process itself give customers confi-
dence in the rest of the company’s processes
and in its products and services? These
are some of right questions to be asking.
.
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platforms link marketing costs and
website visitor results all the way
through to signed orders and then
use these data to generate actual
marketing campaign ROI calculations.
Automated Email Marketing Capabili-
ties. When a website visitor registers, it
is because he or she wants something
from the company – access to addition-
al information, to take advantage of an
offer, or something else of value. In
return, the company must immediately
fulfill the initial request. Of course, the
real motivation for the company is to
use this initial interaction to cultivate
an ongoing dialog with a potential
customer. Basic iCRM platforms enable
companies to send a series of emails to
website registrants. More sophisticated
iCRM tools enable companies to send
different email campaigns to different
registrants, based on their specific
interests. The best iCRM tools enable
these email campaigns to be “condi-
tional,” where subsequent emails are
determined (at least in part) by whether
or not registrants open previous emails.
Cross Platform Integration Capabili-
ties. As shown by the research
summarized in this report, an iCRM
platform’s ability to integrate with
other company sales and marketing
processes and platforms is becoming
a critical differentiator among CRM/
SFA solution users and providers.
This means an iCRM tool should have
commonly accepted APIs to enable it to
transfer data to other platforms and vice
versa. The optimal result of this integra-
tion is the ability to follow a customer
through the entire marketing, sales,
order fulfillment, and post-sale support,
and reorder/up-sale value chain.
Dashboards and Report Genera-
tion and Distribution. While it seems
obvious that any useful iCRM tool
that includes all of the features and
functions outlined in this report would
also have reporting capabilities, a
platform’s specific dashboards, report
templates and customer report creation
capabilities are critical differentiators.
Reporting capabilities should include:
website visitor traffic and sources
tracking, automated email campaign
tracking (including email open and click

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Part 4: Challenges
The challenges associated with implementing a CRM/SFA platform fall into
two basic categories. The first is getting users – especially salespeople
and other “front line” employees who routinely interact with customers and
sales prospects – to take full advantage of the platform. To them, a new
CRM tool may appear to be nothing more than an additional data entry
burden and a new source of management scrutiny. The second challenge
lies in integrating the platform with the company’s sales process(es) and
with other company sales and marketing software.
Driving sales personnel adoption. At the
core of any CRM platform is the data and
information about customer relationships,
interaction by interaction. While much of this
data can be added to the database automati-
cally by other systems – such as marketing
platforms that automatically append website
visitor data to CRM sales lead records – much
of the interaction information must be entered
manually. Obviously, higher-quality input
equals higher-quality output. Companies need
to put the right incentives and inducements
in place to drive consistently high usage of
the CRM tool by all applicable employees.
Ensuring data credibility. Another big CRM
usage-related challenge is avoiding duplica-
tion, maintaining timeliness, and driving
accuracy. As more employees and other
company systems input data and information
into a CRM platform, the chances for errors
rise exponentially. It is critical that companies
address how they will ensure data credibility
at the outset of a CRM tool implementation,
so the initial input into the CRM database is as
“clean” as possible. Periodic data scrubbing will
still be required to delete or merge duplicate
records, update outdated information, and
purge records that are no longer useful.
Integrating the platform with other sales
and marketing software and systems. In
many cases, companies implement a CRM
platform to handle a specific function within
their overall value chains, such as sales force
management or customer service. However,
when information has to move to the next
link in the chain such as order fulfillment, it
moves via a “swivel chair network,” where the
information must be entered into an entirely
different system. Any company looking to
implement a CRM platform (or move to a
newer, more powerful one) should consider
how it will integrate with other systems that
must feed data to it or accept data from it.
Modifying the platform to fit company
sales processes. The first generation of
CRM platforms lacked flexibility and modifi-
ability. To maximize the value they derived
from the tools, companies had to modify
their marketing, sales and customer service
processes to meet the CRM platform’s rigid
structures. CRM providers soon recognized
this adoption barrier and began making their
platforms much more customizable. However,
all of this newfound flexibility presents a
new challenge. A CRM implementation now
not only includes hardware and software
issues, it also includes an adaptation phase,
where all of the tool’s changeable settings,
modifiable fields and reports, and other
adjustable features must be adjusted to fit the
company. This has spawned an entire cottage
through rates), landing page and form
views and usage, marketing campaign
results and ROI calculations, and paid
and organic search results, just to name
some of the key basic categories. Also,
the tool should have the ability for users
to generate customer reports and even
use other third party data analysis
tools to analyze the iCRM database.

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industry of CRM implementation consultants
who specialize in modifying CRM tools.
Modifying company sales processes to fit
the platform. Despite the now relatively high
adaptability of most advanced CRM platforms,
companies must still fit their sales processes to
the fundamental structure now used by nearly
all CRM platforms, including what constitutes
a lead, when a lead should be converted
into an account, and what constitutes an
opportunity. Beyond this, there are rules and
guidelines that need to be put into place,
including who has access to what informa-
tion and who has the right to modify which
information. Further, the way the company
reports on marketing, sales and customer
service activity may have to change, based on
the way the CRM tool “thinks” and its default
ways of reporting such activity. Balancing the
challenges of when to modify the CRM tool
to fit the company’s processes and when to
modify the company’s processes to fit the
tool is crucial to successful implementation.
Overcoming individual user challenges.
Today, given the ever-growing functional-
ity of the leading platforms, the key issue
isn’t training company employees to use the
platforms as much as it is getting them to all
use it the same way, or at least in ways that
enable data consistency. The more CRM
becomes iCRM, the more care companies
must take to ensure users learn how the
iCRM platform integrates with other company
software tools. Early manifestations include
Microsoft Outlook plug-ins for individual users’
email clients, software APIs that integrate call
center software, phone systems that tie into
the CRM platform, and marketing automation
platforms that synchronize their sales lead
databases with CRM tool databases. In an
iCRM world, users must not only learn to use
the CRM software itself, but also learn to use
other tools in ways that take advantage of the
CRM tool’s integrations with these other tools.
Overcoming technology challenges. As
CRM platforms move to the cloud and are
accessed via standard web browsers, nearly
all of the implementation issues with legacy
CRM platforms (which were housed on
company servers, with clients installed on
user PCs) disappear. However, as future CRM
platforms continue to trend towards the iCRM
model - where they are integrated with other
company platforms (both on-premise and in the
cloud) - a new set of technology implementa-
tion challenges emerge. As many of a typical
company’s formerly on-premise software
platforms (phone systems, marketing automa-
tion platforms, order entry and fulfillment
processes, etc.) move to the cloud, a key new
implementation skill will be integrating multiple
cloud-based platforms from multiple vendors.

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Part 5: Performance Metrics
Top-line revenue growth surfaced as the most common metric for
measuring success. But this metric is virtually useless unless it is supple-
mented with other metrics that help the company understand the CRM
tool’s contribution to overall business growth and profitability.
Annual revenue. The main reason
companies invest in CRM is to drive top-line
revenue growth. Not surprisingly, then,
annual revenue came up as the primary
metric Top Performers use to measure
their returns on a CRM investment.
Actual vs. forecasted revenue. This is
a measure of how diligently a CRM tool is
being used throughout the company. If actual
revenue is close to forecasted revenue, then
it stands to reason that accurate projections
of future sales are being put into and kept
up-to-date within the CRM system. When
actual revenues coming in dramatically differ,
one can conclude that inaccurate projections
are being put into the system, some projections
aren’t being put in at all, or some projections
previously added aren’t being updated as
new information becomes available. Accurate
sales projections help companies plan fulfill-
ment, production and future investment.
Win/Loss percentage by sales rep.
Companies implement sales force automation-
enabled CRM systems to measure individual
salesperson and group performance. The
company’s overall “quote to close” (or
sales opportunities “win/loss percentage”)
is an excellent indicator of the company’s
products and services’ competitiveness
in the marketplace. Comparing individual
salesperson and group quote to close
ratios is an excellent indicator of relative
sale performance. In addition to simply
measuring salesperson performance, a
good CRM system can help identify sales-
person and group best practices, which can
then be shared with lower performers.
System usage levels. One way to measure
marketing and sales activities is to look at
system usage, as recorded in the CRM system.
When activity levels aren’t up to expecta-
tions, management must then determine if
this is because the activities aren’t in fact
happening or they are happening, but aren’t
being accurately tracked by the CRM system.
Many companies see high CRM system usage
levels as indications of both high activity
levels and good CRM input compliance.
Average deal size. One of the key advan-
tages of having a CRM system track a high
volume of data and statistics about individual
sales deals is the ability that gives company
executives to analyze their companies’ deal
flows. The first statistic most companies look
to is average deal size. This is because they
know that the amount of effort a salesperson
puts into a sale is not proportional to the size
of the sale – in fact, small sales and clients
often take almost as much (and occasionally
more) effort as larger ones. So, while a larger
Average Deal Size – just mathematically –
means higher revenue, it also often means
a lower cost of sales per dollar of revenue.
Booking-to-bill ratio. “Book to bill ratio” is
best known as a measure used by technol-
ogy companies, such as semiconductor
manufacturers, to measure whether the
company has more orders than it can fulfill (a
book-to-bill ratio more than 1.0) or has less
orders than it can fulfill (less than 1.0). The

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use of this measure has since grown beyond
the semiconductor industry and is now used
by many companies as a general indication
of the overall demand for an organization’s
products and services relative to its capacity
to provide them. It is also used by companies
whose delivery of products and services
often takes significant time post-sale, in which
case “Book to Bill Ratio” is modified into a
measure of the time between when the sale
is made (or “booked”) to when it is invoiced
(or “billed”) after the product or service has
been delivered. In this case, the shorter the
time between booking and billing the better.
Number of sales accepted leads. Marketing
is often tasked and measured by the number
of leads it generates and passes on to Sales. If
a high percentage of these leads are deemed
unacceptable by Sales, then Marketing’s high
lead generation rate is misleading. Measuring
how many leads Marketing generates that are
“accepted” as legitimate by Sales overcomes
this problem. A high number of Sales-
accepted Leads also indicates a successful
relationship between the lead “producer”
(Marketing) and the lead “consumer” (Sales).
Sales cycle time. An Intergrated CRM system
enables more accurate sales cycle time
measurement, since it typically records when
a lead was generated and when each of the
subsequent steps in the sales cycle occur,
including when a lead becomes a real sales
opportunity, when meetings and presenta-
tions happen, when quotes are delivered,
and when deals actually close. Like overall,
company-wide win/loss percentages, average
sales cycle times improvement indicates an
overall improvement in the company’s sales
performance. The same is true for improve-
ment in the overall average times it takes
to go from one step to the next (e.g., time
between quote delivered and deal closed).
Ratio of sales accepted leads to closed
deals. The assumption is that if a lead is
acceptable then it is Sales’ job to close it.
Obviously, the higher the ratio of accepted lead
to closed lead the better the Sales organization
and individual people or groups within it can be
said to be performing. Therefore, it’s important
to evaluate the product or service quality and
appeal in relation to sales performance. Of
course, a low accepted-lead-to-closed-deal
ratio can mean many things besides poor sales
performance. A high number of sales-accepted
leads combined with a low accepted-lead-to-
closed- deal ratio indicates a company’s wares
have at least initial marketplace appeal, but
also a flaw that is derailing the sales process.
This can have everything, or nothing, to do with
the performance of the sales organization itself.

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.
Part 6: Success Story
LexJet markets and sells professional-grade, wide-format inkjet printing
equipment and supplies that have helped more than 20,000 small printing,
imaging, and sign businesses adapt to changing markets and develop new
sources of revenues. The company also provides business owners with
the knowledge and products they need to convert digital images into new
forms of visual merchandising, out-of-home advertising, and custom décor.
The Challenge
LexJet is an innovative company that
firmly believes in the value of marketing
and sales integration and, in particular,
in nurturing prospects through the early
stages of the sales cycle. However, the
company was struggling with integrat-
ing their sales and marketing efforts.
With over 50 inside sales
representatives, LexJet
also wanted to become
more process-oriented in
identifying the prospects
who were most qualified
for an initial phone call.
The reps were effective
at gathering new lead
information, but had
difficulty in getting more
detailed lead information
into the hands of the sales
team at the right time.
The Solution
In the face of these challenges, LexJet decided
to deploy a leading CRM/SFA platform, which
it leveraged for the following initiatives:
• Email Marketing
• Lead Capture forms
• Web Analytics and Website visit tracking
• White Paper campaigns
• Nurture Marketing
The Results
With the new marketing automation platform
in place, Lexjet is able to identify interested
customers in real-time using scoring profiles,
engage with them in a timely manner and
close deals at a higher success rate. In
fact, the company now has real-time lead
intelligence delivered to the desktop of
every salesperson on their team, which
helps focus their time and selling energy
on near-term, high-value prospects.
Lexjet is also able to create a lead generation
form in minutes and have that information flow
through to CRM; no developers needed.
The other major benefit is the insight the
company’s sales team
has gained. LexJet’s sales
team is able to instantly
see data from marketing
inside of the contact record.
This allows the sales team
to see who received the
campaign and what exactly
the recipient was sent.
“We have been able to
identify over 750 people
inside our database
interested in a new
solution that can expand
their businesses,” said
Pete Petersen, CIO of
LexJet. “This allowed
our sales team to identify key accounts in
the database to focus on so that we can
engage in the sales process faster.”
Key Benefits:
• Reduced costs of campaign production
• Deliver vital and timely lead
intelligence to sales
• Build pipeline faster
• Reduce time to roll out campaigns
from days/weeks to hours/minutes
Increased lead conversion due to web
tracking solution (web forensics)
.
More Success Stories
Note: The original version of this Success
Story may have been prepared—and previ-
ously published—by an enabling solution
provider. If so, it is edited and reproduced
here by permission. While reasonable efforts
have been made to verify the accuracy of the
information contained herein through inde-
pendent fact-checking, Gleanster disclaims
liability for any content that was developed
and submitted by third parties. Success Sto-
ries are selected based solely on the merits
of the content as judged by Gleanster’s
Research Oversight Committee. Vendors are
not charged a fee for inclusion and no pref-
erence is given to vendors based on their
ability to purchase other Gleanster products
or services. Any questions or concerns
regarding this particular Success Story–or
Gleanster’s selection criteria or policies, in
general–should be directed to successs-
tories@gleanster.com. Case studies may
be submitted for publishing consideration
using the Success Stories Submission Form.
“Our sales team
[can] identify
key accounts in
the database to
focus on so that
we can engage
in the sales
process faster.”

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Part 7: Vendor Landscape
For many companies, the extent to which a CRM platform integrates with
the systems on either side of it in the company’s value chain has become
a key factor in the CRM selection process. Other key decision factors
remain important, too, including: choosing the right delivery method (SaaS
or premise-based); choosing a tool that either already matches internal
sales and customer service processes or can be adapted to match them;
and choosing a platform “friendly” enough that company employees and
management will both actually use it, while still providing critical features
and functionality.
Amdocs
www.amdocs.com
“Amdocs is the market leader in customer
experience systems innovation. The
company combines business and opera-
tional support systems, service delivery
platforms, proven services, and deep industry
expertise to enable service providers and
their customers to do more in the connected
world. Amdocs’ offerings help service
providers explore new business models,
differentiate through personalized customer
experiences, and streamline operations.”
Gleanster Skinny (GS): Amdocs offers a
number of customer management solutions
that sales professionals are likely to find
useful. For example, the vendor’s Smart
Agent Desktop solution is designed to
simplify contact center initiatives by deliver-
ing tools for managing processes, customer
interactions, billing, and call center scripts.
Amdocs also offers a solution, called Click
to Order, that’s designed to simplify the
ordering process into three steps, as well as
an automated end-to-end ordering solution
and a solution for managing sales quote
orders. Released in January 2010, the latest
iteration of Amdocs’ integrated software
package for customer experience manage-
ment – Amdocs Customer Experience System
(CES) 8 – includes new capabilities for guided
selling and product lifecycle management.
Avidian Technologies
www.avidian.com
“Avidian Technologies’ Prophet is the easiest-
to-use sales force automation and contact
management software built inside Microsoft
Outlook. Prophet leverages Outlook’s
existing data and functionality and trans-
forms it into a full-featured CRM. It takes
Outlook beyond tasks, calendaring and
e-mail with centralized and secure contact
management, sales opportunity manage-
ment, flexible reporting and easy sharing
and controlling of customer information.”
GS: In December 2010, Avidian Technologies
launched a new version of its CRM solution,
called Prophet Ultimate. It’s designed to allow
departments beyond Sales, such as customer
service technical support, fulfillment and client
services teams, to tailor Prophet’s existing
opportunity tracking capabilities to best suit
their specific needs. In October 2010, Avidian
launched BlackBerry support for its Prophet
Mobile solution. Prophet Mobile is sold as an
add-on to the stand-alone and server editions
of Prophet. It’s designed to allow users to
manage sales opportunity data using both
their supported handheld device and a PC.
Something to look forward to: Prophet Mobile
Support for iOS and Android is reportedly on
the company’s product road map for 2011.
Clients include Cisco, AT&T, Chase, GE, HP,
Steelhead Corp., and Universal Music Group.
CDC Software (Pivotal Sales)
http://www.cdcsoftware.com
“CDC Software is The Customer-Driven
Company. Our business is your success
with your customers. Our goal is to provide
complete enterprise solutions—software
applications, customer implementation
services, and global consulting services—
with hybrid deployment options to help you
become a customer-driven market leader.”
GS: Marketing, sales, and service and partner
management capabilities are at the center
of Pivotal Sales, which is a main component
of CDC Software’s CRM suite. Pivotal Sales
originated from the vendor’s acquisition
of sales force automation provider Pivotal
Corporation in 2004. Some users claim that
the suite offers particularly strong capabili-
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ties around opportunity management, contact
management and account management.
Another plus: it’s designed to support integra-
tion with the Microsoft Office infrastructures
and applications, including Microsoft Outlook
and Microsoft Office. Potential buyers should
keep in mind that Pivotal Sales is primarily
targeted to mid-size businesses and is mainly
implemented on-premise. Also notewor-
thy, in February 2011, version 6.0 of the
Pivotal CRM suite was named by ISM Inc.,
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
and Customer Centric Business Strategic
Advisors, as one of the “Top 15” CRM software
packages in the enterprise category for 2011.
CDC Software (Saratoga CRM)
www.cdcsoftware.com
“CDC Software is The Customer-Driven
Company. Our business is your success
with your customers. Our goal is to provide
complete enterprise solutions—software
applications, customer implementation
services, and global consulting services—
with hybrid deployment options to help you
become a customer-driven market leader. “
GS: Saratoga CRM was added to CDC
Software’s portfolio of offerings as a part of its
April 2007 acquisition of Saratoga Systems.
Recognized by some industry experts as
a veteran in the CRM space, Saratoga’s
solution is primarily targeted towards mid
to large-sized organizations. A majority of
its users operate within in the chemicals,
consumer products, energy, insurance, and
selected manufacturing industries. The latest
version of the suite – Saratoga CRM 6.7 – is
designed to deliver enhanced email integra-
tion with Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes,
and expanded language support. Version
6.7 also includes access to new deploy-
ment methods, including wireless and “thin
Note: While Gleanster strives to include
all of the most relevant and notewor-
thy solution providers in the Vendor
Landscape section, the list is by no means
comprehensive in nature. Omissions may
occur due to lack of sufficient market
presence, as judged by the Gleanster
research analyst team. Space constraints
may necessitate some amount of paring of
even those vendors that do have sufficient
market presence. Simple oversights may
also happen on occasion. To submit
information about a solution provider,
please complete the Solution Provider
Information Form. To schedule a vendor
briefing, please email research@gleanster.
com. Vendor descriptions are taken
verbatim from company websites or from
vendor-submitted profile information.
Gleanster Skinny (GS) commentaries are
based on vendor briefings, customer inter-
views and Gleansight research findings
as well as on company press releases
and various other information sources.

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browser client” for browser-based access,
and support for Citrix deployment. Saratoga
CRM has been upgraded to provide compat-
ibility with new third-party systems, as
well. In addition, a number of new modules
have been introduced to the latest release,
including Apresta for wireless mobility
and a tool for “intelligent forecasting”.
Clear C2
www.c2crm.com
“Clear C2, Inc. was founded in 1993,
strategically aligned and partially owned by
IBM, focusing on delivering and publish-
ing customer driven technology solutions,
including: Relationship Management, Sales
Force Automation, Customer Support,
Marketing and Campaign Management
in addition to CRM related solutions as
Content Management, Customer/Partner
Self Service Portals, Workflow Automation
and Document Management. C2CRM is
100% web-based and is offered as both an
OnPremise and OnDemand (SaaS) solution.”
GS: Clear C2, Inc.’s browser-based solution
– C2CRM – is sold in solutions packages
comprised of modules that are designed
to help solve specific business problems.
Available packages include Marketing, Sales,
Customer Service, and Executive. The
Sales package is specifically designed to
deliver capabilities around opportunity and
forecast management; quotes, proposals and
contracts; contract management; products
and service catalog; and sales pipeline and
opportunity analytics. Users also have the
option to customize C2CRM by implementing a
combination of any of the 30 modules offered
by the vendor. Available modules include
relationship management (activity manage-
ment, relationship tracking); customer service
(project management, customer support);
marketing management (lead management,
campaign tracking); and utilities (workflow
management, content manager, web self-
service). C2CRM also supports integration with
ERP and accounting back office systems. In
addition, the vendor offers a number of training
and support services for non-technical users.
coAction.com
www.coaction.com
“coAction.com is a leading provider of business
collaboration software that automates and
optimizes business processes. coAction’s
powerful and interactive collaborative environ-
ment features a rich and easy desktop-like
interface and a wide selection of coApps that
can be customized to user specifications.
coAction’s advanced collaboration solution
provides strong role-based security and an
automation engine to control the progres-
sion of items from open to close to meet
today’s businesses’ collaborative needs.”
GS: Released in May 2010, coAction.com’s
collaboration platform features tools for
email management, document management,
opportunity management, project manage-
ment and calendaring. It also includes a
portal that users are likely to find helpful for
connecting and interacting with customers and
partners. One of the vendor’s applications,
called Sales coApp, is specifically designed
to deliver capabilities for managing leads,
contacts, opportunities, tasks, and forecasts.
It also delivers features for collaborating in
workgroups and customizing workflow. The
application includes pre-built reports and
customizable reporting, as well. In addition,
coAction.com offers an application for receiv-
ables and an application for customer service
and support. The vendor’s “coApps” feature
a rules-based automation engine for creating
tasks, routing items and sending emails. They
also include analytical dashboards, comment-
ing tools, territory management and advanced
search capabilities, as well as an action and
audit history, and an import wizard. In April
2011, coAction.com added support for Google
Apps marketplace and announced a number
of other improvements. Clients include Dun &
Bradstreet, Fujitsu General and Pitney Bowes.
Consona Corporation
www.consona.com
“Consona Corporation delivers software
and services to companies of all sizes,
ranging from small businesses to Global
2000 enterprises, across a number of
industries. Consona’s software solutions
automate business critical tasks, ranging
from marketing, service and support to
planning and scheduling, material require-
ments planning (MRP), accounting, product
configuration, and business intelligence.”
GS: The Consona CRM software product
suite is designed to provide an integrated set
of CRM solutions across service and support,
sales and marketing functions. It’s important to
keep in mind that the suite is largely focused
on delivering service and support capabili-
ties to medium and large organizations in the
high tech, financial services and telecom-
munications industries. Consona CRM is
designed to combine solutions developed by
CRM solution provider Onyx Software, which

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the vendor acquired in 2006, and KNOVA
Software, a knowledge management software
company that Consona acquired in 2007.
Consona specifically introduced the capabili-
ties delivered by KNOVA’s suite of self-service,
contact center and community applications with
the aim of helping users automate customer
service case resolution. Available in several
different product suites, the enterprise version
features multi-way chat, industry templates,
self-service support communities, knowledge
management, analytics, and relationship
hierarchy management. It also offers tools
for contextualized selling and marketing.
eSalesTrack
www.esalestrack.com
“eSalesTrack is an online Customer Relations
Management tool that allows you to track
your potential customers, sales, and keep
track of your current customers. It allows
you to manage contacts, emails, forecast,
generate reports, and keeps track of your
sales funnel all in one application that
you can use from your cell phone or WiFi
hotspot anywhere around the world.”
GS: eSalesTrack – the vendor’s hosted
web-based CRM solution – is largely focused
on sales force automation and is targeted
toward small and medium-sized businesses.
eSalesTrack is designed to allow users to
automate actions around account manage-
ment, contact management, opportunity
management, product management, quota
management, activity management, territory
management, lead routing, and task manage-
ment. It’s also designed to deliver tools for
creating product catalogs, tracking partners,
forecasting sales, and event calendaring.
Additional features include mobile support,
sales analytics, customizable dashboards,
and custom reporting. Some users may also

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benefit from integration with MS Office and
from the flexibility provided by the solution’s
open-source, modular architecture. In addition,
eSalesTrack offers tools for automating
marketing and customer support activities.
FrontRange Solutions (Goldmine)
www.frontrange.com
“FrontRange is a leading provider of powerful
and affordable IT Service Management, IT
Asset Management, and Customer Service
Management solutions. These solutions
enable IT and Services Transformation
by providing Enterprise-class capabilities
that deliver fast time to benefit, high ease
of use, and rapid return on investment…
FrontRange’s products and solutions are used
by over 13,000 customers in more than 80
verticals and 45 countries to quickly improve
interactions with external and internal clients
and achieve better business results.”
GS: FrontRange offers several versions of
Goldmine, which is its relationship manage-
ment product line. The enterprise edition is
the most feature-rich. It’s targeted towards
small to midsize organizations and provides
strong capabilities around sales, marketing and
customer service. Enterprise Edition features
include quote management, customer data
management, marketing campaign manage-
ment, lead management, and opportunity and
forecast management. It also includes a Web
client. Launched in October 2010, the latest
release (v. 6.3.3.) of Goldmine Enterprise
Edition is designed to deliver Outlook integra-
tion enhancements, as well as usability and
performance improvements. Also of interest,
Goldmine Premium Edition includes pre-built
dashboard parts for marketing automation,
sales force automation and customer service
business processes. Released in June
2010, version 9.0 includes improved client
relationship tracking, expanded collabora-
tion capabilities, customizable dashboards
and new Microsoft Outlook integration.
Infor (Infor CRM Epiphany Sales)
www.infor.com
“Infor is a leading provider of business
applications, with over 8,000 employees
serving over 70,000 customers in 125
countries. Infor focuses on two core beliefs:
the importance of constant innovation and
the value of laser focus on its customers.
Infor delivers software that is simple to buy,
easy to deploy, and convenient to manage.”
GS: Infor CRM Epiphany Sales is the vendor’s
sales force automation solution. A key
component of Infor’s customer relationship
management suite – Infor CRM Epiphany
– the solution features such capabilities as
lead routing prioritization, contact manage-
ment, call scripting, mobile support, and
opportunity and pipeline management. In
August 2010, Infor introduced a family of
intelligent decision-making modules that
are likely to be of interest to users looking
to extend the suite’s functionality. The first
module released, Infor CRM Epiphany E-Mail
Advisor is designed to leverage customer
information and behavior patterns to populate
e-mails with the most relevant offers. In
November 2010, Infor launched the second
module, Epiphany Data Advisor. It’s designed
to analyze existing information stored across
disparate databases and make data quality
improvement recommendations, including
which customer interaction channels are
best for gathering certain information.
Infusionsoft
www.infusionsoft.com
“Infusionsoft is the leader in marketing
automation for small businesses. Through
its web-based software, Infusionsoft enables
small business marketers to automatically and
effectively deliver highly relevant, targeted
messaging to their customers, which nurtures
the highest quality customer connections,
leading to more business. The complete
suite includes CRM, email marketing, lead
nurturing and management, workflow automa-
tion, ecommerce, and affiliate marketing.”
GS: The Spring release of Infusionsoft’s CRM
solution for small businesses includes several
useful “SmartAutomation” features, including
tools designed to automatically send emails
based on important dates or behaviors, for
example when someone fills out a form, as
well as “motion sensors”, which are designed
to issue alerts when leads are hot or automati-
cally send relevant messages at crucial
times in the sales process. The solution also
includes CRM features, such as a centralized
database for organizing and tracking leads,
prospects, customers, and partners, as well
as tools for importing and exporting contacts.
Other CRM capabilities include calendar, task
and appointment management. In addition,
Infusionsoft’s solution is designed to deliver
email marketing features for creating, tracking
and reporting on campaigns; creating online
signup forms; and developing professional
emails using drag-and-drop functionality.
Infusionsoft’s open API is designed to enable

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integration with other channels such as blogs,
ecommerce solutions and social media sites.
The vendor also offers a Microsoft Outlook
plug-in as well as a number of “additional
features” around opportunity management;
affiliate and referral program management;
and billing, invoicing and collections.
InsideSales.com
www.insidesales.com
“InsideSales.com is an award-winning provider
of on-demand software for lead manage-
ment and sales organizations, integrating
a powerful suite of sales and marketing
tools including dialers, voice messaging,
lead response, CRM, and nearly two dozen
other productivity-enhancing ‘power tools.’
GS: Inside Sales creates predictive analytics
and artificial intelligence (AI) applications
for sales professionals. In fact, the vendor’s
award-winning dialer system for Salesforce.
com, PowerDialer for Salesforce, is report-
edly one of the Top 10 Most Popular apps on
the Salesforce.com AppExchange. The latest
version (v 3.0) was released in December
2010. It’s designed to deliver new system
capabilities such as predictive analytics,
dynamic queuing, workflow automation
systems, multi-media sales lead nurturing and
advanced call reporting. In November 2010,
the vendor announced a new partnership
with the Brigham Young University Neural
Network and Machine Learning Laboratory.
The alliance is part of its stated strategy to
further the advancement of computer system
AI applications for sales professionals.
Landslide Technologies
www.landslide.com
“Landslide CRM gives you the power your
business needs, while making it simple
for your people to use. Next, we added

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personalized service with our exclusive VIP
Sales Assistant to make it easy to input
and manage your information and Mobile
CRM to put it all in the palm of your hand.
The result is a CRM solution that’s so easy
to use, your team will actually want to use
it—and you’ll get consistent sales results!”
GS: Landslide Technologies kicked off 2011
by appointing Rick Faulk President and CEO.
Faulk served as former President and CEO of
social software company Mzinga, and is also
a veteran of WebEx and Intranets.com. The
vendor seems to have benefited from the new
management as well as from the $8 million in
growth capital it secured in the beginning of
this year. The latest release of Landslide’s CRM
solution features new email marketing and
mobile functionalities, as well as a number of
customer-facing tools designed to help sales-
people build collaborative relationships with
their customers and colleagues. In addition,
the vendor offers its CRM users a “VIP
Sales Assistant.” The assistant is available
to enter data, run reports and update notes.
Leads360
www.leads360.com
“Leads360 offerings include lead management
and sales dialing solutions that complement
CRM and marketing automation solutions with
deep sales automation designed to optimize
lead conversion. Leads360 LeadManager™
and integrated dialer, Leads360 Dial-IQ™,
focus on three core principles critical to helping
sales teams improve lead conversion - speed-
to-contact, selling discipline (driving repeatable
sales processes), and sales rep productivity.”
GS: Leads360 is a unique lead management
platform that is designed for high volume
process driven sales environments. As a
platform Leads360 is designed to automate
repeatable process for sales reps. The platform
can easily be customized to meet the needs
of any vertical, but Leads360 has industry
expertise and out-of the box configurations
for a handful of verticals, making it a defacto
turn-key solution for some companies. In fact,
the company has developed templates and
go-to-market partnerships in key verticals
so the platform can be used as a front-end
solution for lead capture and routing into
marketing automation systems or as a sales
process optimization platform for leads coming
out of marketing automation systems.
Leads360 has a very impressive client base of
over 5,000 clients in key verticals. Leads360
is largely sold through word-of-mouth from
existing clients because vertical expertise,
integration, and configuration makes the
platform a natural augmentation of sales
processes. One challenge for Leads360 is
how the system is classified. It’s sort of a
unique lead management platform that is
designed for sales processes. No, it’s not
CRM. No, it’s not Marketing Automation.
The system has elements of Sales Enable-
ment and Sales Performance Management
in the broadest definitions of these terms.
Basically, it’s ideal for any company looking
to put discipline and consistency around
sales processes. The platform is capable of
adding business rules around lead routing
and call scripts to maximize the speed and
productivity of sales. Leads can even be
routed by performance based incentives
where the timeliness of response and the
close ratio of a sales rep automatically routes
more leads to higher performing individuals.
Maximizer Software
www.maximizer.com
“Maximizer Software delivers simple & quick
customer relationship management (CRM)
solutions to small & medium businesses
(SMBs) and divisions of large enterprises.
Maximizer CRM is a completely integrated
sales, marketing and customer service &
support management solution accessible
via multiple platforms: Web, Mobile and
Desktop. With over 20 years of experi-
ence in the CRM industry, Maximizer offers
the best value for the most comprehen-
sive set of features in a CRM solution.”
GS: Recognized as a pioneer in the CRM
industry, the latest version of Maximizer
Software’s offering – Maximizer CRM 11 –
is designed to deliver expanded business
intelligence and sales force automation
capabilities. For example, it includes new tools
that allow users to monitor sales opportunities
and view sales performance. Wizard-based
dashboards have also been introduced to
enable executives and managers to monitor
key performance indicators. Launched in
April 2010, Version 11’s “All Access licensing”
provides access to critical customer infor-
mation through Windows Desktop, a Web
browser or mobile smartphone. The solution’s
mobile access option includes such features
as GPS functionality, multimedia support,
real-time access to the CRM database, and
the ability to assign tasks and opportunities
to other users. Most recently, in April 2011,
Maximizer Software announced the expansion
of its CRM offering with a new cloud-based
solution, called Maximizer CRM Live.

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Microsoft (Microsoft Dynamics CRM)
www.crm.dynamics.com
“Microsoft Dynamics is a line of simple to
learn and use ERP and CRM solutions that
work with your existing technology and scale
as you grow to give you long-term value.
By using software and online services that
work the way people and organizations work,
businesses are better able to make informed
decisions and adapt to rapid change.”
GS: Microsoft focuses on providing “familiar,
intelligent and connected experiences” for the
latest release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Launched in February 2011, it includes such
new features as guided process dialogs,
real-time dashboards and inline business
intelligence for performance and goal
management. It also includes a number of
enhancements that enable customers and
partners to configure and customize the
solution to meet specific business needs. Such
enhancements include flexible cloud develop-
ment, Windows Azure interoperability, and
contextual Microsoft SharePoint capabilities.
In addition, Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes
capabilities around planning, lead generation,
opportunity management, account manage-
ment, workflow management, analytics, and
pipeline management. Another plus: the
software supports multiple languages as well
as integration with other Microsoft offerings
including SharePoint, Outlook and Office.
While the vendor’s main area of expertise is
in serving SMBs, it also has experience with
large enterprise deployments of Microsoft
Dynamics CRM of over 1,000 users.
NetSuite
www.netsuite.com

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“NetSuite Inc. is a leading vendor of cloud
computing business management software
suites. NetSuite enables companies to manage
core key business operations in a single
system, which includes Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP), Accounting, Customer
Relationship Management (CRM), and
Ecommerce. NetSuite’s ‘real-time dashboard’
technology provides an easy-to-use view into
up-to-date, role-specific business information.”
GS: NetSuite’s solution, called NetSuite CRM,
is designed to deliver a broad set of capabili-
ties around sales force automation, marketing
automation, customer service and support,
partner/channel management, and order
management. It also includes ecommerce and
financial accounting tools. Key features include
advanced forecasting; quote generation; a
customer self-service portal; job and project
tracking; document management and publish-
ing; and commissions/incentive management.
NetSuite CRM is primarily targeted towards
small businesses, but it can also be leveraged
by smaller divisions within large-sized
organizations. Currently, the vendor seems
to be focusing on international expansion
and adoption. For example, in February
2011, NetSuite announced the opening of a
new office in Melbourne. In December 2010,
it announced a partnership with Swedish
technology implementation company Alterview
to introduce Swedish language support to its
solutions, as well as to drive expansion in the
Nordic region. Also noteworthy, in May 2011,
NetSuite announced deeper integration with
Google Apps and the Google Apps Market-
place via its SuiteCloud Development Platform.
Oncontact Software
www.oncontact.com
“Oncontact Software develops award-winning
.NET based CRM software for mid-market
companies. Oncontact CRM is a privately
held company with a presence throughout
North America, South America, Europe,
Asia/Pacific and the Middle East. Oncontact
Software’s products are available through
its corporate headquarters in Wisconsin
and an international alliance of value-added
resellers, system integrators and distributors.”
GS: In December 2010, Oncontact Software
released the latest version of its solution, called
Oncontact CRM 7.1. It’s designed to deliver
new capabilities around notes and reminders,
and new customer service features. Oncontact
CRM 7.1 includes capabilities for tracking
company relationships and assets, as well.
The latest iteration also includes enhance-
ments to Microsoft Outlook integration and
offers workflows for mass assigning activities,
managing lists and assigning representa-
tives to accounts. Launched in June 2010,
version 7 introduced a number of improve-
ments to search navigation. A new campaign
module and simplified reporting features
were also added to the version 7 release.
Oncontact Software reportedly has over
600 customers worldwide including Protec-
tive Life, Foremost Insurance and Carfax.
Oracle (Oracle CRM On Demand)
www.oracle.com
“Oracle provides the world’s most complete,
open, and integrated business software
and hardware systems, with more than
370,000 customers—including 100 of
the Fortune 100—representing a variety
of sizes and industries in more than 145
countries around the globe. Oracle’s product
strategy provides flexibility and choice to our
customers across their IT infrastructure.”
GS: In September 2010, Oracle released the
latest iteration of its hosted CRM solution
– Oracle CRM On Demand. Release 18
features enhanced lead quality capabili-
ties, new business planning capabilities and
deeper integration for marketing and sales.
In fact, the vendor offers an industry-specific
application for sales professionals, called
Oracle CRM On Demand Sales. The appli-
cation features a set of tools for forecast
management, opportunity management, quota
management, business process manage-
ment, calendar and task management, and
account and contact management. Key
features include interactive dashboards;
embedded analytics for real-time reporting
and historical analysis; and embedded best
practices via the solution’s online sales
coaching tool. Oracle CRM On Demand Sales
is also designed to support integration with
LotusNotes and MS Outlook. It offers support
for mobile and offline access, as well.
Oracle (Oracle People-
Soft Enterprise Sales)
www.oracle.com

terms of use.
GS: Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Sales
Solution is a main component of the vendor’s
PeopleSoft customer relationship management
family of applications. The product family origi-
nated from Oracle’s acquisition of PeopleSoft
in 2005. The sales management application is
specifically designed to enable the automation
of such processes such as territory manage-
ment, forecasting, training, and reporting.
It also delivers guided selling and strategic
account planning capabilities, and tools for
contact, task, and calendar management. The
application includes inline sales analytics and
a role-based interface, as well. Released in
October 2009, Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise
CRM version 9.1 introduces drag and drop
functionality, new collaboration tools, and even
greater application configuration for Sales
and Marketing user interfaces and workflow.
Oracle (Oracle Seibel Sales)
www.oracle.com
GS: Oracle Siebel Sales applications are
designed to deliver industry-specific sales
force automation capabilities around account
management, opportunity management, sales
forecasting, order management, and territory
management. The applications also include
sales analytics and reporting capabilities, as
well as tools for standardizing sales methodolo-
gies/best practices. Another plus: Oracle Siebel
Sales supports integration with Microsoft appli-
cations. The solution is fully integrated with the
entire Siebel product family, which origi-
nated from Oracle’s acquisition of sales force
automation solution provider Siebel Systems in
2005. In addition, the vendor offers handheld,
remote and wireless “mobility” versions of
Oracle Siebel Sales. Oracle also offers Siebel
applications for contact center and customer
service management; partner relationship
management; and self-service and e-billing.
RightNow Technologies
www.rightnow.com
“RightNow is a provider of on demand
customer experience solutions that help
consumer-centric organizations deliver
great customer experiences. Founded
in 1997, RightNow is headquartered in
Bozeman, Montana, employs more than 800
people, and serves nearly 2,000 organiza-
tions worldwide. RightNow is listed on the
NASDAQ under the symbol RNOW.”
GS: RightNow CX is RightNow Technologies’
customer experience suite that combines
sales force automation, marketing automation,
behavioral targeting and social capabilities.
It includes a broad set of tools that enable
users to manage the web experience, the
contact center experience and the social
experience being delivered to their customers.
Released in February 2011, the latest iteration
integrates natural language search technol-
ogy with industry-specific dictionaries and
intent matching capabilities to allow users
to capture and interpret customer intent and
make real-time, contextually-relevant offers.
RightNow Sales is the sales force automation
component of the suite. It’s fully integrated
across RightNow CX as part of the vendor’s
Engage platform, which integrates service,
sales, marketing, and feedback functions.
Sage (Sage ACT! CRM)
www.act.com
“Sage North America is part of The Sage
Group plc, a leading global supplier of
business management software and services.
Sage North America employs more than
4,100 people and supports nearly 3.1 million
small and medium-size business customers.
The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was
floated on the London Stock Exchange in
1989 and now employs 13,400 people and
supports 6.1 million customers worldwide.”
GS: In September 2010, Sage released the
latest version of its contact and customer
relationship management software, called
Sage ACT! Formerly Act! by Sage, the 2011
release includes a new list-building subscrip-
tion service that was introduced as part of a
recent partnership with business-information
data provider Hoovers. It also features an
improved user interface and a new “Smart
Tasks” component, which is a workflow engine.
Last year’s iteration of the solution included
such major updates as the integration of social
network information into contact data and a
completely redesigned user interface. In June
2010, Sage launched ACT! Mobile Live, which

terms of use.
is a cloud-based subscription service that’s
designed to deliver ACT! by Sage contact and
customer management data to mobile devices.
Sage (Sage CRM)
www.sagecrmsolutions.com
GS: Opportunity management is at the core
of Sage CRM v. 7.0, which recently received
an ISM Top 15 CRM Software Award for Small
& Medium Business Solutions. Released in
August 2010, the latest iteration features an
interactive dashboard that allows users to
manage all of their activity (tasks, lists and
calendar) from one central location and to
customize the layout using drag and drop
functionality. The dashboard also displays web
and RSS feeds, and is designed to allow users
to access customer data on social network-
ing sites like LinkedIn. Another new feature
is the Active Import Directory, which aims to
make it easier for IT administers to add new
users and control network logins. Sage CRM
V 7.0 includes a new user interface as well.
Sage (Sage SalesLogix)
www.sagesaleslogix.com
GS: In January 2011, Sage announced a
number of major updates to its CRM software
system, Sage SalesLogix. It introduced Sage
SalesLogix KnowledgeSync alerts, a feature
that monitors information and notifies specific
users of important activities within a sales
cycle, such as when key sales opportunities
are identified or when customer support issues
need addressing. Another new addition is the
Sage SalesLogix Customer Portal. It’s a 24x7
self-service that allows users’ customers to
view, add, or edit tickets and submit comments
and attachments via the Web, which are then
assigned to the appropriate support represen-
tative. In March 2011, the vendor released a
mobile version of its Sage SalesLogix solution.
Also noteworthy, in August 2010, Sage teamed
up with its partner Net@Work to launch
mobile applications for Sage SalesLogix.
Salesforce.com
www.salesforce.com
“Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud
computing company. The company’s portfolio
of SaaS applications, including its award-
winning CRM, has revolutionized the ways
that customers manage and share business
information over the Internet. The company’s
Force.com platform enables customers,
developers and partners to build powerful
on-demand applications that deliver the
benefits of multi-tenancy across the enterprise.”
GS: Salesforce.com Enterprise Edition is the
vendor’s integrated on-demand CRM solution.
It’s designed to deliver capabilities around
sales force automation, marketing automation
and customer service and support. The offering
is targeted towards larger companies with
more-complex business processes. It includes
support for multiple divisions and processes,
as well as workflow automation, product-line
forecasting, and revenue allocation. Other key
features include partner relationship manage-
ment, offline and mobile support, and reporting
and analytics. A major benefit, some users
claim, is the ability to customize Salesforce and
extend its functionality through the vendor’s
Force.com platform, which enables users
to develop custom apps and modify existing
ones. Salesforce.com also offers a popular
online marketplace, called AppExchange,
that gives users access to hundreds of cloud
computing applications. One application of
particular interest is the vendor’s Sales Cloud
2 application. It provides sales professionals
with a tool set for managing approvals and
workflow; contacts and accounts; email and
calendaring; and opportunities and quotes.
Also of interest is Salesforce Chatter, a
private social network users can leverage to
collaborate and interact with co-workers.
SalesFUSION
www.salesfusion.com
“SalesFUSION 360 provides software that
accelerates revenue by connecting sales and
marketing with prospects at the moment they

terms of use.
are ready to buy. This is made possible through
the SalesFusion 360™ suite, which comple-
ments Sales Force Automation applications
by adding an on-demand enterprise lead
management service. SalesFUSION 360
increases lead quantity, lead quality, and
revenue conversion rates by integrating and
automating the lead management process.”
GS: In January 2011, SalesFUSION released
the latest iteration of the enterprise version
of SalesFUSION 360, which is its integrated
sales and marketing demand generation
platform. Version 6.0 includes over 750
custom templates for email marketing, new
tools for creating dynamic email content, and
a social media dashboard. The vendor also
announced additional plans for 2011, which
include new CRM connectors for SugarCRM
and Saleslogix, and a new event manage-
ment module that allows users to create
and run webinars from such major platform
vendors as Webex, Citrix and LiveMeet-
ing. Core capabilities delivered through the
SalesFusion 360 platform include web activity
tracking and monitoring (with alerts); email
marketing; nurture marketing; lead scoring and
capture; and event management. In addition,
SalesFUSION offers a Microsoft Outlook
plug-in and a solution called Web-to-Chat that
allows sales teams to monitor website activity
and engage with web leads in real-time.
SAP
www.sap.com
“SAP is the world’s leading provider of
business software, offering applications and
services that enable companies of all sizes
and in more than 25 industries to become
best-run businesses…Unlike other CRM
software, the SAP Customer Relationship
Management (SAP CRM) application, part
of the SAP Business Suite, not only helps
you address your short-term imperatives – to
reduce cost and increase your decision-making
ability – but can also help your company
achieve differentiated capabilities in order
to compete effectively over the long term.”
GS: SAP CRM is designed to deliver broad
capabilities across sales, marketing, service,
customer support, e-commerce, and IT
functions. Key sales features include sales
planning and forecasting; territory manage-
ment; accounts and contacts management;
activity management; opportunity manage-
ment; quotation management and order
capture; sales contract management; sales
performance management; and sales
analytics. The solution also delivers capabili-
ties around partner channel management,
business communications management,
and real-time offer management. SAP CRM
features a web channel as well as an inter-
action center that supports telemarketing,
telesales, customer service, and multifunc-
tional shared service activities. Users can also
benefit from the ability to integrate SAP CRM
with other SAP applications and infrastruc-
tures. In addition, the application is designed
to support a number of industry-specific
processes. Also noteworthy, in May 2010,
SAP announced the acquisition of Sybase
as part of its stated strategy to “unwire the
enterprise” and improve smart phone access.
Workbooks.com
www.workbooks.com
“Workbooks.com is one of the fastest growing
providers of web based CRM and business
applications designed specifically for small
and mid-size organizations. Headquartered
in the UK, our suite of products enables our
customers to accelerate sales growth, improve
marketing execution, streamline business
processes and improve the quality of customer
support they deliver. Workbooks offers two
powerful CRM solutions: Workbooks CRM
which provides the core CRM capabilities
for marketing, sales and customer service
functions; and Workbooks Business which
extends to order tracking, fulfilment manage-
ment, invoicing and contract management.”
GS: Over the past six months, Workbooks.
com has launched two significant releases of
its CRM platform, which delivers sales force
automation, marketing management and
customer support tools.Released in October
2010, Version 3.0 saw the launch of the
Workbooks’ API to third party developers. The
first two API applications coming to market
are the Microsoft Outlook Connector, which
enables users to synchronize Outlook contacts,
tasks and meetings with Workbooks, and
Sagelink, which allows users to synchronize
order and invoice information from Workbooks
directly into Sage Line 50 for accounting
functionality. The most recent Workbooks
release, Version 3.1, launched in February
2011, features a new module for tracking and
maintaining customer contracts as well as a
number of new productivity features including
click-to-dial and click-to-email functionality.
Workbooks.com offers a business version
of its CRM platform, as well, that offers the
ability to create transaction documents.

terms of use.
Zoho Corporation
www.zoho.com
“Zoho.com offers a comprehensive suite of
award-winning on-line business, productiv-
ity & collaboration applications. Customers
use Zoho Applications to run their business
processes, manage their information and be
more productive while at the office or on the
go, without having to worry about expensive
or outdated hardware or software.”
GS: In February 2011, Zoho Corporation
announced an update to its CRM solution that
makes it easier for users to track and manage
customer projects. The update also enables
collaboration across all teams involved in the
prospecting process. The vendor launched
a new application for email marketing, called
Zoho CRM Sync for Constant Contact, in
February 2011, as well as its accounting
software for small and medium-size business-
es – Zoho Books. In January 2011, Zoho
announced integration with chat tool Zopim.
The new functionality is designed to automati-
cally pull contact information from Zoho CRM
and allow users to engage in relevant, real-time
conversation with prospects. In November
2010, it announced integration with Quickbooks.
The vendor also announced the release of
Zoho PhoneBridge, which connects a user’s
telephone system/call center with Zoho CRM.

terms of use.
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Lead Author
Russ Maney
Research Fellow
Russ Maney previously served as a
research analyst at Forrester Research,
a strategy consultant at McKinsey and
a marketing executive at P&G. He can
be reached at russ.maney@gmail.com.
Note: Research and analysis for the Vendor
Landscape section was conducted by Gleanster
research support staff.
Related Research
Other recently published Gleansight benchmark reports that may be of
interest include:
7 Imperatives for Embracing
Social Media in Sales
Deep Dive: Measuring the
Impact of Lead Nurturing
on the Sales Pipeline
Gleansight: Lead Scoring
& Prioritization
The Gleanster website also features Deep Dive analyst perspectives on
these and other topics as well as Success Stories that bring the research
to life with real-world case studies. To download Gleanster content, or
to view the future research agenda, please visit www.gleanster.com.
About Gleanster
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initiatives, delivering actionable insights that allow companies to make
smart business decisions and match their needs with vendor solutions.
Gleanster research can be downloaded for free. All of it.
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