Get Connected, Or Else

In the news this week was a report of yet another business being investigated for back-dating stock options for executives. This company is not the first and surely won’t be the last to have the authenticity of its business data tested in a public forum. Each time it happens I am reminded of the importance of data accuracy and consistency, not to mention personal accountability.

In my experience, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when the various functional areas of a company are not on the same page. More than one product launch has been torpedoed because sales was selling a product that marketing had marketed but which was not quite completed according to the engineering team.

On a larger scale, businesses are sunk every day because members of the executive team are aware only of information from their particular business silos. Rather than being connected, data is treated as if it exists in a vacuum, removed from and not at all dependent upon data from other departments in the organization. Frequently, this issue leads to problems that effect a company’s balance sheet. Too often, the results are more serious, including jail time for certain individuals.

To avoid this, businesses need to take a close look at the process by which they share data across the organization. Take, for example, the critical issue of sales performance management. For many companies, there is no greater need than to ensure sales is meeting its goals and objectives. But what happens when sales data is disconnected from finance, and vice versa?

Consider the consequences of this vignette: At an executive management meeting, the vice president of sales shares data regarding the number of deals the company closed in a given quarter. Everyone is excited because the sales team met its number. That is until the CFO lets it be known that the cost of providing commissions to the sales representatives, combined with the cost of the programs implemented by marketing to drive sales activity, is greater than the total revenue created by the sale of the products. If sales, marketing and finance had been on the same page with respect to each group’s numbers, this situation could easily have been avoided.

The goal of sales performance management applications, like Xactly Incent, is to centralize key sales-related data in a common repository. When all data is in a common location, data analysis and reporting is easier and more effective. Until recently, there was no easy way to connect “islands of information” for sales performance management purposes. But that has changed with the availability of Xactly Connect, the world’s first on-demand incentive compensation management integration platform that connects any system to Xactly web services APIs, resulting in transparent integration to the user.

The point of the story is, when one business hand knows what the other is doing, the chances of success are much greater. Every employee, across departments, as well as business partners, can participate in a seamless business process that puts information in the hands of people when they need it most. The challenge is getting on the same page; the answer is to get connected.