Sales Performance Management for Telecommunications
Sales agility can separate the winners from the losers.
SPM is less of a differentiator and more of a baseline requirement.
The telecommunications market is expected to grow to $2.3 trillion by the end of 2030 with a CAGR of ~5%. This is due to the consistent, high demand in 5G architecture and cloud computing paving the way for the adoption of new technologies in the telecommunications market (TMR). Market segmentation adds complexity to the mix due to its fragmentation across emerging players. A high mix of components across hardware, software, and services in multiple industries, globally, means the stakes are high for organizations to adopt effective incentive compensation plans so they remain competitive.
A leading African communications company started on their journey to transform their incentive program due to the challenges they faced with managing commissions for their dealers and enterprise sellers. They were using a combination of bespoke systems and spreadsheets, much like most organizations are today. They knew they needed to adopt change to maintain the satisfaction of their dealers and increase their experience selling their products. After they made their vendor selection, they faced implementation challenges. To get through this, they partnered with OpenSymmetry to focus on automating the commissions process which resulted in a 50% reduction in processing time. In addition to this, the client now operates with an optimized ICM solution that provides high visibility, accurate reports, increased efficiency, a centralized system, complete auditability, and increase dealer and enterprise seller satisfaction.
Unique Complexities of the Telecommunications Industry
Collect
- Multiple unique transactions sources (POS, subscription, service, recovery)
- High volume processing with limited batch window
Credit
- Crediting across products & LOBs (Retail, Commercial, Agriculture)
- Retroactive assignments and adjustments
- Product and pricing adjustments
- Exception requests and crediting override
Calculate
- Management of large populations and plan metrics
- Linked incentives (transfers, multiple products, and promotions)
- Flexibility to add and/ or expand channels, product lines, stores, and services
Compensate
- Limited window for payment
- Standardizing logic across plans
- Dispute management and corrections
- Prior period processing
Communicate
- Dated reporting and user experience
- Lack of fi eld self-service capability
- Feeding external stake-holders
- Scorecard input and management
How Do We Help
Foundational models are tailored based on client specific requirements, and increase the ability to realize
strategics differentiators and best-practices.
| DESIGN CATEGORIES | COLLECT | CREDIT | CALCULATE/COMPENSATE | COMMUNICATE |
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Clients From Around the Globe
“Sunrun maximized the value of our incentive compensation system, and we were able to increase overall sales volume of solar panels and batteries. We’re now able to better serve both our employees and our customers. The efficiencies generated from this new ICM system have led to an increase in deployment of solar across the United States.”
ROBERT YEAGER
Director of Compensation, Sunrun
Clients From Around the Globe
“OpenSymmetry rose to the challenge of creating a roadmap for an efficient, centralized ICM system for us. We started off with over 100 incentive plans throughout the bank in different lines of business, meaning the incentive administration was decentralized. With the help of OpenSymmetry, we have improved efficiencies by streamlining our incentive compensation administration to a single system.”
Kimberly Hinrichsen
VP & Sr. Director of Incentive Admin, U.S. Bank
Clients From Around the Globe
“After working [with OpenSymmetry], my whole world changed. From working with a huge, onerous spreadsheet system, it’s gotten simpler. It’s changed the game for everyone in the company. We have improved timelines for making information available for reps. It shifted my perspective to dig deeper into the data.”
Courtney Aubin,
Senior Sales Commissions Analyst, Blackbaud
Clients From Around the Globe
“Working with OpenSymmetry, we experienced openness, flexibility, and total commitment to our success from UK team. I was surprised that instead of coming up with solutions to fix our problems only, they were always looking for ways to simplify, streamline, and improve our processes in the same time. Due to that kind of commitment, we went from having over 100 configuration rules to just 27.”
Petra Maurova
Sales Rewards, SITA
Clients From Around the Globe
“OpenSymmetry helped us to evaluate our ICM program in a new light. Their technical and business expertise allowed us to understand the details of how changes would impact our system and processes. This enabled us to implement changes that would have the biggest impact on our business.”
Sales Operations Manager
Wacker Neuson
Clients From Around the Globe
“OpenSymmetry’s culture was a really good fit with T-Mobile. They were very open-minded and spent as much time listening and collaborating with us as they did telling us what needed to be done. That type of humility with such solid knowledge and capability was a perfect match for us.”
Clayton Tredway
Director Customer Care, T-Mobile
Clients From Around the Globe
“OpenSymmetry helped automate our data feeds and update our configuration of Xactly Incent, and these improvements helped us save approximately 7,200 hours per year by eliminating manual calculations, minimizing adjustments, and building trust in the data to reduce shadow accounting. When we got this working right, we reduced what took days to 3.5 hours. Time savings have been so key for us.”
Justin Ritchie
Senior Director of Sales Operations, Manheim (subsidiary of Cox Enterprises)
Clients From Around the Globe
“Working with OpenSymmetry, we have implemented a formal, auditable, trackable sign-off process for the payouts. It’s made a huge improvement. No more paper. Information is at associates’ fingertips 24/7. Managers can view sales results and compensation results for their teams, which leads to more effective and efficient management. The availability of information has made a huge difference.”
Jennifer Wooster
Vice President – Group Actuarial and Compensation Officer, Ameritas
Resources for Telecommunications
SPM Challenges & Technology: Considerations for the Telecom Industry
Whitepaper
We highlight 5 prominent challenges to sales incentive compensation in the telecommunications industry and offer insights into how SPM can help address them.
Optimizing Incentive Compensation Management Systems
Case Study
Read all about Vodacom’s journey to automated ICM processes and self-sufficiency over a decade of partnership with OpenSymmetry.
About Us
OpenSymmetry enables clients to achieve greater operational efficiency and get better sales results. We are a global consulting company specializing in the planning, implementation, and optimization of industry leading technology suppliers of sales performance management solutions.