SPM vendor selection for Fortune 500 sales corporation
Choosing an SPM solution with confidence
Industry: High Tech
A common challenge for many companies is effectively evaluating and selecting the right Sales Performance Management (SPM) technology solution. One Fortune 500, internet-based sales corporation selected OpenSymmetry to assist with the evaluation and selection process.
Challenge
Maximizing ROI with the right SPM solution
The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, had grown and prospered for two decades. Now a multibillion dollar organization with tens of thousands of employees, they needed an SPM solution to improve sales compensation efficiency and increase accuracy. Partnering with OpenSymmetry, provided an opportunity to leverage OpenSymmetry’s specific expertise ensuring support throughout the process and also ensuring the highest possible ROI.
VENDOR SELECTION APPROACH SUMMARY:
OpenSymmetry brought insight and industry-leading expertise to empower the client to identify the best-fit SPM solution for their specific business climate by executing a three-step process:
1. NARROWING THE FIELD
Current state assessment & future state vision
OpenSymmetry completed a comprehensive assessment of the client’s SPM system and processes to approach the vendor evaluation in the context of the client’s current & future state needs. By leveraging the client’s unique goals, requirements and capabilities, the broad field of potential vendors was narrowed to a shortlist of the best-fit solution providers. This process phase entailed:
• Performing a formal review of all current sales compensation management documentation, plans and processes
• Helping to establish future state needs based on recognized best practices and program goals
• Identifying implications related to any potential sales compensation plan design changes
To help facilitate a complete review of the client’s program, OpenSymmetry leveraged the following proprietary 5 Cs model. This model ensured a thorough and holistic review of their sales compensation program.
2. CHOOSING THE SOLUTION PROVIDER
Evaluation & selection
OpenSymmetry added value and rigor to the client’s vendor evaluation efforts by providing extensive knowledge of the top SPM technology suppliers and guidance on evaluation best practices. This phase of the engagement included:
• Attending four “proof of concept” vendor demonstrations, including post-demo discussions and analysis
• Providing planning, key reference questions, and a client-specific call agenda to ensure insightful outcome of the vendor reference checks
• Reviewing and enhancing the client’s demonstration scripts to help create differentiation among solution providers (Additional focus on including development of critical ad hoc questions and a formalized scoring methodology)
• Evaluating overall vendor evaluation results and providing perspective, enabling identification of the preferred vendor
• Supporting negotiations with vendors to ensure best price and satisfactory terms and conditions
3. CREATING A ROADMAP
Deployment planning
To help prepare the client for a successful technology implementation, OpenSymmetry leveraged their in-depth understanding of the chosen vendor solution, including any potential gaps, to create a detailed deployment roadmap. This phase was comprised of:
• Assessing the client’s ability to successfully implement the preferred vendor’s solution within the desired timeline, considering data interfaces, reporting needs, compensation plan requirements, management processes, and resource readiness
• Establishing an optimal, comprehensive deployment plan, including implementation, training, and often overlooked change management aspects
Outcome and Benefits
OpenSymmetry helped the client choose the best SPM solution through a proven and collaborative process. As SPM implementation experts, OpenSymmetry provided deep knowledge and expertise on the solutions’ capabilities as they related specifically to the client’s needs. This allowed the consultants to understand potential pitfalls and technical gaps within the solution sets, enabling the team to select the best fit for their programs. Some key benefits the client received by partnering with OpenSymmetry include:
• Reduced the selection effort and timeline.
• Ensured selection efforts were centered around critical future state requirements.
• Tailored RFPs and demos to ensure clear differentiation of vendor capabilities.
• Informed negotiations and contracting efforts helped reduce software expenditures and eliminate hidden costs and penalties.
Ultimately, with support and guidance from OpenSymmetry the client was able to confidently move forward with a plan and approach that guaranteed project success.
For more information on how OpenSymmetry can help your organization ensure a smooth and successful SPM technology evaluation & selection process, please email us at os_info@www.opensymmetry.com.
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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.
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN REPLACING YOUR SPM TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION
Understanding the challenges companies face when migrating Sales Performance Management (SPM) technology solutions can be a significant undertaking. This paper is designed to provide high-level guidance to stakeholders who carry this responsibility. As OpenSymmetry has helped many companies evaluate and effectively migrate to new technology solutions, we are sharing seven key areas that we find critical to completing this kind of effort.
1. CURRENT STATE ASSESSMENT & FUTURE STATE PLANNING
A critical initial step before migrating to a new SPM solution is understanding how well your current program is performing across people, processes, and technology. From there you can devise a future state vision for how your SPM program should operate. By understanding both current state gaps and what your future state needs look like, you can effectively begin defining requirements while also clearly articulating success criteria. It’s important to recognize that your previous or initial SPM implementation may not have gathered all necessary processes/requirements, so it’s vital to take a fresh, holistic view in this first step.
2. DATA INTEGRATION
One of the most complex and time-consuming requirements is determining how to best leverage current source data feeds to support the new platform. Within the context of your current state assessment and future state planning, the team should review what their reporting, analytics, and any future state compensation elements needs are to ensure a meaningful inventory of data requirements are defined. SPM solutions vary in terms of how data is gathered, translated, and uploaded into the system. Some solution applications may have a standardized format requiring additional configuration, whereas others may have the ability of data field mapping, which provides additional flexibility. The ability to own the data translation from your source systems to the SPM platform is key. Another focus point is to ensure that you evaluate all manual feeds to incorporate automation, as well as any additional error validation processes.
3. HISTORICAL DATA
Migrating historical data is an often-overlooked requirement when moving from one SPM platform to another. To keep costs down and minimize complexity, clients may want to ID only the data that is needed to ensure ongoing management of comp (e.g. payment history) and then transfer detail-level data into data storage to be referenced at a future date. It is important to consider what historical data is needed for the new system for reference on future payments
4. PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
Each SPM solution may require users to interact with the system in different ways. This area may need additional attention, especially as it has the potential to improve processes currently employed to manage sales compensation. Understanding the impact a new system will have on current processes, as well as those who manage the processes, is critical to ensuring a successful launch and ongoing management of core processes. As an example, two of the leading solutions in the market have very different expectations regarding the skills users need to possess to effectively maintain compensation plans and reports and, in some cases, execute the day-to-day activities. Defining expectations of your staff related to the new technology, prior to the project, will ideally give your organization the necessary time to introduce training that ensures effective ongoing management of the program.
5. WORKFLOW
SPM solutions vary widely in their ability to support automated workflow. As a result, there are significant challenges for sales compensation teams related to an SPM migration. Capabilities can range from templates to existing documentation, levels of routing, and even implementation of a stopgap for a payee to accept plan documentation prior to payout. Within the context of your future state definition, capturing and defining areas where automated workflows can be leveraged is a necessary part of the core requirements. Before a new system is deployed, it is important to map these processes out to drive user adoption, leverage the SPM system as an auditable repository, and minimize email management.
6. REPORTING & ANALYTICS
It is critical to develop a holistic vision of information distribution to the various stakeholders and tools used to deliver this content (i.e. static pages vs. dashboards). Similar to workflows, different vendors have various capabilities related to reporting for the end users. Assessing these capabilities against your business requirements is imperative to the success of the roll-out. For example, some vendors require more robust configurations in the system (e.g. crediting logic) to enable specific analytics capabilities, while some solutions, architected specifically for reporting and analytics, have much more robust capabilities. Another area for consideration is the use of the vendor’s reporting solution against your in-house technology stack. Some solutions make it easy to port data into new environments, which could be a consideration in helping to keep the number of reporting tools requiring management to a minimum.
7. DEPLOYMENT
The implementation of a new solution should be designed to minimize the impact on payees and managers. One of the most critical aspects of your effort is assessing how all stakeholders will be impacted and how to mitigate any disruption. It is important to identify upcoming changes for your sales organization, administrators, and other internal partners with a plan in place to offer the steps needed to ensure the best chances for solution adoption.
The first step when considering a new SPM platform is an assessment of your current program and the development of a future state vision. OpenSymmetry offers a no-cost workshop to help you gain an understanding of how your current SPM program performs against your needs and industry best practices, as well as a readout on current solutions in the market.
Leveraging the OpenSymmetry assessment methodology and knowledge of the leading SPM providers, you will be equipped with:
• A current state analysis scorecard
• The framework for a business case to support change
• Contemporary intel on the SPM market and SPM vendor capabilities
• High-level deployment and license cost estimates