Leading US analyst firm publishes article on Sofon Guided Selling
14.06.11
Andrew Daily from MGI Research (ex-Gartner Group) interviews Sofon CEO
Son, the Netherlands, May 12, 2011 – Leading American analyst firm MGI Research recently published a piece on Sofon Guided Selling. In an in-depth interview with Otto van der Tang from Sofon, Andrew Daily from MGI Research (ex-Gartner Group) hones in on Guided Selling, the gap between CRM and ERP and on Software as a Service.
Gap between CRM and ERP
Countless organizations have been working with both an ERP and a CRM system for many years. Van der Tang: "Companies that offer customer-specific products and services in particular tend to experience a gap between CRM and ERP. CRM systems focus on prospects, customers, contacts and activities, while ERP targets product logistics and production. Everything in-between is neglected, from needs analysis and product configuration to calculation & pricing and document generation."
Guided Selling
Sofon has addressed this gap in the market with its Guided Selling Software. "The gap between CRM and ERP can be bridged by offering companies a sales supporting system that stores business knowledge and makes it available to all users. Sales representatives can take advantage of their co-workers’ knowledge stored in the system and configure products using a question-and-answer method. Once all questions have been answered, an error-free quotation is created and bills-of-material can be forwarded to ERP."
Standard software, not customized
Salesforce, which supplies SaaS CRM software, understands that CRM requires complementary tools in order to provide every customer with the best solution. That is why AppExchange was developed, which also offers Sofon software. Sofon is pleased with this recognition of its added value. "The added value of Sofon is not only found in the complementary solutions Sofon offers for CRM, but especially in the fact that Sofon provides standard software. In this instance, standard means suitable for any company and without any customization – which is exactly what companies are looking for nowadays. They are no longer interested in customized software, viewing it as little more than a dead-end street that offers little adaptability or flexibility."
Software implemented and managed by the company
According to Van der Tang, companies want a solution that can be easily implemented and managed by the company itself – without the need to call in the help of IT or external consultants. "They no longer want to spend three to four times more on consulting than on the software itself. Once they understand the Guided Selling concept, they realize how much money can be saved in the sales and quotation process. This concept is becoming increasingly adopted, which has made us a financially healthy company. To us, profitability means we can move quickly in the market without the financial help of investors or banks. We do see a very real demand for SaaS, but also that an application should be able to run offline."
Read the entire interview here.