I've run numerous business planning sessions with technology vendors and channel partners over the past few years and there is one reoccurring challenge they almost all face - getting relevant and timely information fed into their sales processes. It's the taboo subject with sales and marketing - data management - both expecting the other to be responsible for CRM/PRM administration. Yet this need not be the case as there are a number of excellent solutions where SaaS-based third parties aggregate and contextualise sales information to feed into the sales process. The challenge is that this is the problem that the business thought it was solving when it invested in CRM/PRM. In reality CRM is often used as a glorified (read expensive) funnel management tool as it is too cumbersome to use and lacks data insight that will make a real difference to the sales team.
Taking full advantage of available Big Data technology can arm your team with the analytics they need at all stages of the sales process, whether it’s working to earn new business, consulting with a prospect during a needs analysis, or making additional recommendations for new services to existing customers. Using big data allows businesses to optimize the customer experience by better understanding the customer’s target audience and market demand for his products. The more information a sales force has, the better they can serve the clients. And, internally, by effectively using analytics, sales teams can identify potential customers and more accurately predict which leads will likely become clients. Employing big data as a tool allows your team to develop a tightly focused sales process. In a nutshell, it’s smart sales.
http://blog.capterra.com/how-technology-streamlines-sales-
