Robert Desisto » Sales force automation

2011 Sales Force Automation Magic Quadrant Released

Robert Desisto — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:42:51 +0000

Check out the 2011 Sales Force Automation Magic Quadrant (released on July 15th, 2011). Mobility continues to grow in importance for users; therefore, it has also become a more critical component of our evaluation criteria for the sales force automation (SFA) Magic Quadrant. Smartphones and iPads (see “iPads: Customer-Facing Selling Will Drive iPad Use for Sales” and “iPads: Their Impact on the Top Six Sales Processes”) are becoming preferred devices for the mobile salesperson. Software as a service (SaaS) also continues to play a more dominate role in the SFA Magic Quadrant, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Zoho added for 2011. Based on Gartner inquires during the past 12 months, new SFA evaluations are up by 30%. The primary objective for most sales organizations remains opportunity management, but we have also seen greater emphasis placed on sales effectiveness and sales-performance-related applications. We outline strengths and cautions for all of the SFA vendors in the quadrant.

Evaluating Sales Force Automation Functionality

Robert Desisto — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:14:23 +0000

Just published an update to the Gartner Decision Framework for Evaluating Salesforce Automation functionality. The framework provides a complete view and suitability analysis of functionality for sales force automation ranging for opportunity management to social CRM.

Wanted: Salesperson who loves their Sales Force Automation System

Robert Desisto — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:42:28 +0000

Lately, I keep hearing from sales force automation technology providers that salespeople who use their system “Love it”. Love?, Really?. The only reaction I ever get from a real sales person is that they enter as little data as possible into a sales force automation system to avoid being spied on. I am hoping this post gets responses from sales people who actually love their sales force automation system. Only requirement for your reply is to tell us why? Not just that you like your sales force automation system. I am expecting zero responses. Lets see if I am right.

SAP Offers Further Details on New CRM SaaS Offering

Robert Desisto — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:13:41 +0000

On 1 March 2011, SAP previewed its updated Sales OnDemand solution at CeBIT 2011 in Hanover, Germany. Neither pricing nor an official release date has been determined, but the product will be available for early customer involvement in April 2011. The new offering reflects a trend toward social technology in CRM applications with a people-centric approach, but market success will hinge on its reliability, cost and integration.

See my First Take on Gartner.com, Price, Integration and Reliability Will Decide Sales OnDemand’s Success, for further analysis.

What is all the chatter about Salesforce.com’s Chatter?

Robert Desisto — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:40:33 +0000

Salesforce.com is taking a different approach to social technology by embedding capabilities directly into the context of the application. Other vendors incorporate collaboration items like instant messaging or content sharing, but not to the extent of salesforce.com. Salesforce.com attempts to use principles similar to those of Facebook for CRM applications, and sees Facebook as having changed the way consumers share information and content with each other. Chatter provides salespeople with social tools to collaborate during the sales process, and opens up the customer support process to anyone in the enterprise, increasing the opportunity for innovative resolutions to problems.

As is the case with any new approach there are upsides but also challenges. Take a look at Michael Maoz’s and my research note on gartner.com, Salesforce.com’s Chatter: Facebook-Like Feel for CRM Applications, to get an analysis of the pros and challenges of Salesforce.com’s Chatter.

Software as a Service Sales Force Automation Prices Are Eroding

Robert Desisto — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:44:35 +0000

Will Software as a Service or Cloud Computing erode prices in business application markets? If sales force automation is an indicator the answer is yes. Just this week Microsoft announced both a price cut and special promotion for its Microsoft CRM Dynamics Online offering. (see Gartner Research Note – Microsoft Reduces Prices to Win CRM SaaS Business published today) I also have routinely have seen discounts in the 40 – 60% range on customer SaaS Sales Force Automation deals this year for all providers.

The main issue is core sales force automation is commodity. Automating the management of opportunities, contacts, and activities has been around for over 20 years. Once functionality hits a level of commodity status, price becomes a key factor. This market dynamic will place heavy emphasis on a SaaS vendor’s ability to scale its operations and lower its per user cost to serve metrics to maintain margin targets. Those providers who have underinvested in operations will not be in position to be competitive in what will continue to be a very price sensitive market.