Sales Management

Benefits

  • Make the proposal process faster and improve the quality and accuracy of proposals
  • Ensure that pricing transactions are fast and accurate
  • Make it quicker and easier to negotiate contracts with customers
  • Process orders more effectively, and ensure that all documents related to any transaction are captured in a way that makes it easy for sales and customer representatives to access when needed
  • Resolve customer complaints and returns faster with higher customer satisfaction

Today's enterprise companies face increasingly complex ordering processes with orders consisting of component parts, customized configuration, make-to-order systems and the inclusion of services. Orders may include content or digital assets and can require products and services from sub-contractors or multiple partners. In addition, products and services may be delivered through a multi-tier distribution channel, adding an additional layer of complexity to the process of fulfilling customer requirements.

Open Text solutions for Sales provide a comprehensive solution that virtually consolidates order information for central aggregation and management while providing for decentralized input and distributed visibility. Customer Order Management integrates with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to consolidate order information from sales, marketing, credit, finance, tax, customer service and approval information for streamlined access and use.

Open Text Sales Order Management solutions deliver this functionality with the following components:

Software:

  • Livelink ECM - Contract Lifecycle Management
  • Open Text Contract Management (SAP® xApps™ Certified)
  • Archiving & Imaging, Business Process Management, Document Management & Collaboration, Extensions for SAP Solutions, Knowledge Management, Project Management
  • Supplemented by Business Content (e.g., predefined workflows) to give you a head-start in configuring workstreams and processes, Consulting Services, Training and Support tailored to meet your requirements.

Activities

Sales Order Management involves Billing, Contract Management, Pricing, Proposal Management, Sales Order Processing and Trade Document Processing

Billing

Sales transactions produce billing documents that must be managed for tracking and reconciling payment.

Open Text solutions for Sales provide a comprehensive view on the entire sales transaction by integrating all order-related information regardless of origin (leading application, email, legacy systems, billing system) and format (email, paper, fax, Web pages) in one easy-to-use folder view, directly from the application they are using.

Solution Adaptations: Extensions for SAP Solutions

Pricing can be a complex process, especially when custom configurations or complex terms and conditions must be considered.

Open Text solutions for Sales supports your pricing process by providing quick and easy access to all of the information needed to prepare a pricing proposal, workflow routing for review and approval, and secure storage of the documentation needed to resolve pricing disputes should they arise. Integration with your CRM and ERP systems provide a comprehensive view on the entire transaction by integrating all information regardless of origin (leading application, email, legacy systems, billing system) and format (email, paper, fax, Web pages) in one easy-to-use folder view, directly from the application they are using.

Solution Adaptations: Business Process Management, Document Management & Collaboration, Extensions for SAP Solutions

Proposal Management

Proposals are a critical sales tool in many industries and can involve distributed teams working under pressure to meet deadlines. Errors in the proposal can result in lost business or, perhaps worse, business that has been misquoted or misrepresented.

Open Text solutions for Sales support end-to-end proposal management by providing secure, Web-based collaboration where distributed teams share a library of boilerplate, past proposals, document templates, tasks, discussions and workflows to review, revise, and approve proposal content prior to delivery to the client.

Solution Adaptations: Business Process Management, Document Management & Collaboration, Project Management

Sales Order Processing

Orders are the lifeblood of most companies. It is therefore critical that the process of receiving, managing and fulfilling orders be efficient, accurate and secure. For some organizations, the process of receiving orders is simple with a one step process and delivery against a single product line.

Today's enterprise companies however, are facing increasingly complex ordering processes with orders consisting of component parts, customized configuration, make-to-order systems and the inclusion of services. Orders may include content or digital assets and can require products and services from subcontractors or multiple partners. In addition, products and services may be delivered through a distribution channel (multi-tier) adding an additional layer of complexity to the process of determining and fulfilling customer requirements.

The management of customer orders can directly affect multiple business operations including production capacity, manufacturing, inventory management and warehousing and indirectly affect other departments such as customer support and finance. Problems in any of these areas can in turn affect the profitability or viability of a company.

Open Text solutions for Sales provides a comprehensive solution that virtually consolidates order information for central aggregation and management while providing for decentralized input and distributed visibility. Customer Order Management integrates with existing ERP systems to consolidate order information from sales, marketing, credit, finance, tax, customer service and approval information for streamlined access and use. All auxiliary, subsidiary and ancillary information that affects customer orders can be exposed for visibility and modification.

Solution Adaptations: Business Process Management, Extensions for SAP Solutions

Trade Document Processing

Foreign trade transactions require an overwhelming amount of paper documentation such as letters of credit, purchase orders, packing lists and certificates. Tracking and reconciling payment requires quick access to many of these documents which are processed by different groups within your organization.

Open Text solutions for Sales provide a comprehensive view on the foreign trade transaction by integrating all order-related information regardless of origin (leading application, email, legacy systems, billing system) and format (email, paper, fax, Web pages) in one easy-to-use folder view, directly from the application they are using.

Solution Adaptations: Archiving & Imaging, Document Management & Collaboration, Extensions for SAP Solutions

  • Sales Operations
  • Business Goals
  • Improve the quality of sales plans and forecasts
  • Enhance product knowledge of those who are selling to customers
  • Provide better access to business information and analytics

While today's sales organizations depend on email, they also depend on information that cannot be effectively managed or controlled using email alone. Sales plans, forecasts, product information and feedback on sales effectiveness must be available in a secure, easy-to-use manner.

Open Text solutions for Sales provide secure, Web-based collaboration to support sales planning and forecasting processes with routing for review and approval and access to reports and business intelligence needed to evaluate sales effectiveness. Our solutions provide a single platform for transferring knowledge to sales teams, so companies can quickly build sales expertise, deliver more effective content, and make fast adjustments to initiatives to meet changing market conditions.

Open Text solutions for Sales Operations deliver this functionality with the following components:

Software:

  • Eloquent Media Server
  • Document Management & Collaboration, Extensions for SAP Solutions, Report & Output Management
  • Supplemented by Business Content (e.g., predefined workflows) to give you a head-start in configuring workstreams and processes, Consulting Services, Training and Support tailored to meet your requirements.

Activities

  • Sales Operations involves Report & Output Management, Sales Planning and Sales Training.
  • Report Management & Distribution
  • Key performance indicators must be monitored and measured to understand if you are close to meeting your strategic goals and moving in the proper direction. The information that you collect must be available to those who are responsible for keeping the organization on track. Livelink ECM - Report and Output Management provides the solution you need to make sure that the information that you produce is available to the right people at the right time.

Solution Adaptations: Report & Output Management

Sales Planning

Without accurate forecasts, companies risk generating excess inventory, which can result in offering products that customers do not need or want. Sales planning requires access to information from a variety of sources such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, marketing, competitive intelligence, win-loss results, and, of course, email.

Open Text solutions for Sales supports the enterprise-wide collaboration that is required to develop sales plans and forecasts. Livelink ECM solutions integrate the structured data from your ERP and CRM systems with the unstructured documents that people produce in the planning process.

Solution Adaptations: Business Process Management, Document Management & Collaboration, Extensions for SAP Solutions

Sales Training

Today, companies depend on various communications vehicles - training events, teleconferences, email, portals and Web conferences. Content and planning for each must be arranged separately, adding to launch schedules and making it difficult to adjust programs for market changes, or to update content. In addition, there is no way to track whether sales representatives are learning and whether that learning is translating into rising sales.

Livelink for Sales Readiness, a combination of Open Text's LIvelink ECM - Eloquent Media Server and Livelink, provides a single platform for transferring knowledge to sales teams, so companies can quickly build sales expertise, deliver more effective content and make fast adjustments to initiatives to meet changing market conditions.

Livelink for Sales Readiness provides integrated workspaces to help sales, marketing and management teams coordinate initiatives. These workspaces include:

  • An Information Center for sales teams to access personalized content. The center guides users through content, helps track personal progress and provides powerful search tools for finding reference content.
  • A Tracking Center which gives managers access to an executive dashboard of sales readiness metrics, including usage, understanding, reach and satisfaction.
  • A Control Center for marketing teams to quickly create, organize and manage content. Users can easily customize content to target different groups within sales.
  • Livelink for Sales Readiness seamlessly integrates with a wide range of corporate systems, including 7CRM and HRMS databases.