The sales and marketing shopper

Software Magazine, March, 1998 by Kym Gilhooly

Shopping for new software for your enterprise? Wish you had a rating of virtually every software package in that space, whether it be ERP apps, databases, or development tools? That may be a bit much to hope for, but if you happen to be looking for sales force or marketing automation tools, ISM's Guide to Soles, Customer Service & Marketing Automation could come in mighty handy.

The Guide, about to hit the streets in its 6th edition, is designed to furnish IT buyers with complete evaluations of the Top 50 sales and marketing automation packages on the market. It also advises IS on how to define requirements for their sales and marketing software purchases, and provides analyses of related trends.

Generating the ranking is an exhaustive effort, says ISM President Barton Goldenberg, but one he felt was worth undertaking. What inspired Goldenberg -- a business maven who has earned degrees at the Wharton School and the London School of Economics -- was the confusion expressed by the execs he met during some of his teaching stints as to what automation packages they should choose.

"The industry was in massive confusion," says Goldenberg. "There was no real way for customers to get a handle on everything t hat was out the re."

To qualify for the ranking, each vendor must furnish ISM with a fully functional product, customer names, and user documentation. For this year's Guide, Barton's team tested more than 100 products against 96 business and technical criteria. Among the top 15 finishers were Aurum, Brock, and PowerCerv.

The business case for automating sales and marketing functions has been strong for some time. Goldenberg says successful automation efforts lead to a 10% decrease in the administrative cost of sales over the first three years of the project, as well as improved customer win rates. With such ROI leverage behind it, it's no wonder management is pushing IS hard to bring in such packages. And IS better be prepared to get solidly behind those efforts.

"This is definitely a business and an IT issue," says Goldenberg." It should be an active participant anyway, but they must be active when it comes to supporting the process. They should play a critical role from the outset."