Superior Sales Performance Management

Traditional Compensation Software vs. On-Demand Solutions

2009-01-16T04:10:00.000-08:00

For companies investigating sales compensation management systems, there is a choice to make. Do you invest in a traditional compensation software system that runs in-house or do you choose a hosted, on-demand solution.

True on-demand solutions like Centive Compel, built from the ground up as multi-tenant solutions - where a single instance of the software securely serves all customers - offer tremendous economies when compared to traditional "on-premise" systems.

With true, on-demand solutions, there is no hardware or software for the customer to purchase. Instead, the customer subscribes to a monthly service at a pre-defined subscription rate.

Traditional on-premise systems require the upfront purchase of a perpetual license agreement and an ongoing maintenance and support agreement. In addition, on-premise systems require the customer to invest in hardware and supporting software (for example, licensing Oracle or WebLogic). In addition, these systems require a significant investment in time from IT resources.

Centive has a detailed ROI calculator you can use to compare the first year and on-going costs of on-demand vs. on-premise compensation software solutions.

Download a Complimentary Copy of the ROI Worksheet.

Centive Announces the Fall 2008 Release of Compel

2008-12-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

Eighth Release of Leading On-Demand Sales Performance Management System

LOWELL, Mass., December 8, 2008 - Centive, the award-winning leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced the Fall 2008 release of Centive's flagship solution, Compel. The Fall 2008 release marks the eighth major release of Compel and represents another significant step forward in Centive's leadership position in the sales performance management market.

"We work closely with customers, partners, prospects and industry analysts to ensure that as we continue to develop Compel, we meet requirements for today and anticipate those in the future," said Michael Torto, president and CEO, Centive. "With new features and enhancements in the Fall 2008 release, our customers will gain even more value from their subscription to Compel and their overall investments in sales compensation programs."

The Fall 2008 release of Compel adds powerful new enhancements to support the design, modeling, managing, reporting and analysis of effective, optimized sales compensation programs.

Sales Incentives Management

2008-12-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

Use an Online Solution to Simplify Management and Ensure Accuracy

For many companies, managing sales incentives is a time-consuming and arduous task. If a company is managing sales incentives with spreadsheets or a home-grown system, generating reports, tracking trends, and calculating commissions may be difficult and may be riddled with inaccuracies.

Centive's Compel takes the stress out of managing sales incentives. With Compel, managers access their sales incentives and commission data through an online interface. All data is stored securely off-site so no costly IT investments are required for set up. Through one centralized system, managers, sales reps and finance executives can easily run reports, watch sales trends and calculate commissions. Simplify management, save time and ensure accuracy with Compel.

To Learn More about Compel for Sales Incentives Management, Visit Centive.com

Sales Performance Management News from Centive

2008-11-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

~ Award Winning Sales Compensation Solution Chosen Again and Again as Business Users Move to New Companies

Compel Selected to Integrate with Salesforce.com to Fuel Sales Growth Worldwide

LOWELL, Mass., October 9, 2008 - Centive, the leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced their flagship solution, Centive Compel, has been selected by Crossbeam Systems and Black Duck Software. Executives at both companies were Compel users at prior companies, and selected Compel again as the best solution for automating sales compensation and integrating with salesforce.com to drive sales performance - From Prospect to Paycheck^TM.
Read more...

~ Centive Partners

The Centive partner programs are designed to enhance the value of our suite of sales compensation management solutions. Here are a few of our partners:

Learn more about our partner programs at Centive.com

~ Sales Experts Realign 2009 Expectations

In his blog, Getting Better Sales, David Hamacher reviews expert commentary on what sales teams and businesses can do to minimize loss of revenues in 2009.
Read more...

Sales Compensation News from Centive

2008-10-09T03:08:00.000-07:00

Leading the industry in sales compensation and sales performance management.

Newsletter Articles:

Prepare for the New Year - Best Practice Sales Compensation Design
Beta Carotene, Volume 3 Issue 9
Centive partners with OpenSymmetry, a rapidly growing firm specializing in sales compensation and sales performance management consulting and deployments.
Beta Carotene, Volume 3 Issue 8
Centive Wins 2008 CRM Market Leader Award from CRM Magazine - CRM Magazine, the industry's leading publication, has selected Centive as a 2008 Market Leader in the category "Incentive Management."
Beta Carotene, Volume 3 Issue 8
Customer Feedback Program - Centive seeks customer input to refine and improve their sales commission management products.
Beta Carotene, Volume 2 Issue 7
Centive Receives High Marks from Advisory Firm Sirius Decisions - Vendor profile validates value and viability of Centive’s sales incentive management solution
Beta Carotene, Volume 2 Issue 6
Centive Sponsors the Salesforce.com’s Dreamforce ‘06 Conference - Centive will demonstrate the business benefits that result when their award-winning strategic on-demand sales incentive management solution seamlessly integrates with Salesforce.com^TM
Beta Carotene, Volume 1 Issue 9
Strategic Sales Compensation Management - Companies are striving to invest their incentive dollars
Beta Carotene, Volume 1 Issue 9

Centive News:

Press Release: Infusionsoft Selects Centive Compel to Automate Sales Compensation Management
September 29, 2008
Media Coverage: Boomi, Centive Form SaaS Partnership for Compel - Boomi, an on-demand integration vendor, and Centive, which sells on-demand products for sales compensation and sales performance management, have announced a partnership to provide Software-as-a-Service data transformation and integration for Centive's Compel.
TMCnet, August 19, 2008

Links:

Web Directory - Supporting the Complexities of Variable Compensation Management Strategies: Centive has the first incentive compensation solution to fully support the complexities and scope of performance-based variable compensation strategies for any size organization.

Accurate Sales Commissions Management

2008-09-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Centive Compel® provides finance executives with a powerful commission accounting tool for modeling, managing, reporting and calculating sales commissions. Compel streamlines the sales commissions process through an automated centralized system that provides a complete audit trail of all changes made to plans and data, and the security and process controls needed to support Sarbanes-Oxley compliance initiatives.

Learn more about Centive Compel for Accurate Sales Commissions Management

Centive - Market Leader in Incentive Management

2008-09-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Centive Wins CRM Magazine's 2008 Market Leader Award for "Incentive Management"

LOWELL, Mass., Aug 25, 2008 – Centive, the leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced that it has been recognized with a 2008 Market Leader Award in the category “Incentive Management” by CRM magazine.

Recipients for the CRM Market Leader Awards were determined through an extensive three-month process and proprietary rating formula that involves industry analysts, financial and corporate information, product and functionality assessments, and scores reflecting customer satisfaction.

Centive’s flagship solution, Compel®, was recognized by CRM magazine as an affordable, on-demand tool that enables companies to automate the entire incentive compensation management process in one secure, centralized system. Powerful features such as plan modeling, commission expense forecasting, custom reporting and performance analytics helped secure Centive’s inclusion as a 2008 CRM Market Leader.

Compel integrates with CRM systems to enable sales representatives and managers to forecast compensation based on opportunities within their pipeline. This integration provides Centive’s customers with full automation of the sales lifecycle –From Prospect to Paycheck^TM; – to ensure that sales representatives stay focused, aligned and motivated to close the right business.

In addition, Compel was recognized for supporting Sarbanes Oxley corporate compliance initiatives by providing accuracy, security, process controls and a complete audit trail. To date, Centive is the only on-demand sales compensation management vendor to have successfully completed a SAS 70 Type II compliance audit. Continued...

Partnership Enhances Sales Performance Management Application

2008-09-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Boomi and Centive Partner to Provide On-Demand Data Transformation and Integration with Leading Sales Performance Management Application

LOWELL, Mass. & BERWYN, Penn. - August 19, 2008 - Boomi, the market and technology leader for on-demand integration, and Centive, the leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced the companies have partnered to provide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) data transformation and integration for Centive’s Compel® solution. The Boomi On Demand® service is replacing a prior partnership with a legacy on-premise integration solution to provide Centive and their customers with affordable, enterprise-grade integration services without the need for conventional integration software, appliances or coding.

Centive Compel helps companies calculate sales commissions and bonuses for their sales force while also providing executives, sales managers and sales representatives with secure, real-time visibility into attainment, ranking and commission earnings data. Compel features integration with Salesforce.com and other customer relationship management systems to enable sales representatives and their managers to forecast commission earnings based on opportunities in their pipeline. Continued...

Sales Performance Management News - July 2008

2008-08-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Here are links to the latest company news and product information from Centive:

Media Coverage

Centive Wins Two Key Accounts - Compel Replaces Competitive Sales Performance Management Solutions
The Lowell Sun
Centive Picked by WageWorks for Sales Compensation
TMCnet.com

Beta Carotene - July 2008

Compel Supplants Competitive Sales Compensation Solutions at WageWorks and SkillSoft
Prior Solutions Replaced by Industry Leading Sales Compensation Solution
Stayin' Aligned
Sales Compensation Management Expert Greg Blysniuk Shares His Thoughts on When and How to Change Sales Compensation Plans
ZipRealty Automates Sales Compensation With Compel
Compel to Help Motivate Nationwide Network of ZipAgents

Learn more about Centive at www.Centive.com.

Incentive Compensation News - Beta Carotene

2008-07-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

Beta Carotene is Centive’s monthly incentive compensation newsletter. Follow the links below to read articles from the June 2008 issue:

Don't Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater
Subtle Adjustments Can Help Save Your New Sales Compensation Plans
Compel Reviewed on Popular Sales Compensation Blog
Sales Compensation expert Julien Dionne takes an in-depth look at Centive's award winning on-demand sales compensation management solution
Centive Named to JMP Securities' Hot 100 Software Companies
The most recent of a string of awards bestowed upon Centive since the launch of Centive's on-demand sales performance management solution in May 2005

Sales Performance News - Centive Press Releases

2008-07-22T03:42:00.001-07:00

July 2008

WageWorks Selects Centive Compel to Automate Sales Compensation Management

Upgrades to Award-Winning On-Demand Solution to Drive Sales Performance and Accurately Calculate Sales Commissions and Bonuses

LOWELL, Mass., July 10, 2008 - Centive, the leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced that WageWorks, the leading provider of tax-advantaged benefits programs, has selected Centive Compel to automate sales compensation and drive sales performance.

Replacing another on-demand sales compensation solution that could no longer meet WageWorks requirements for effective dating, adjustment processing and reporting, WageWorks will now leverage Compel’s integrated on-demand Sales Performance Management platform to optimize plan effectiveness and strategically manage sales compensation for their growing sales force.

WageWorks helps employers support consumer directed pre-tax benefit programs, including health care (FSA, HSA, HRA), wellness programs, child and elder care, commuting services, education benefits, and employee sponsored programs, such as gym reimbursement. Wage Works also offers retiree health care and COBRA Services. Their customer base of over 2,000 customers includes more than twenty percent of the Fortune 500 employers and nearly fifty percent of the Fortune 100.

"Sales compensation is our most effective tool for driving the sales performance we need to fuel our growth," said Morgan Norman, vice president of Sales, WageWorks. "Centive has successfully demonstrated to us that Compel meets all of our requirements today, and will support us as we continue to grow. We are particularly impressed with Compel’s approach for delivering modeling, crediting, reporting and analytics all within the core solution; other vendors require third-party modules for these critical tools. In addition, security is very important to us and Centive proved to be only vendor to have successfully completed a SAS 70 Type II audit of their security and control protocols." Continued . . .

June 2008

ZipRealty Selects Centive Compel to Automate Sales Compensation for Nationwide Network of ZipAgents

LOWELL, Mass., June 23, 2008 - Centive, the leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced that ZipRealty, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIPR), a leading national real estate brokerage operating in 34 major markets in 19 states and the District of Columbia, has selected Centive Compel to automate sales compensation management and drive agent sales performance.

As one of the nation's fastest growing real estate brokerages, ZipRealty, Inc. provides its clients an innovative on-line solution for buying and selling homes, researching local markets and finding local agents. ZipRealty's licensed employee ZipAgents offer years of experience in their local communities, and provide customers with professional, personalized service backed by guaranteed client satisfaction.

"In a competitive real estate marketplace, we want to be sure our agents are highly motivated to provide the best possible service to help our clients buy and sell their homes," said David Rector, chief financial officer, ZipRealty, Inc. "A competitive and well-managed sales compensation program provides that motivation. We look forward to using Compel to automate our compensation programs, and especially to provide our ZipAgents with secure, web-based dashboards so they can monitor their own earnings and performance." Continued . . .

Centive Customers Drive Sales Performance with Compel

2008-07-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

More CFOs and VPs of Sales choose Compel than any other on-demand sales compensation management solution. Hailed by CIO Magazine as the "most widely used choice for sales compensation management," companies use Compel to accurately model and forecast commission costs, calculate commission and bonus earnings and gain real-time visibility into sales performance metrics.

Follow the links to learn how Centive's customers save time and money, and drive sales performance with Compel:

Customers - see a partial list of customers that use Compel to manage sales compensation
Case Studies - Read how top performing companies manage sales compensation
Testimonials - View video testimonials and hear how Centive's customers use Compel for sales performance management

Leverage Sales Compensation to Drive Sales Performance

2008-06-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

Sales compensation is one of your greatest sales performance management tools; no other program will drive sales behavior, and ultimately, sales results to the same extent as incentive compensation. Getting salespeople to sell the right products and services to the right customers at the right price is the best way to increase revenue and profits, and compensation is the best lever to motivate sales people. The management truism, "what gets measured gets managed and what gets awarded gets done," is spot on. Sales representatives are much more likely to work towards a company's strategic goals when properly motivated by well-designed, accurately calculated, and frequently communicated sales compensation plans.

Achieving these goals requires a proper technology foundation - one that supports agility, speed, accuracy, reporting and analysis. Unfortunately, in most organizations, this technology foundation is absent. In fact, most companies today manage sales compensation programs with Excel spreadsheets and Access databases.

As a result, sales executives are handcuffed by slow, rigid, and unsophisticated systems that provide no strategic value, and sales representatives are frustrated and de-motivated by delays, errors, and uncertainties in their commission payments.

The result is the Performance Gap. The Performance Gap is the delta between the performance results executives expect from their sales compensation programs . . .

Software Review: Sales Compensation Management Solution

2008-06-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

Blogger Julien Dionne takes a look at Centive's award winning on-demand Sales Compensation Management solution - Centive Compel.

In his popular blog on Sales Compensation and Sales Performance Management, Julien Dionne provides a high-level overview of Centive Compel.

Key observations include:

~ "One nice aspect of Compel is that all its functionalities are bundled within the core application (no additional modules are required for reporting, modeling, analytics, etc.)."

~ "Many companies like Adobe, Salary.com, McKesson, Cars.com and Sterling Commerce selected Compel to automate their sales compensation."

~ "Another very interesting feature of the salesperson dashboard is the ability to display sale opportunities (from salesforce.com or other CRM/SFA systems) and the effect they have on the rep’s total compensation."

~ "Centive uses effective dating for everything: people records, quotas, measures, plans, transactions, results, reports, etc., which makes its maintenance much easier. It also solves the difficult problem of handling prior period adjustments - Compel recognizes the crediting rules, roll-ups and structures that were in place at the time of the original transaction, and trues-up the adjustment to the current period."

~ "Compel also seems to offer all the functionalities anyone could be looking for, and does so without the need to purchase additional modules."

Centive Press Release – Sales Compensation News

2008-06-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Centive Named to JMP Securities' Hot 100 Software Companies

LOWELL, Mass., May 21, 2008 – Centive, the leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced it was named to JMP Securities' 2008 report entitled, "The Hot 100: The Best Privately Held Software Companies." This report profiles 100 of the leading private companies in the software industry as identified by the software research team at JMP Securities.

"We are pleased to be honored with inclusion in the Hot 100 report by JMP Securities," said Michael Torto, president and CEO, Centive. "The employees at Centive have worked hard to earn a stellar reputation for delivering superior on-demand solutions, exceptional customer service and innovative market vision. Recognition by JMP Securities is something we will celebrate as a company; it's cool to be hot."

Centive's flagship product, Centive Compel®, is an affordable on-demand solution for modeling, managing, reporting and analyzing sales compensation programs. Compel is much more than just a commission calculation tool; it offers companies strategic value by providing sales representatives and managers with real-time visibility into commission earnings and key sales performance analytics. With Compel, sales organization stay aligned, focused and motivated to achieve performance targets.

The "Hot 100" recognition is the most recent of a string of awards and accolades bestowed upon Centive since the launch of Compel® in May 2005 as the market's first on-demand solution for automating sales performance and sales compensation management. Last week Centive was named a finalist in the "Best Customer Service" category for the American Business Awards. In 2007 Compel earned the "Product of the Year" award and the "CRM Excellence" award from Technology Marketing Corporation, and the CRM WizKids Award from Beagle Research. Compel is also a winner of the coveted CODiE award for "Best Financial Application.

About Centive

Centive, headquartered in Lowell, MA, is the recognized leader in on-demand sales performance management. Companies use Centive Compel, hailed by CIO Magazine as the "most widely used choice for sales compensation management," to accurately model and forecast commission costs, calculate commission and bonus earnings and gain real-time visibility into sales performance metrics. Centive is the first and only on-demand sales compensation / sales performance management vendor to be recognized as a SAS-70 Type II service provider. To learn more about Centive, please visit http://www.centive.com/ or call 1-877-CENTIVE

# # #

Centive, Compel, Inspire Performance, From Prospect to Paycheck and the Carrot logo are registered trademarks of Centive, Inc. All other company or product names are or may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contact:
Bob Conlin
Centive
781-852-3500
bconlin@centive.com

Automating Sales Incentives

2008-05-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

Why You Need To Automate Sales Incentives

Results from a field survey provided insight into the key business goals and requirements for sales incentives compensation identified by sales and finance executives. It validates the need to automate the management of sales incentives with an affordable solution that meets these critical requirements.

The Top 5 Sales Incentives Goals and Requirements of Sales & Finance Executives

Modeling & forecasting: Executives understand that the sales incentives compensation process begins with modeling plans and forecasting commission costs. Their goal is to easily and efficiently build and analyze compensation plan models. They strive to eliminate the guessing game and deliver plans that align sales representatives with corporate objectives, improve plan effectiveness and predictably drive sales behavior.
* Compel® empowers sales and finance executives to easily build, analyze and track multiple plan models to better forecast and control sales incentives . . .

Ensure Commission Calculation Accuracy

2008-05-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Use Centive's Commission Software To Accurately Manage Commission Calculations

Commission compensation is the single most important factor influencing both the performance and morale of sales teams. Management of commissions must be consistent and accurate, and sales commission plans should be designed to optimize sales performance, morale, and effectiveness.

Centive's commission management software offers an all in one system where commission plans can be modeled, tested, managed and adjusted to meet the needs of dynamic organizations. Centive's commission software ensures commission calculation accuracy and empowers sales managers to drive sales performance. Learn more about Centive's commission software . . .

On-Demand Sales Compensation Management Leader Recognized for Providing Exceptional Customer Service

2008-05-15T06:25:00.001-07:00

Centive Named as Finalist in 2008 American Business Awards

LOWELL, Mass., May 15, 2008 - Centive, the leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced they have been named a Finalist in the "Best Customer Service" category in the 2008 American Business Awards.

"We are pleased to be recognized by the American Business Awards judges for providing our customers with exceptional levels of service," said Michael Torto, president and CEO, Centive. "Our focus on delivering consistent, high value customer service has paid tremendous dividends; our customers have rewarded us by providing glowing references to support our sales efforts. Exceptional service builds the long-term customer relationships that have been instrumental in Centive’s rapid growth and continued success delivering award-winning on-demand sales performance management solutions . . .

Sales Compensation Best Practices: Designing New Sales Plans

2008-04-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

Critical Steps to Ensure Quality Plan Design

Sales compensation is the single most important factor influencing the performance of your sales team. Effective plans communicate to each rep where and how they should focus their sales efforts in order to meet or exceed specific performance targets.

But in business, change is constant. And the sales compensation plan is an organization’s best tool for steering and course-correcting the sales team as market influences drive change in corporate goals. The key to managing change is to have a consistent and proven process for designing, modeling, deploying and communicating new sales compensation . . .

The Most Complete On-Demand Sales Compensation Management Solution

2008-04-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

Centive Announces the Spring 2008 Release of Compel

Seventh Release of Leading On-Demand Sales Performance Management Solution

LOWELL, Mass., April 7, 2008: Centive, the award-winning leader in on-demand solutions for sales compensation and sales performance management, today announced the Spring 2008 release of Centive’s flagship solution, Compel. The Spring 2008 release marks the seventh major release of Compel, the industry’s most complete and mature on-demand solution for automating sales compensation. . .

Centive's Sales Performance Management Blog

2008-04-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Centive Sales Performance Management Blog on Blogger.com. Here you will find current newletter articles, press releases and information about Centive’s approach to effective sales performance management.

Centive is the recognized leader in on-demand sales performance management. Companies use Centive Compel, hailed by CIO Magazine as the "most widely used choice for sales compensation management," to accurately model and forecast commission costs, calculate commission and bonus earnings and gain real-time visibility into sales performance metrics.

View the Sales Performance Management Blog archives to learn more about Centive.