Bain trial: cost pressures in the IT is changing the business models of enterprise software provider

In spite of the suggestive end the crisis continues to IT cost pressures is to the companies. The accelerated changes in the IT industry to on-demand services. In future, software will be offered more frequently than online platforms that will change the business model of enterprise software provider sustainable. This is the result of the recent study by Bain & Company "Preparing for the Game On-Demand in the Enterprise Software Industry". Four trends influence this development strongly: 1) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) licensing revenues distributed to longer periods, 2) increasingly integrated IT provider, the boundaries between hardware, software and services to increase, 3), the service share of IT value increases and 4) open source is establishing itself as a real alternative to traditional software offerings. The success of a SaaS provider to decide a solid platform strategy, the management of software and service partners, and the timely and long-term occupation of the customer interface. 

The economic crisis has led to massive IT budget cuts. Same time, the demand on IT development and redevelopment in the company. The recent study by Bain & Company "Preparing for the Game On-Demand in the Enterprise Software Industry" shows that IT managers in companies respond primarily to the conversion of fixed costs into variable costs. Thus increasingly come on-demand software is used, which is paid to usability and needs no large initial investment. Accelerated this trend by vendors of software-as-a-Service (SaaS) such as Sales Tracking Portal - a specialist in customer Releationship management. In the SaaS model takes over the service provider installation, operation and maintenance of software and servers in its data center and provides the use as a service available on call. Customers do not charge for software licenses, implementation, maintenance and hardware. You only pay the usage-based service fee.
For software companies is about to grow with this development, a revolution that threatened their traditional business model. Because they typically earn first by a royalty on the sale and then long term maintenance, ie the regular troubleshooting and software updates. The annual maintenance cost is an average of 18 percent of the original license fee. For providers of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) maintenance costs have averaged 30 percent of sales and 40 to 60 percent of income. "To a result of the crisis increases the risk that many ERP customers negotiate their fees again, do not renew maintenance contracts, or switch to third parties that offer this service for half the price," Matthias Budde, partner and IT expert at Bain & Company. "A price decline in the maintenance of just one percentage point would cost ERP vendors worldwide about 750 million euros and 300 million € income." For this reason, it is for software vendors established even more important to invest in customer loyalty in the they increase the value of their maintenance service for the customer visible.


Four major IT trends will determine the future
The Bain study predicts that the software market over the medium term can not build on past growth rates of ten to 15 percent annually. The growth in 2015 will amount to less than five percent a year. Bain founded the four major trends:
1. SaaS is growing, however, reduce the margins of the software industry: software-as-a-Service enables the acquisition of new customer groups that have not been made complex software. In addition, existing customers can test new features without making large investments have to. SaaS will initially be used primarily on customer relationship management, content management and human resources management. SaaS raises additional revenue potential in new hybrid areas of product and service, but also substituted existing software sales and shares in smaller cash flows. High installation and operating costs for the software provider while price pressures threaten the income of the industry.
2. Back to integrated IT vendors: The differentiation of the industry in hardware, software and service provider begins to dissolve. Companies are, increasingly present in adjacent segments of IT and offer - as Oracle after the Sun acquisition - to integrated IT products. As in the 1960s, when IBM sold its server systems, including software, customers have less and less in the future take care of itself to the integration of components in its own data center. Buy server performance together with the required operating system or completed usable database server, without even match the hardware, operating system and software to another must.
3. Existing IT environments continue to increase the software maintenance costs: Customers who follow the traditional model of separate server architectures and applications that deal with the increasing complexity of their application landscape. Service-oriented architectures could prevail in reality have not felt as leverage to IT simplification. Therefore reinforces the growing complexity of business on the complexity of IT. The cost for the implementation and integration of new software is in relation to the licensing costs continue to rise.
4. Open source is becoming a real alternative: On operating systems and databases has open-source software already has a high double-digit market share. For business-critical and complex applications such as ERP still dominates the closed-source software support and maintenance fee by the provider. But even this model is increasingly under threat from open-source ERP such as Compiere and Openbravo, enabling, in particular in combination with flexible uses on-demand infrastructure services ("cloud"), massive cost reductions and today's enterprise software provider by sales and put pressure on margins. 

Opportunities and risks for software vendors
On-demand software is undoubtedly the next evolution of the software industry. But the model is also associated with significant risks. SaaS requires high initial investment by providers, as initially set up an online platform and marketed to be. These high installation and operating costs are paid by the regular user fees only slowly. Sales Tracking Portal took ten years to be profitable. On average, it takes a year to generate the distribution costs for SaaS customers.
Bain & Company anticipated due to the high investment requirements that the SaaS market will consolidate relatively quickly to a few software providers per segment. The companies will be successful, their existing hardware, software and service customers can turn into productive SaaS customers. Many other IT vendors are suppliers of SaaS providers with a large buying power for servers, network infrastructure, software and systems integration. 

Software vendors have two options in the medium term, to position themselves in the SaaS market: either they are suppliers of a SaaS platform, which is operated by a third party or develop itself into an integrated SaaS provider. Anyone who embarks on the path of a SaaS provider, must build a strong position as a software supplier, not to be replaced in the medium term, for example, by open-source or completely displaced from the market. Those who positioned themselves as SaaS providers need to build infrastructure capacity, or buy and acquire skills for managing a SaaS ecosystem, such as the integration of third-party or usage-based billing. In addition to an aggressive acquisition strategy for new customers, it must also have a migration strategy for existing customers from traditional license and maintenance business to the SaaS model type, aimed at possible long-term commitment to the more profitable, classical model.
IT service companies that want to join the SaaS business need, in addition to their existing skills - provision and management of IT infrastructure - capacity and skills in software development. End, they may enter into partnerships with leading software vendors, or take a software provider. 

"Software-as-a-Service is to establish itself as an important segment in the enterprise software market. As the future landscape looks like and whether prevail primarily software companies or IT service provider, is still completely open, "says Bain expert Budde. In addition to developing start-ups such as Sales Tracking portal of software vendors like Oracle and SAP established in the direction of SaaS, as well as infrastructure and service providers such as T-Systems. "Ultimately the industry will probably develop over SaaS out," predicts Matt Budde. "It is likely that the existing business process outsourcing as a process-as-a-service was resumed and on-demand services. Thus, the SaaS cards would reshuffled. "

SaaS ISV Forum subnet: "Should I or should not I ...?"
For software companies or IT service providers who are faced with the question of whether and how to model business software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to enter this in the offers in the SaaS ISV Subnet forum with valuable information,

Article Source : Kenny Blog

SaaS ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a computer-based system that handles both internal and external resources. These resources could be financial resources, human resources, materials and capital goods. The architecture is designed to provide information throughout the organization - from department to department - and outsiders who have a stake in the company. Run on a central database, ERP consolidates all so that is very streamlined and uniform throughout the company.

SaaS vs. Traditional ERP ERP

There are a number of reasons why ERP SaaS is better and worse than traditional ERP. Finally, when you choose one for your business, these differences should be weighed heavily. They will provide insight into which product is right.

Flexibility

Traditional ERP can be customized and optimized the way you want, because it is installed directly on the server. SaaS ERP is not. So when it comes to SaaS, you have less customization techniques and, therefore, need less technical skill to run it. However, due to the decrease of customization, if there is something specific you want a do, SaaS may not be able to let that happen.

Simplicity

As mentioned above, since it is not as flexible, SaaS is easier to use because you do not need much in technical expertise. Since SaaS is not just, you do not have to worry about putting up new servers or something like that. However, because it is so easy, you might run into some complex that would not otherwise incur when trying to implement various aspects of ERP.

Control

Going hand in hand with the flexibility and control. For small businesses that do not have a team of great technique, giving up control for ease of SaaS is not a bad thing. However, for medium to large companies that can afford large technical teams, having more control over the ERP is beneficial and, therefore, ERP is a traditional favorite. For small businesses, however, SaaS is ideal.

Accessibility

It is a fundamental. SaaS requires Internet. Traditional does not. In the event of a crash of the Internet, you lose access to the ERP. Traditional, provided that the company has an internal network, you can access at any time.

Cost

SaaS is cheaper to implement in the short term. However, since you're leasing the annual costs may well become high when you add more employees. Traditional is a cost single time because you own the software after it is installed on the server. Thus, in the short term, SaaS is definitely cheaper. The long-term traditional is more convenient.

Article Source: Kenny Blog

SaaS CRM

What is SaaS CRM?

CRM software is designed to ensure that your relationship with customers is strong. It ensures that, through sales and communication, there is a growing relationship between the various parties. The general hope is that the customer will be comfortable returning to the company time and again for their business. SaaS CRM, then, is the software that you rent this power relationship.
The name of the software as a service shows that the software can take the part of customer service in some cases. In this case, the software takes care of keeping the customers happy. It provides information to the customer. The overall objective is to attract new customers, retain existing customers, convince customers to go above all by reducing marketing costs.

The benefits of SaaS CRM

The benefits of SaaS CRM are great. To begin with, because you pay as you go, you do not have to worry behind the actual software. They can not manage the server. Therefore, the cost of entry is very low. And 'cheap to start using this CRM. Another advantage is that since it is not in management, the program is ready and faster and can be used first. This means more profits. Finally, security of infrastructure and power to put behind the CRM SaaS by the seller has no rivals. So, you've found a very strong product.

SaaS CRM Disadvantages

For starters, you are in rent. While it is cheap to enter and use at first, will be perpetually pay for CRM. If you decide to stop paying, you lose the CRM. If you went with a more traditional formula, you have to buy it, but do not pay a monthly, quarterly or annual fee. Sometimes, you can not go CRM SaaS specific field. If you had an expert working for the company and a traditional CRM, you would be able to specialize the CRM. Unless you have clear objectives, SaaS will be a waste of money. It's not magic. Without goals, it will simply drain resources from society.

The decision to go with whom, however, is fully in society. For the most part, if the company has the funds to run a traditional CRM package, they will. Otherwise, you can choose to go with a CRM SaaS and spend it later.

Article source: Kenny Blog

How Does Cloud Computing Work

Cloud computing is a phenomenon made possible from the increasing speed of broadband Internet and the ability for people to access web pages at lightning speeds. Without these lightning speeds, people would never access to compute in the clouds. In order to better understanding of mechanism of cloud computing, it is vital to understand what it is.

Cloud computing is a grid or farm of computer servers that provide software and data to other computers(users). Its purpose is to deliver software and the software functionality that might be put on the farm by a company to individual computers connected to the Internet. For example, Google Documents is software that is “in the clouds” that delivers a word processing software to people without software installation required on their computer. And, with the power of Google’s servers, they can then save those files right “in the clouds” without requiring to store on their own hard drive.

How Does Cloud Computing Work?

To understand how it works, it is important to think of cloud computing in two levels. The front level is the user level which is what you use such as your Google Email or the webpage where you are downloading the latest version of Flash or even a Sales Tracking Software. The other level is the backend which is all of the hardware and the software architecture in the Grid. It’s here that the actual Gmail or Facebook or Sales Tracking Software is held waiting to be accessed by you.

Because all of the different servers in farm are running together in cloud computing approach, one application can have the computer power of multiple servers. This allows something like Facebook to run and able to serve million of users.

Thus, the cloud brings together a large collection of server computers to operate a single service application. And anything that is stored anywhere other than your local hard drive is labeled as being in the clouds.

One of the main advantages of cloud computing is it enables companies to deliver files or services to customers without having to send an physical disk or CD. For example, if you are using a HP laptop and you need to get a patch for your Driver. Instead of having to have it sent to you, HP can deliver to you over the Internet. If HP wants to sell you a new piece of software, they can do that over the Internet and have it installed without needing the physical CD. It saves time and money both company and customers.

Article Source: Kenny Blog

Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 3

Previous article: Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 2Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 2

Today, automated sales tools, which help to increase success and improve the sales process. Tools for small business a person may be different from the forces of the emergence of a hundred people. Before taking control of sales and customer service, you must understand exactly what is covered.

Having started several businesses, I found one or two person company, simple tool, the better. For a company, I started with Outlook contact information and business. As we became more sophisticated and had to share knowledge, we used a free online CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool. This allowed more people to follow the customer information and tracking input from our telemarketing team rented. I know that other start-ups have been using Wiki, or shared spreadsheet. The more customers you have and the more your business the most advanced tools to improve the effectiveness of your sales effort.
automated tools are wonderful as successful marketing and / or promotions. Maybe you start with a newsletter (using tools such as rapid and constant contact page). This is followed by a special offer on your blog. Then you can send an updated offer announced on Twitter. Monitoring the success of this campaign may be linked to your automated sales tool and to help you to renew the program for better focus and achieve spectacular results. To start using a CRM tool, start with the simplest tools and easy at first. Next, find what you like and dislike.

Extract the sales process, you reveal what the minimum requirements, and you can remove some of the tools are too simplistic for your needs. It is each department and / or the person who touches the customer to contribute, as he uses the instrument. Use a small portion of their sales staff if you can segment them, one solution is to test the short period of time. Then you can add a couple of other units being tested. Finally found a tool everybody can use and accept. The usefulness of the tools are only as good as the information is stored, and everyone must participate.

With the right tools, you can listen very carefully to what the client says and touch them when necessary. Can provide the right information when they want and create a desire for your product. Automated tools can help track sales and keep your company name at the top of the minds of customers. The result is more sales, and sales efforts more effective.

Article Source: Kenny Blog

Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 2

Previous article: Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 1

The focus of your selling cycle is to match the buying cycle of your customer. The first step the customer goes through is identifying that they have a need to solve a problem. Your sales force must identify the customer's problems before they can start their selling. Listening is an important attribute at this stage. By listening to what the customer says, types in an email, posts on a blog or a tweet, or places in printed material, you can learn plenty about your customers.

Once the customer has found that they have a problem, they gather information. During this stage of the buying cycle, specific information must be fed to the prospect. Too much irrelevant information forces the prospect to look elsewhere for a solution. The whole company can be involved in providing the right information such as product benefits and features, demonstrations, trials, customer support, referrals, etc. During this gathering stage, the desire for a solution builds within your prospects, as they want a solution. Experienced sales people will build upon that desire and direct it towards their solutions. Tracking the interaction with an automated tool will increase the efficiency of your sales process.

Knowing the buying cycle is paramount for success and you need to map this cycle to your unique customer. Some significant points to know about your ideal customers are:

• Industry
• Geographic coverage
• Size (revenue & employees)
• Company history
• Lifestyle
• Psychographic (Values)
• How do they buy?
• What problems do you solve for them?
• Who are their ideal customers?
• What are their key products?
• Who else sells to them?
• Why would they buy you over your competitors?

The more you know about your customers, the more you can please them during the buying cycle and after they have purchased your product. Knowing the correct information, you can follow up with them with the right information at the right time. Your touches to your customers will determine the relationship with them.
As you touch your customers, you need to understand who else touches them (departments and other employees in your company). In addition, it is important to know how and where the touches take place, and how these touches correspond to the buying cycle (need, information gathering and desire). Tracking this process is helpful for success, and today's automated tools can do just that.

You know your customer, you know their buying cycle, and you know what your company strategy is. The interaction between you and your customers is a series of touching and listening. Listening to your customers and prospects is getting more complex every day, as you must track what they are saying verbally as well as electronically (websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Do you have a process in place to listen to your customers? The more listening you do, the better you can touch the prospect and provide what they need and want. The goal is to create a great flow of the appropriate information to capture a larger share of your customers' wallets.

You need a proper tool to help you track your interaction with customer. History of message flow between you and your customers should be logged which will help you achieve your goal. A simple sales tracking tool like Sales Tracking Portal will help you greatly. Check out and register for free at its official website.

Article Source: Kenny Blog

Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 1

The most challenging task in business is selling. Everyone in your company should be selling, as they are an ambassador for the company, no matter where they are. This is very evident in today's social media world, where employees need to heed what they post on a public web site.

When we talk with CEO of a company, we tell them that they must be selling all the time, or they are just overhead. The head of a company must constantly sell to customers, partners, suppliers, bankers, investors and employees.

Today's companies need a tool to track their successes, failures and interactions within organization. Creating a process with a sales tool will increase your success, plus improve the efficiency of your sales force. This article describes a series of steps to take as you evaluate different sales tools.

Selling is perceived to be difficult. Selling is just a process that you establish, follow and track. Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth, has shown that everyday people create wildly successful companies with processes. One of the most important processes in sales is the follow up. Follow up should occur any time you and your customer interact. An interaction happens when you are either listening to them, or reaching out to touch them. Success comes from making sure that the right information flows to your customer at the right time.

Your customers go through a buying cycle. This buying process may vary, but the primary steps are need, information gathering and desire. Throughout the whole buying decision process, emotions direct the customer. People buy with their heart and then justify the decision using the gray matter between their ears. Therefore, all information that flows to your prospects and customers must guide their emotions at that particular point in time. Follow up is critical at each step. Good Sales tracing system will be valuable for your sales force in helping you achieve this critical process.

As you provide information to potential buyers, you must focus on them. You need to please their requirements and wants. The sales cycle will focus on your customer and their buying cycle. You must identify their process, and find the steps your customer goes through. Then get the right information and right people involved to please your customer. It is not easy to keep track and get the right correspondent to your customers at all time. Different customers possess different buying process. You need to have an efficient tracking system to aid your sales operation to keep up performance.

Most of us provide more than one product to a customer, as we can usually sell ancillary products and on-going services. Every customer should be looked upon as a future referral. The result is that we must focus on all customers for the long haul.

From the owner's or boss' point of view, critical indicators to track include sales increases, number of customers, sales efficiency, and sales per customer (or better yet, profit per customer). Sales managers want metrics to measure their sales force efficiency - calls per day, close ratio, new calls, etc. Your customer only has so much money to spend, and you want as large a share of his wallet as possible. An effective sales reporting system should be put into place to track these vital indicators, plus others that you deem important.

Increased efficiencies for sales people usually mean more sales per day or week. The more that you can automate the tasks of the sales force, the more time they spent pleasing the customer, and more time in front of them. All sales tools must be easy to update from any wireless devices. Sales people want efficiency in their lives and they will spend as little time as possible entering data.

Part of the tracking process is capturing information about the customer. Customer information includes customer dynamics, demographics, history of interactions between your companies, customer needs, buying habits and how often the customer is touched. Touching a customer or prospect includes face-to-face discussions, phone calls, emails, ordinary mail, your website, blog postings, tweets, and other information your customer can find out about you. Do you know what your customer is posting on their blogs, websites or in tweets?

In conclusion of this part 1, you need to know buying cycle of your prospects and organize your tasks properly to response with right action in the right time. You need to know how to gather customer information properly in order to help they solve problem. A good sales tracking system will be like your magic wand in helping you do these jobs. I will discuss more about how to take into next step in order to seal the deal in Part 2 of this article.

Article Source: Kenny Blog

Forrester’s analysis: profitability (ROI) of software-as-a-Service

In a "Total Economic Impact ™, the market research firm, examined in July last year, the long-term benefits that companies in the use of software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions can take. Almost always - according to the Forrester analysts in the introduction to the Report of the investigation - considered as undertakings Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) due to the short implementation period and the pay-as-you-go principle (PAYG) a cost advantage over site-own solutions.

Many companies introduced the long-term value of SaaS but questions because they do not know exactly whether the SaaS model in comparison to the site's own solution inevitably has a cost recovery point, and if so when?
Particularly important, according to Forrester, be it in a first step, the profitability indicators for the use of software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to determine solutions. be employed would also be required depending on the scope of the ROI assessment, different considerations.

Result of analysis: "The companies surveyed by Forrester identified using a five-year cost-benefit analysis of long-term benefits of SaaS. While almost all companies see a short-term benefits of SaaS, many companies have calculated also a long-term benefits of SaaS. "

There are some SaaS providers that provide services such as Sales Tracking software for free such as Sales Tracking Portal. It is highly recommended for company that want to test the water if their business is suitable in adopt SaaS into business process.

Article source: Kenny Blog

As companies reduce IT costs.

Cost containment has become a watchword in IT environments because of the perceived conflict between the IT staff (who are often seen as a cost center to be checked) - and the financial officers and executive IT people see as an obstacle to improving IT skills.
The truth, however, lies somewhere in between: while the conflicts on costs and cash outflows occur, some common sense approaches to this issue can help solve problems and improve the bottom line of society, without affecting its efficiency and effectiveness. The following are some strategies for improved IT cost containment.
Find ways to improve and standardize procedures. There was a time when the pace of technological change was so fast that personal computers have been updated once or twice a year. This led many companies to resort to the development of processes and procedures on the fly. "
The pace of technology is apparently slowing, the changes that are happening are - broadly - 'improvements' to existing systems (eg wireless networks that replaces 'wired' networks). This is an opportunity for companies to slow down and establish more efficient procedures.
Be open to new technologies. A field of new technologies is virtualization software, which helps the server to do more tasks than originally planned. An expert in IT infrastructure you can use virtualization software to run eight cars outside a single server. For e-commerce company with 400 people, this may mean keeping the same people, but working out only 40 cars. It is true that the total cost savings are not that high savings due to virtualization are about 30-40%, but for larger companies, this can result in a significant amount.
On the other hand, it should be 'virtual' will also require expenditure, particularly for more powerful servers and increased network costs, but the long-term savings is worth it.
Be opportunistic. Options to reduce costs are not limited to new technologies and new management practices - it is also a mindset focused exercise and a healthy feedback to identify opportunities that arise.
Contract renewals are one such area of opportunity - especially for large enterprises with heavy IT requirements. Leveraging on these supply needs can translate into significant cost savings, if managed properly.
Moving into a new building is another. Rather than 'wiring' the building to use that network, wireless technology can be brought in. Before you say that this is a case for using new technologies, it should be noted that the transition from wired to wireless technology eliminates the cost of hiring people to drill and wire rope all over the place - not to mention the money saved from the distribution with wires and cables.
Involve IT staff in budget planning and establishing financial goals. Critics assume that IT managers and people have their heads in the clouds and rarely bothered to explain the objectives and concerns of the financial cost to them. What is overlooked is the fact that all people - like others - are concerned about the financial health of their businesses because their income and lifestyle depends on the business doing well.
Switching to SaaS instead of deploying traditional software is another company can reduce cost dramatically. SaaS required minimal implementation & maintenance cost gives you flexibility in managing your IT budget. Learn more about how SaaS should reduce your IT Budget.
If you are in Sales department, you may want to check out a SaaS Sales Tracking Software that might suite your need.
Article Source: Kenny Blog

SaaS

SaaS (Software as a Service) is an application hosted on a remote server and accessed via the Internet.

A simple and concrete example of SaaS are "free" e-mail (also known as web-based e-mail) systems offered on the Internet such as Microsoft Hotmail, G-Mail and Yahoo Mail. Each program meets the basic criteria of a SaaS application: a vendor (Microsoft, Google or Yahoo), contains all the programs, logic and data in a central location and provides access to end users of these data and the software runs and used during the world-wide web.

This "simple" application architecture can be applied to a wide range of software applications for use by companies or firms or individual users.

Two main categories of SaaS

SaaS is often divided into two main categories:

• The so-called "line of business services" which refers to business solutions offered to enterprises and businesses, and sold or made available to these companies on the basis of a subscription. Applications in this category include business processes such as supply chain management programs, applications, customer relationship and other
• Customer-oriented services that are offered to the public in general or on a subscription basis or (more often than not) offered for free but are supported by advertising. Web-based e-mail, such as those mentioned above fall into this general category.

Software Ownership

Traditionally, the user purchases a software package and license by paying a one time fee. The software becomes the property of the person who made the purchase. The software support and updates are provided by the seller or developer under the terms of the license agreement.

SaaS, on the other hand, did not have licenses. Rather than a single price, the payment for the use of software is by subscription. You access and use the software ends when you stop paying the subscription fees. In addition, the software is downloaded to your computer. In this example we used, G-Mail or Hotmail, it is not "resident" on your computer - to access and use over the Internet, but it is uploaded and stored on computer.

The main advantages for the user

• Lower costs. You should not pay a single (usually large) fee for licensing. He just needs to pay recurring subscription fees. An article about how you save money on SaaS implementation.
• Smaller storage requirements. You do not need to store the software or data stored on your computer so you do not need large data storage facilities. There is also the convenience of not having to constantly details backup - storage is the responsibility of the SaaS provider.
• Fewer staff. SaaS reduces the need for specially trained IT staff to manage the maintenance, monitoring and software updates. The SaaS vendor will provide a dedicated team to handle these tasks.

The main advantages for the seller

The main advantage for the vendor is in continuous stream of income that will amount to much more than can be expected in the traditional setup software licenses. Using SaaS also suppliers to mitigate piracy and without the use of software and reduce the losses associated with these  activitie

One example of SaaS in market today is Sales Tracking Portal. Sales Tracking Portal is an Online Sales Tracking Software helping sales professional to track and manage their sales operations. The strong point of this service is their simplicity and affordable. The features is much enough to support most of sales operation while very cost effective.

Article Source: SaaS

Sales Tracking Portal New User Manual is uploaded.

Sales Tracking Portal User Guide new version (1.1) is uploaded. Please check out and we hope you find our software is helping you improving better Sales Performance.

You may download it directly by clicking here

or download from our official website at Sales Tracking Portal Official Site

Guide to choose a Sales Tracking software for your company

Explore your options for sales reporting systems, which can increase your business' sales

Sales tracking tools can be very useful for your business. First, a sales tracking system can help sales person keep up with all of their clients by maintaining good follow up, which can lead to referrals and converts into to more sales. Secondly, a sales tracking software can help monitor the types and amounts of sales made by a company, so that company can make a better forecast on future sales. Lastly, marketing departments can use the data from sales reporting tools to design more effective ad campaigns and loop back to support sales team better.

Today, there are several means of obtaining and using supplies for sales tracking and reporting. Sales tracking software is a great in house solution for businesses. Many companies also offer web-based sales tracking and reporting solutions. Several companies even offer customizable customer tracking software or consultations. However, whichever way you choose to track your business' sales, consider these important general tips when you are going to buying a sales tracking software:

1. Provide adequate training to everyone on how to use the Sales Tracking Software.

2. Ensure that everyone in the team keep data up to date for the most accurate forecasts.

3. Use the same sales reporting software with all your employees to streamline the sales tracking process.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Choose sales report software for an in house solution

If you have a sales team with several members who each have their own client base, consider sales tracking software. A software can help each member of your sales team manage their client list, leading to better, more timely follow up and a greater number of referrals.

Note: Sales Tracking Portal has been around for quite some time and is well liked. It allows users to add their tasks related to Sales Deals which Tasks Alert function of this software just do the great job help reminding user to follow up with their clients.

Choose a web-based sales reporting solution

Using a web-based solution has its perks, because often the tracking company will provide you with automated reports, graphs, charts and forecasts allowing you to use and better interpret the data you input.

Note: Many suppliers provides web-based solutions that are flexible and works well. Sales Tracking Portal is also a good choice as it comes with full comprehensive reports, especially it's totally free.

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Choose the right Sales Tracking Software.

The Business world is actually booming with the introduction of all sorts of software products which have continued to change the way business is managed in the recent times. The Sales Tracking Software is one of such latest inventions that have really changed the business world for the better. Let's take a look at what the product stands for.

What actually is Sales Tracking Software?
The Sales Tracking software is a unique application that has been designed to assist Sales Team in organizing all data that has to do with their sales deals operations and customer base. These include areas that deal with sales and marketing, follow-ups, customer database, reporting and so on. The software builds a comprehensive profile of your clients and makes that accessible to every other member of the business empire. This helps a lot in allowing every member of the company to network more efficiently and also access their common schedules.

The Sales Tracking software comes in a wide variety of types. However, they all could be grouped into two major types namely, the Locally Hosted and the Remotely Hosted Versions.

Locally Hosted Sales Tracking Software
The Locally Hosted Version is usually installed on your company server and also tailored to have control over other applications you're using in the organization. This version works exactly as you desire. The only problem is that it requires proper technological expertise to function well. You have the responsibility to watch over its security. You also need to upgrade it from time to time as your business grows.

Remotely Hosted CRM Software
The Remotely hosted version is run on the external Provider's server that provides your business with the Sales Tracking service. In this system, your Sales Tracking provider runs the application smoothly from its own server. All your company data are properly secured. Again, the Sales Tracking provider has the responsibility of solving any application problem that may occur anytime.

Leveraging Features VS Long Learning curve of the Sales Tracking Software
A good Sales Tracking Software normally has unique features and should be easy to use. Before you install any kind of Sales Tracking software, you have to make sure it gives you what you want. Some Sales Tracking Software provide rich complex features but very difficult for your sales personnel to comfortable to use it. This can caused a failure in adapting Sales Tracking Software into your normal operation.

Again, you need to engage the services of a reliable Sales Tracking provider that is well experienced in the business. You need to compare the cost of installing such applications from various providers before you go ahead. There are some free reliable provider such as SalesTrackingPortal which could be highly recommended.

Finally, always make sure you install an easy-to-use Sales Tracking software application through the help of a reliable company. The software when properly installed can take your company to greater heights.

Stay in the Loop with a Sales Tracking System

 With lead contact information, customer contact information, product information, sales trends, and other pertinent data to maintain and track it can be easy to lose sight of some data that is essential to a company’s success. Staying organized and current can make a significant difference when it comes time to make a sale or an improvement to the business. Using a multitude of data tracking resources, such as spreadsheets, databases, and contact managers can impede the process of staying organized and maintaining the most current information. With multiple systems in place information can become unintentionally lost in the shuffle.

To avoid misfiling information about an important lead or analyzing data that is not current, sales tracking systems can be extremely valuable. From the task of keeping customer data organized to forecasting sales trends, sales tracking systems can allow businesses to efficiently manage the data that is key to their success.

Customer contact and business information can be easily maintained using sales tracking systems. Sales reps have the capability of updating information as they meet with clients to ensure data is current and accurate. In addition, if sales reps or other sales team members communicate with leads or customers, whether it be via email, on the phone, or in person, details of the communication can be recorded and available to others should they need it. Important sales milestones and customer decision makers may also be logged for future reference. Having these capabilities helps to ensure sales efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Sales tracking systems may also help businesses identify issues that may interrupt or upset the sales cycle, as well recognize problems that may cause a decline in sales. Concurrently, sales trends may be analyzed to pinpoint areas in which the company is having sales success and and assess what factors might be attributed to that success. Being able to make such analyses early on in the sales process can help companies fine-tune their sales processes to ensure customer satisfaction and sales growth.

Using sales tracking systems, companies can have ready access to information at the product level that allows for more accurate and tailored information for each sales opportunity. Particulars about product quantities, pricing, and product codes can be evaluated and maintained to meet specific client needs and maintain consistency throughout the business and sales process.

In addition to being informed of one’s own business needs and trends, it is also important that companies stay apprised of their competition. Using sales tracking systems provides companies with the opportunity to track competitors’ sales progress and strength, as well as issues that might arise. Such data can be used to track sales trends and identify potential threats from other companies. Having this information readily available can help companies maintain their competitive edge.

Sales representatives may use sales tracking systems to keep them informed of similar sales opportunities that have come through the company. If a sales opportunity similar to the one they are working on is identified, they can speak with the sales representative who closed the sale to gain insight that would be helpful to their own sales opportunity. Such a system not only keeps sales representatives informed, but allows for reps to learn from one another and refine their sales approaches. This in turn can boost their sales long-term.

Using sales tracking systems, companies have the opportunity to stay informed with their company, customer information, and competitors. Being as up-to-date as possible allows companies to tailor their sales practices, products, pricing, and business to maintain their competitive edge and grow sales and revenue.

Sales Tracking Solution Vs CRM Software

If you are confused about lead tracking solutions and customer relationship management (CRM) software systems, you are not alone. Small businesses and marketers have a hard time differentiating the two and choosing the right solution for their organizations.

Traditionally CRM systems used to be costly and difficult to learn and implement. However with the proliferation of on-demand software systems, CRM system have become affordable for many organizations. SalesForce CRM is one such popular solution. However, these systems are still complex and wide in scope and hence may not be required for small and medium sized businesses.

Open Source CRM solutions (such as SugarCRM and vTiger)  are also available as free software, if you have the capability to install and maintain the software.

Lead Tracking and Management solutions, on the other hand, are much smaller in scope and easy to implement and use. So these systems are preferred by small businesses and internet marketers. The primary focus of a Lead Tracking System is to automate the process of sales lead capture, lead nurturing via drip emails, and logging follow-up tasks, so that the conversion rates can be improved significantly.

Lead Tracking Management systems can be deployed in a matter of hours or days and the staff can be up to speed within days. With the adoption of  on-demand or subscription based technology, there is no need for long term commitment or upfront investment. Most lead tracking service providers such as SalesTrackingPortal also provide quick configuration services and handholding for the users, in addition to a 2 months free trial to derisk your decision.

Guide to Pricing and Costs of Sales Tracking and Reporting

Learn the costs of sales reporting systems and sales tracking software

By Jessica Drew, Freelance Business Writer & Editor

Sales tracking tools have become a necessity for most businesses wishing to remain competitive within their industry. A sales tracking system that accurately forecasts sales is worth the investment, as accurate forecasts of sales have a huge impact on your business' bottom line. The pricing and costs of sales tracking and reporting solutions vary widely and will largely depend on your industry and your company's specific needs. However, the pricing and costs of sales tracking and reporting solutions doesn’t have to break your budget.

Many larger corporations hire statisticians and form departments dedicated to sales tracking and reporting, however experts say this isn’t necessary for most small to mid-sized businesses. Research has shown that smaller businesses can be very successful at tracking their own sales and making accurate forecasts, as owners and managers usually have an intimate knowledge of their history, product or service. Today there are more tools than ever to help businesses track sales and here’s a break down of what's out there along with the cost:

1. Sales tracking software costs anywhere from $50 to several hundreds.

2. Web-based sales tracking solution is about $10 to $100 per month.

3. Customized sales tracking and reporting solutions can cost thousands of dollars.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find a low cost sales tracking system, if it fits your company's needs

The cost of the sales tracking solution you use will really depend on what you need. If you have a sales team that simply needs to manage a client base, track sales and generate basic reports, consider a low cost sales reporting application. This solution typically prices between $50 and $500.

Consider a web-based sales tracking system

If your business not only needs a way to manage clients and sales, but also needs basic forecasting features, consider a web-based solution. Although this will cost more over time than buying software outright, companies offering web-based sales tracking and reporting solutions will often generate automated graphs and charts so you can better use and interpret the data. Fees are usually done on a monthly basis and range from less than $50 per month to several hundred dollars per month.

Consider a costlier customized sales tracking system, if it's best for your business

If your business' success is highly dependent or directly related to accurate forecasts, detailed and meticulous data, and well researched ad campaigns, then a customized sales tracking system is worth the investment. Costs here vary tremendously, from several hundreds of dollars to several thousands, and is usually dependent on the expertise and experience of the company providing the tracking. You should find an expert that works with your specific industry.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

When using sales reporting software, make sure that it fits with your industry needs or at least has some degree of ability to be customized to meet your company's individual goals. There are many sales software choices that takes an ineffective 'one-size fits all approach.'

Try Web-based online Sales tracking that meet everybody's budget

www.salestrackingportal.com

Source : Kenny's Blog