Sales Productivity Tools Close the CRM Gap, According to New AberdeenGroup Study; Complementary Tools Address Sales Lifecycle Challenges

Business Wire, Jan 5, 2006

BOSTON -- Shortening sales cycle time by enabling sales teams to more effectively access customer intelligence, collaborate with prospects and colleagues, or create highly relevant presentations, proposals, and demonstrations is driving companies' investment in sales productivity tools, according to Aberdeen's new Enterprise Advisor Strategies report, "Sales Productivity Tools: Closing the CRM Gap." E[acute accent]In assessing the market landscape, Aberdeen utilized the following decision framework:

E[acute accent]--Provide value to a sales or business development end-user by increasing the amount of time spent with clients versus time spent on sales administration

E[acute accent]--Enhance rather than compete with most CRM systems

E[acute accent]--Ease of use and integration with most CRM systems

E[acute accent]--Capacity to increase sales productivity or shorten sales cycle time

E[acute accent]--Leverage analytics, business intelligence, or dynamic content creation to drive sales effectiveness

E[acute accent]Focused on providing a quick return on investment (ROI) by shortening long sales cycle times, six vendors identified by Aberdeen have developed solutions designed to increase end-users' productivity by either complementing or integrating with an organization's existing CRM system:

E[acute accent]--Before the Call, Inc.

E[acute accent]--Business Objects / Crystal Xcelsius

E[acute accent]--ClairMail(TM)

E[acute accent]--Dovarri, Inc.

E[acute accent]--Kubi Software(TM)

E[acute accent]--The SAVO Group(TM)

E[acute accent]"In assessing internal requirements for performance improvement in sales effectiveness and cycle-time reductions, organizations should consider which is most critical for their success--information access, sales intelligence, business activity management, best practice sales processes, dynamic content creation through analytics or visibility into collaborative communications," stated Leslie Ament, director of Aberdeen's customer intelligence research practice. E[acute accent]According to a recently released benchmark report, "Customer Intelligence Management: Converting Data to Profits," survey respondents cited using customer intelligence for sales and business development activities most often.

%
         Customer Intelligence Usage - Best in Class          Selected
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Sales and Business Development Activities                          72%
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Customer Service and Support                                       62%
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Strategic Planning                                                 52%
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Plan Outbound Marketing Campaigns                                  29%
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                                  Source: AberdeenGroup, December 2005

E[acute accent]About AberdeenGroup

E[acute accent]Aberdeen (www.aberdeen.com) provides fact-based research and insights focused on the global, technology-driven value chain. Its benchmarking, market and solution assessments, sales acceleration programs, and conferences support Global 5000 value chain and technology executives and the solution providers who serve them.