Briefing: Information Management Best Practices: Sales Performance Solutions In The Spotlight

With this Briefing, we examine sales performance solutions (SPS)

- the fusion of sales tools with sales-triggering content and related services

- and opportunities for information management organizations to participate in their adoption. SPS is gaining momentum on a convergence of factors, including widespread frustration with inadequate payback on investments in customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force automation (SFA) tools; a new emphasis on sales productivity; levels of information overload that have soured salespeople on the open Internet; and the emergence of new content firms with "e-DNA" that are finding SPS a great market for new forms of content. Outsell's Database of Information Markets and Users tells the story, as fresh data shows salespeople increasingly frustrated with open-Web search solutions, receptive to tailored content provided by their firms, and eager to find both internal and external information embedded in CRM tools. The Briefing shows how SPS is the next frontier, as vendors assemble the software, content, and services pieces. No single vendor has all the pieces yet, but this Briefing identifies the front-runners like OneSource and TrueAdvantage, and a number of innovators. It includes a list of imperatives for information managers who seek high-value opportunities to support their organizations with SPS.