Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

June 15, 2010

Survey Indicates a Desire among Companies to Improve Sales Process and Customer Collaboration

By Rajani Baburajan


As the business world is recuperating from the worst-ever recession in the history, strategies are in place in many companies to push them for better growth in the post-recession period. 

An independent survey published by Sterling Commerce, an AT&T (News - Alert) company, shares the latest information technology priorities in the telecommunications and media industries. 
The survey found that 80 percent of these companies feel the recession is behind them or nearly halfway over. To prepare for spending growth, 79 percent plan to increase the focus on sales strategies and 63 percent indicate better customer collaboration is of top importance.

The survey indicates that companies will invest in better serving their customer base by expanding into new sales channels and improving responsiveness of the sales process. 
Over one third of respondents expect growth in IT budgets this year and are optimistic about business growth, according to the survey. Of all, 91 percent of respondents indicated that better collaboration with customers, including sales and customer service, is a top concern for them, and 90 percent are focused on reducing IT costs and improving ROI while 88 percent indicated that improving business and IT agility is a priority as well.
According to the survey just under three fourths of decision makers feel their company can perform better when it comes to controlling costs and improving ROI, which is always a top priority for businesses. The survey also found that 71 percent of respondents indicated better collaboration with customers was a priority but were not very satisfied with their current performance. Similarly, 64 percent of respondents felt this way in regards to improving e-commerce capabilities.
Sterling's new survey indicates eight in ten respondents plan to increase their focus on the sales process to improve revenue and reduce costs per sale. The survey also found that more than half of the respondents are currently using mobile commerce as a sales channel. Among the companies that do not sell through a mobile channel, almost a quarter of them plan to implement this channel this year. 

The survey also found that business intelligence and business-to-business integration can help improve the sales process of businesses. 
John Konczal, global industry executive of communications and media at Sterling Commerce (News - Alert), said, "Sterling Commerce works closely with communications and media companies to adapt their sales channels to meet evolving customer expectations that include the ability to provide customized services and content and overall order flexibility."

Back in April, Sterling Commerce announced its 'as-a-Service' offerings of its Sterling Order Management and Sterling Multi-Channel Selling or "MCS" solution, TMCnet reported. With these applications, the entire Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite, a collaborative supply chain solution for managing the entire inquiry-to-cash process, is now available in the cloud.
 

Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Alice Straight


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