Housecall Pro offers online booking, fast payments, marketing, job notifications, and many other features. These key features keep home services FSM companies connected to their employees and customers. But it’s not the only software that will fit your business needs.

Read more: You Gotta See The Standout Features on These 8 FSM Scheduling Apps

But Housecall Pro isn’t the perfect software for everyone. For example, the software doesn’t include inventory management or franchise support. Other features they have may also not work for every service company. That’s why this list of the best FSM apps is chosen according to the top field service features. That’s on top of the best overall Housecall Pro alternative software, of course.

The best Housecall Pro alternatives

Best for multiple locations and franchises: ServiceBridge

ServiceBridge is a field service management software built to serve any company size from a single location to franchise or multiple locations. Specialized features like royalty settings and territory management keep all of your locations up to date. Timesheets, commissions, recurring invoicing, and estimate features keep your financials in line. Plus, asset management, fleet management, and scheduling tools ensure technicians get the right parts to the right job on time.

Best for scheduling and dispatch: FieldEdge

The FieldEdge FSM software uses rule-based skills matching to help you match technician skills with the jobs that will most benefit from their attention. Combine the capacity planner with real-time technician GPS tracking to make the most of daily routes for every technician. FieldEdge combines these features with Quickbooks integration and a mobile CRM for the best scheduling and dispatch FSM software.

Best for payments: Jobber

Jobber FSM makes collecting payments from customers easy with mobile payments, payments through the client portal, invoicing, and credit card payments at the job site. Scan cards with a mobile device camera and store the customer’s account information for use when work is done. The Jobber payments pricing adds a base percentage plus a $0.30 fee for each charge, and the base percentage depends on your subscription plan with Jobber.

Best for marketing: Kickserv

Kickserv offers a marketing site that connects directly with the Kickserv backend, making it easy for companies to market their services and book appointments. This tool comes as an add-on to the normal subscription price, but Kickserv is one of the few FSM tools that offer this feature. In addition to robust dashboards and customer care modules, Kickserv also connects to Quickbooks and Xero accounting software, so you can connect your existing accounting system.

Best for job notifications: Workiz

Workiz field service management software is designed to work on desktop or as a mobile app and is keen on communication. Use Workiz to send notifications and alerts to customers, schedule, dispatch, and track technicians with built-in GPS, and receive automatic custom notifications based on different scenarios. Workiz includes voice over internet protocol (VoIP) capabilities like call recording, two-way text messaging, and phone masking. These features help your team stay connected in the field and improve service.

Best for inventory management: Service Fusion

Service Fusion offers a complete FSM system with a built-in inventory module, something few other FSM tools do. The system allows for multi-item purchase orders, can manage inventory across multiple warehouses, and features customizable products right in the app. This robust FSM tool also includes advanced voice and text communication and notification features.

Best overall Housecall Pro alternative: mHelpDesk

mHelpDesk is the top Housecall Pro alternative for home service businesses. The software includes lots of different features for customer, job, and financial management. It even includes inventory software. Set up a customer portal that connects directly with the built-in CRM and track leads as they become customers. Use the mobile app to check job statuses, access vital job data while offline, and process payments directly from the app. Dispatch is easy with text messaging and a visual scheduler.

Top Field Service Management Software Recommendations

The post The 7 Best Housecall Pro Alternatives for Field Service Companies appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Many CRM tools now include route mapping in their toolsets, so the sales mapping CRMs listed in this article may not meet your needs. Badger Maps has been the market leader in outside sales CRMs with GPS route planning, but they’re not the only option. These Badger Maps alternatives will drive you to your sales goals via the shortest possible route.

Badger Maps alternatives

Map My Customers

Map My Customers is an outside sales management and sales CRM tool. Use it to map territories and sales routes and pull reports — all from a single app. The CRM includes notifications, custom fields, filters, and document storage for fast customer approvals. Those CRM features transfer over to the route planning map, where teams can add layers to their map that align with their CRM filtering needs. Helpful features for outside sales teams include tools to find nearby accounts when you’re in the field and a lead generation tool that helps reps find new leads on their routes.

Read more: 8 Sales Mapping Software Tools for Your Dispersed Team

Callproof

Callproof is an outside sales CRM with sales and account mapping, routing, calling support, and automated reporting tools. The Forms Plus pricing tier includes robust functionality, including API integration, call tracking, and customization features. It also includes features for inside sales teams, so the whole team can use the same app. Expense and mileage tracking features make it easy for reps to turn in their documentation at the end of the month. The service is available for individuals or teams and can be billed monthly or annually.

Map Business Online

Map Business Online lets teams build sales territories via ZIP codes and spreadsheet uploads. The tools also let teams draw freeform maps to contain sales territories. Use the map builder to calculate routes and business stops with the shortest routes. Map Business Online is strictly a mapping tool, but it does have native integrations with Salesforce and Quickbooks to pass customer data back and forth quickly. Map Business Online maps and data are also available via a mobile app.

Read more: Better Than a Compass: 4 Geolocation CRM Apps for Salespeople

Maptive

Maptive is a business mapping solution that uses the Google Maps API, so its data is as up to date as your phone’s GPS. Maptive has a lot of different mapping visualizations features, and it allows reps to plan and follow routes from the app. Maptive does not include connections to CRMs, but all of the mapping features are accessible on mobile devices.

Read more: How to Create An Effective Sales Process Map (2024)

TechnologyAdvice can help you find the right CRM for your outside sales team.

Whether your team needs a CRM with mapping integrations or a fully mobile mapping CRM, TechnologyAdvice helps you speed up your research. Check out our CRM software page, or contact us, for software recommendations based on the needs of your reps.

Top CRM Software Recommendations

The post 4 Badger Maps Alternatives for Mapping Sales Routes appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

But if you calculate your sales compensation on a spreadsheet or (gasp) by hand, the chances of making a mistake increase dramatically. Sales commission software automatically calculates commission and payouts based on custom company rules, and reducing error is one of its biggest selling points. 

ALSO READ: Sales Games & Contests Ideas That Work

The best sales commission software will offer the following features: 

• Ability to track and input individual sales figures
• Accounting and distribution of incentive-based payments through direct payments or data exports to accounting systems
• Custom settings for role type, location, company tenure, and sale type
• Reporting and analytics to improve outcomes

In this article, we’ll look at some of the top solutions sold either as standalone sales commission tools, or as features built into a larger sales platform.

Integrated sales commission software systems

As part of larger CRM or CPQ system, these options help sales teams track their sales process and calculate commissions from a single platform.

Commissionly.io – Best for small business usability

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Pros

• Targeted features
• Quick deployment
• Cost-effective
• User-friendly interface

Cons

• Limited scalability
• Limited advanced features
• Integration limitations

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Key Features

• Real-time commission tracking: Commissionly.io provides a robust platform where businesses can monitor commissions in real-time, delivering transparency and instant insights.
• Sales forecasting: With built-in predictive tools, the platform offers advanced sales forecasting capabilities, enabling small businesses to project future revenues more accurately.
• CRM integration: Commissionly.io bolsters productivity through seamless integration with popular CRM systems, allowing for a streamlined sales process.
• Customizable dashboards: The software offers customizable dashboards, empowering users to tailor their view according to individual or business needs, enhancing data visibility and comprehension.

Pricing

Admin only access: $15/user/month

Admin & sales rep access: $20/user/month

Why We Chose Commissionly.io

Commissionly.io earns a top spot for its unparalleled usability and feature set, tailored for small businesses. Its strength lies in its user-friendly interface, combined with its cost-effectiveness that makes it ideal for smaller enterprises. Real-time commission tracking, predictive sales forecasting, seamless CRM integration, and customizable dashboards deliver a comprehensive suite that facilitates improved sales operations. Furthermore, its cloud-based nature ensures rapid deployment, thereby quickly enabling businesses to get up and running. For small businesses seeking a sales commission solution, Commissionly.io stands out as a prime choice.

Build your small business sales targets in Commissionly, and the sales commission tool will pull metrics from those targets to calculate flat or tiered commission plans. Apply the target to your sales team and assign a commission calculation to the target, then all team members who work that target receive the same calculations, automatically.

Commissionly primarily functions as a sales CRM, but the inclusion of sales targets and commission rates can simplify your calculations. GetScorecard’s integrated tools also let you see in-depth and granular reports that show your team which strategies are successful and where they have room to grow.

SAP CallidusCloud- Best for enterprise scalability

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Pros

• Configurable workflows
• Multi-currency support
• Machine learning capabilities
• SAP integration

Cons

• Complex integration
• Training required
• Cost-prohibitive for small businesses
• Customizable limitations

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Key Features

• Lead to Money suite: The Lead to Money suite in CallidusCloud offers a comprehensive set of solutions from lead generation to money realization, creating a streamlined sales process.
• Territory and quota management: CallidusCloud features an advanced territory and quota management system, allowing companies to assign sales territories and set quotas efficiently.
• Incentive compensation management (ICM): CallidusCloud’s ICM is designed to motivate employees and drive sales performance by providing transparent and fair incentives.
• Sales performance manager (SPM): SPM offers tools to align sales objectives with business strategy, enabling sales teams to meet and exceed their targets.

Pricing

• Professional Plan: $50/user/month
• Enterprise Plan: $90/user/month
• Performance Plan: $110/user/month

Why We Chose SAP CallidusCloud

CallidusCloud’s comprehensive suite of solutions, from sales enablement to performance management, establishes it as the go-to for enterprise scalability. Its integration with SAP modules offers a robust, interconnected platform for large enterprises. The tool’s machine learning capabilities provide advanced sales forecasting, while its multi-currency support enables global operations. Despite its complexity requiring sufficient training and resource allocation for implementation, the depth and breadth of its functionality, coupled with customizable workflows, make CallidusCloud a compelling choice.

CallidusCloud’s sales performance management solution helps you automate tracking, calculation and payouts of commissions. Set quotas and territories based on historical data, rather than just guessing. Automated sales training and on-boarding takes your new hires and veteran sellers through important employee development when they need it, without requiring oversight from HR or managers. You can even connect to the CallidusCloud SalesMotivate sales gamification tool to boost sales or learning management through gamified inventive programs. 

This is a higher-priced system that charges per user with a minimum user count at each payment level, but extensive level of integration makes CallidusCloud worth the price point, especially for high-pressure enterprise sales environments.

Dedicated sales commission calculators

To say that these standalone platforms work solely as “calculators” understates their capabilities. The following options will provide your team with simple or complex commission rules, and they often integrate with your current software stack.

Iconixx Sales – Best for complex sales plans

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Pros

• Dynamic plan design
• Integrated solution
• Advanced analytics
• Automated calculations

Cons

• Configuration complexity
• Limited customization
• Slow report generation

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Key Features

Plan design and modeling: With its comprehensive platform, Iconixx Sales empowers organizations to design and model complex sales plans, allowing for customized compensation structures, rules, and hierarchies that align with specific needs and strategies.

Goal setting and quota management: Optimize goal setting and quota management with Iconixx Sales, as it provides advanced tools to define sales targets, allocate quotas, track performance, and make real-time adjustments, ensuring alignment with business objectives.

Incentive compensation management: Simplify and automate incentive compensation calculation, administration, and tracking using Iconixx Sales, enabling organizations to handle complex commission structures, incentive plans, and sales hierarchies with accuracy, efficiency, and transparency.

Performance analytics and reporting: Unlock valuable insights into sales performance, incentive payouts, goal attainment, and other key metrics through the robust analytics and reporting capabilities of Iconixx Sales, facilitating data-driven decision-making and enhancing overall sales effectiveness.

Pricing

Plans start at $8,500/month/capacity

Why We Chose Iconixx Sales

With its comprehensive platform, Iconixx Sales offers unrivaled capabilities for designing and modeling intricate sales plans. The solution’s advanced tools for goal setting, quota management, and incentive compensation ensure optimal alignment with business objectives. Iconixx Sales streamlines the entire process, automating complex commission calculations and providing real-time performance analytics. As a result, sales teams can enhance their effectiveness, drive revenue growth, and achieve greater sales success.

Iconixx boasts a transparent sales commission platform that helps teams and management understand their current sales practices and plan to reach their goals. Using automated commission calculations, your team can set up complex rules and still maintain visibility.

The Iconixx Sales platform brings commission calculations together with internal custom workflows, reporting, and the ability to forecast hypothetical situations. These tools remove advanced calculations and complicated spreadsheet reporting, allowing your sales force and managers to spend more of their time selling and clarifying goals.

QCommission – Best for industry-specific needs

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Pros

• Extensive flexibility and customization
• Automates commission calculation
• Industry-specific features
• Integration with various CRM, ERP, and payroll software

Cons

• Complexity for simple commissions
• Limited collaboration features
• Limited integration options

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Key Features

• Customizable Commission Plans: QCommission offers extensive customization options for commission plans, allowing businesses to define complex commission structures, tiers, rates, and thresholds specific to their industry requirements and sales processes.
• Flexible Calculation Rules: With QCommission, businesses can set up flexible calculation rules to handle industry-specific commission scenarios. This includes support for various commission types, such as flat, tiered, percentage-based, split, and variable rates based on different criteria like sales volume, product categories, or customer types.
• Industry-Specific Templates: QCommission provides industry-specific templates that serve as a starting point for businesses in sectors like insurance, real estate, finance, or direct selling. These templates are designed to address the unique commission requirements and calculations specific to each industry, enabling faster implementation and reducing configuration time.
• Data Integration and Import: QCommission offers seamless integration with popular CRM, ERP, and payroll systems, allowing businesses to import sales and performance data directly into the software. This eliminates manual data entry, ensures data accuracy, and streamlines the commission calculation process for industry-specific needs.

Pricing

Starting from $15/user/month

Why We Chose QCommission

With its customizable commission plans, flexible calculation rules, and industry-specific templates, QCommission empowers businesses to address the unique complexities of their respective sectors. The software’s seamless integration capabilities enable data import from popular CRM, ERP, and payroll systems, ensuring accurate commission calculations. QCommission’s ability to handle complex commission structures and its focus on industry-specific requirements make it a standout solution, providing businesses with the necessary tools to streamline their commission management processes effectively.

Built as a standalone system that can import data from other software programs, QCommission handles simple and complex commission calculations as soon as your sales period ends. Use built-in reporting to provide clear commission statements to your entire team, or build custom reports based on your own process.

Import and export data from your other sales and business software including Salesforce, Quickbooks, MySQL reports, Excel spreadsheets, and MS Dynamix. QCommission runs on Microsoft technology, which gives it a familiar interface.

Xactly Incent – Best for advanced analytics

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Pros

• Advanced analytics capabilities
• Predictive modeling and forecasting
• Data visualization and reporting
• Extensive integration and scalability

Cons

• Maintenance and support requirements
• Complexity for small-scale operations
• High cost

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Key Features

• Advanced Analytics and Insights: Xactly Incent offers advanced analytics capabilities, allowing businesses to gain deep insights into their sales data. With features like predictive modeling, forecasting, and trend analysis, organizations can uncover valuable insights and make data-driven decisions to optimize their sales compensation strategies.
• Data Visualization and Reporting: Xactly Incent provides powerful data visualization and reporting tools. Users can create visually appealing dashboards, charts, and reports that effectively communicate complex sales data. This enables better understanding and interpretation of analytics insights across teams and facilitates informed decision-making.
• Customizable Analytics: Xactly Incent offers customization options to tailor analytics features to specific business needs. Users can define custom metrics, KPIs, and calculations to track and measure sales performance accurately. This flexibility allows organizations to align analytics with their unique requirements and goals.
• Integration and Scalability: Xactly Incent seamlessly integrates with various data sources, including CRM, ERP, and other systems. This enables the consolidation of sales data for comprehensive analytics. Additionally, the platform is designed to scale effectively, accommodating the needs of growing businesses and handling large volumes of sales data for advanced analytics.

Pricing

Quotation based, starting at $1/user/month

Why We Chose Xactly Incent

We chose Xactly Incent as the premier choice for advanced analytics in the realm of sales compensation management. With its robust suite of features, including advanced analytics and insights, incentive plan design and modeling capabilities, automation and accuracy, and real-time dashboards and reporting, Xactly Incent stands out as the leading solution. By providing organizations with powerful tools to optimize their sales compensation strategies and make data-driven decisions, Xactly Incent excels in empowering businesses to achieve greater efficiency, transparency, and financial success.

Xactly Incent comes in two editions  — enterprise and express —  to suit your business’s size and staffing requirements. Dashboards and analytical tools show reps and managers progress toward goals so teams can react to changing needs in real time. The enterprise version comes with complete mobile integrations across your devices, while the express SMB software integrates with your existing CRM.

Xactly Incent connects to the Xactly Insights platform, which provides big data benchmarking to help increase sales output from your top performers and coach your mid-performers toward greatness. A commissions sandbox lets your analytics team experiment with goals and outcomes based on historical data without disrupting current work. Built-in document management provides integrated support for quoting, contracts, and e-signatures without switching between systems.

Performio – Best for comprehensive integration

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Pros

• Seamless integration capabilities
• Real-time data syncing
• Automates the integration process
• Flexibility and customization

Cons

• Complex configuration and setup
• Dependency on external system updates
• Maintenance and support requirements
• Compatibility challenges with legacy systems

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Key Features

• API integration: Performio offers robust API integration capabilities, allowing businesses to connect and integrate data from various systems seamlessly. Its flexible and scalable architecture facilitates smooth data transfer and synchronization between Performio and other platforms, ensuring a comprehensive integration solution.
• Customizable data mapping: Performio provides customizable data mapping features, enabling businesses to map data fields between integrated systems according to their specific requirements. This customization ensures that data is accurately mapped and synchronized across platforms, maintaining data integrity and consistency.
• Real-time data syncing: Performio supports real-time data syncing, enabling immediate updates and availability of integrated data. This ensures that commission calculations, reporting, and analytics are based on the most current and accurate data, empowering businesses with real-time insights and decision-making capabilities.
• Integration monitoring and alerts: Performio offers integration monitoring and alerts, allowing users to track the status and performance of integrated systems. This feature provides visibility into any issues or errors during the integration process, enabling proactive identification and resolution of integration-related issues.

Pricing

Starting from $50/user/month

Why We Chose Performio

With its extensive API integration capabilities, customizable data mapping features, real-time data syncing, and integration monitoring and alerts, Performio emerges as the leading solution for businesses seeking a seamless integration experience. By seamlessly connecting and synchronizing data from various systems, Performio empowers organizations to maintain data integrity, ensure accurate commission calculations, and leverage real-time insights for informed decision-making. Its comprehensive integration capabilities position Performio as the top contender for businesses aiming to streamline their data integration processes and maximize operational efficiency.

Performio offers a visual sales commission tool on mobile or desktop apps that gives sales teams and their managers deep insights into individual performance toward sales goals. Any member of the team can check the reporting tool to tell how your commission plan is running toward budget, track accounting across the entire team to reduce time lost to shadow accounting, and evaluate the overall performance of their sales processes.

Performio comes ready to connect to your CRM, accounting, HRIS, or ERP software via API, or choose to import sales data directly from an outside database to keep all your data centralized. You don’t even have to leave the software to collaborate. Instead, use the chat as workflow feature facilitates conversations and approvals in a format your teams are used to.

Whether you purchase standalone sales commission software or choose a larger, more integrated suite, using a centralized system will save your sales team a lot of headaches when it’s time for payout.

How we choose our top picks

At TechnologyAdvice, we assess a wide range of factors before selecting our top choices for a given category. 

To make our selections, we rely on our extensive research, product information, vendor websites, competitor research and first-hand experience. We then consider what makes a solution best for customer-specific needs.

For our Top Sales Commission Software list, we looked at 23 options before whittling them down to the six that cover all sales commission needs for startups all the way up to enterprises.

Looking for the latest in Sales Enablement solutions? Check out our Sales Enablement Software Buyer’s Guide.

The post 6 Sales Commission Software Tools for Big Payouts appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

At first glance, Sisense and Tableau look fairly similar. They both come with several deployment options, provide embedded analytics features, and give companies granular control over powerful data visualization tools. It’s easy to get lost in the many features these two BI vendors offer, so we’ve compared Sisense vs. Tableau for you.

Sisense vs. Tableau: Which is better?

Sisense – Better for an end-to-end BI solution

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Pros

• Comprehensive tool
• Complex data handling
• Customizable dashboards
• Embedded analytics

Cons

• Lacks Tableau’s level of sophistication in data visualization
• Less intuitive

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Key Features

• Elasticube Technology: Sisense’s proprietary ElastiCube technology allows efficient handling of large data sets from multiple sources, providing rapid querying and analysis.
• Drag-and-Drop Interface: Sisense’s user-friendly interface allows users to create complex data visualizations and dashboards through a simple drag-and-drop mechanism.
• Embedded Analytics: Sisense stands out with its ability to embed interactive dashboards and analytics directly into other applications, making it an excellent choice for businesses that want to provide analytics capabilities within their existing software.
• White Labeling: Sisense allows extensive customization and white labeling, enabling businesses to tailor the look and feel of the platform to their own branding.
• AI and Machine Learning Capabilities: Sisense incorporates AI and machine learning capabilities to deliver advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and anomaly detection.

Pricing

Free trial available

Estimated $25,000+ per year

Contact Sisense for a custom quote

Founded in 2004, Sisense is an end-to-end business intelligence platform built to simplify complex data analytics. Its unique ElastiCube technology supports large, disparate data sources, providing a competitive edge in handling complex data environments. The platform allows users to create custom dashboards via a drag-and-drop interface and stands out with its embedded analytics and extensive white labeling. Unlike Tableau, Sisense enables complete BI workflows within a single tool, eliminating the need for separate ETL processes. Its innovative approach, underlined by AI capabilities, caters to businesses of all sizes, democratizing access to data-driven insights.

Tableau – Better for data visualization

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Pros

• Top-notch data visualization
• User friendly
• Excellent data connectivity options
• Active and helpful community and support

Cons

• Not as comprehensive for data preparation and cleaning compared to Sisense
• Limited capabilities for embedding interactive dashboards into other applications

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Key Features

• Data Visualization: Tableau’s sophisticated and intuitive data visualization capabilities allow users to create compelling and interactive dashboards and reports from complex data.
• Data Blending: Tableau provides the ability to blend data from multiple sources, enabling users to get a holistic view of their data.
• Drag-and-Drop Interface: With its user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface, users can easily create and customize visualizations, even without extensive technical expertise.
• Real-Time Data Analysis: Tableau supports real-time data analysis, allowing users to gain timely insights and make immediate data-driven decisions.
• Tableau Public: Tableau Public is a unique feature that allows users to publish their data visualizations to the web. This feature is popular among data journalists and hobbyists for its ability to share interactive visualizations publicly.

Pricing

Free trial available

Free plan available

• Tableau Viewer: $15/user/month
• Tableau Explorer: $40/user/month
• Tableau Creator: $70/user/month

Founded in 2003, Tableau revolutionized data visualization with its user-friendly, interactive BI platform. Praised for its intuitive interface, Tableau transforms raw data into easily understandable visuals, granting a clear edge in data visualization over competitors like Sisense. Its powerful real-time data analysis and extensive data connectivity options provide insights from virtually any data source. Unique features like Tableau Public amplify its reach, promoting data literacy among wider audiences. Its scalability and helpful community support further distinguish Tableau.

Sisense vs. Tableau: A detailed comparison

Pricing

Pricing between Sisense and Tableau varies due to their different pricing models and the types of solutions they offer. Broadly, Sisense aims to provide a comprehensive, end-to-end solution, and its pricing reflects this all-inclusive approach. The company’s pricing is typically custom, based on the number of users and the scale of data to be processed.

On the other hand, Tableau offers a more modular pricing structure, allowing users to choose between a number of different packages based on their specific needs. These packages include Tableau Creator, Explorer, and Viewer, each with different capabilities and cost. While this model may offer more flexibility, it can become expensive for larger teams.

Refer to each vendor’s pricing tab above for specific pricing tiers.

Which should I choose based on pricing?

If you’re looking for a comprehensive, all-in-one Business Intelligence solution and have a budget that can accommodate this, Sisense may be the better choice. It offers custom pricing based on the scale of your data and the number of users, which could potentially offer more value if you’re planning to utilize all its features extensively.

If your primary need is data visualization and you have a team with varying levels of data interaction, Tableau’s modular pricing could be more cost-effective. Tableau allows you to choose different packages for different users, which means you only pay for the features each user needs.

Always remember to consider not just the upfront cost, but also the value and return on investment each tool can bring to your organization.

Deployment

Both Sisense and Tableau offer flexible deployment options.

Sisense is available in the cloud, on premises, and as a hybrid deployment.

Tableau is available as a private on premises server, a public cloud server, or as a fully-hosted private online solution. Versions vary based on user needs and company structures, and include:

• Desktop
• Cloud
• Server
• Online
• Mobile

Companies can purchase different seats depending on the user’s needs and capabilities, and teams can also add-on tools like embedded analytics.

Data prep and connections

Both of these tools offer full-service business intelligence platform implementations that store, process, analyze and visualize data. Depending on your data sources, your company may require a data analyst to prepare and import your data for use.

Sisense offers database solutions for cloud and on-premise deployments. All of its tools are designed for implementation with little to no IT resources. However, business users who don’t have SQL query experience will need to be familiar with the tables, data formatting, and any spreadsheets they import.

Teams can connect their data sources from the cloud or databases directly to Sisense, while enterprise companies can connect their databases and govern the data accessibility and usage directly in the tools. Sisense connects to historical and long-term data sets with their Elasticube tools that import data directly into the software. Companies can also make connections to third party software with a live connection that displays data but doesn’t import it or save it in Sisense.

ALSO READ: Alteryx vs. Tableau: Working Together

Tableau offers Prep and Prep Conductor as add-on data preparation licenses for individual users. Tableau Prep gives analysts and business users a visual dashboard to cleanse and combine data before they import it. Prep has three different views, a visual combiner, a row-level view, and a columnular view. Most companies will need to purchase either a Prep or Prep Conductor license to prepare, cleanse, and import data for use in the tool.

Data governance

Sisense’s data governance is based around five major user roles: administrator, data administrator, designer, data designer, and viewer. Each of these roles comes with default settings, but are customizable to meet the needs of the company. Administrators have granular control over roles permissions via the Sisense REST API.

Tableau offers several data governance models: centralized, delegated, and self-regulating. Depending on the needs of IT and business groups, the skill level of individuals, and the sharing settings on data groups, companies can build custom governance models that fit the data and the needs of business users. The flexibility of these models lets companies adapt their governance models with their growth and sophistication of their needs.

Embedded analytics

Both of these tools offer embedded analytics, but Sisense also offers a platform for app building. Add Sisense analytics to existing apps via iframes, JavaScript API, or plugins. Or your team can build custom, white-labeled apps on Sisense BloX, a visual template tool with customization capabilities via CSS and JSON. Sisense has integrations with Amazon Alexa voice services, bots, and internet of things (IoT) tools for custom uses. Each of the tools can be fully white labelled and will match existing branding.

ALSO READ: The Best Embedded Analytics Software Options for Small, Medium, and Enterprise Businesses

Tableau gives customers embed control via iframes or JavaScript API, depending on your customization needs. Data administrators can connect directly to the data layer to control data sources and definitions without running SQL queries. Tableau offers multi-tenancy and security measures for embedded apps via single sign-on. Tableau also provides row-level granular security, so you can provide or deny access to data down to the individual data row.

Processing power

Sisense boasts in-chip technology, which means that it works off a computer’s CPU. This processor-based computing can work much faster than similar processes on RAM and disk memory. It also claims to work faster and better the more that you use it. In-chip technology breaks all queries into blocks that the in-chip processor can access and reuse in future queries. The more queries you make, the more blocks you have, and the faster Sisense can access that data in subsequent queries. By reusing queries and data, you build a stockpile of resources, and Sisense can then run concurrent queries.

ALSO READ: Power BI vs. MicroStrategy

Tableau uses a proprietary technology called Hyper to help increase parallel queries and improve processing speed. This in-memory technology is based on morsels (very small work units) that can be assigned across different cores to efficiently process data on today’s multicore machines.

Natural language features

Both Sisense and Tableau offer natural language features that produce narratives to explain data and answer questions about a user’s data.

Sisense Narratives is the Sisense natural language generation feature, and requires an additional license add-on. When the company has purchased this feature, Sisense will add English language descriptions to individual widgets that explain and give context to the data in those widgets. Sisense also offers Boto, a natural language bot that companies can use in third-party apps Slack, Skype, or Facebook. Users can ask Boto a question, and Boto will analyze data and return a natural language answer.

Tableau employs natural language generation via connections to tools like Wordsmith, Narrative Science, and Yseop to parse dashboards and provide text explanations of the metrics and insights within the data. Users can also use the Ask Data tool to ask natural language questions of their data. This enables business users who understand the data and business context and company vocabulary to find insights within their data without first learning to code or even use the Tableau interface.

Choosing between Sisense vs. Tableau

Sisense and Tableau offer competitive business intelligence software for businesses of all sizes. With similar deployment, capabilities, and tools, it can be hard to choose between the two. Companies who will need highly granular control over data permissions for internal dashboards and embedded analytics should look closely at Tableau’s offerings. On the other hand, if your team has prioritized the building of analytics-driven apps and white labelled embedded analytics tools, Sisense may prove the better option.

Whatever your business intelligence needs, TechnologyAdvice can help you cut hours off your research process with a short list of vendors who meet your feature requirements. Use our BI Product Selection Tool to get started.

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The post Sisense vs Tableau: Business Intelligence Software Review appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

What’s the big idea behind using gamification for improving employee performance? For starters, it’s backed by science. Take a look at positive reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement is a subset of operant conditioning, studied and widely popularized by the psychologist B.F. Skinner. Positive reinforcement seeks to increase the likelihood of a behavioral response by offering a reward for that response. Examples:

By implementing sales gamification, you use the psychology of operant conditioning to meet business objectives. Managers set small milestones and employees receive positive payoffs for meeting those goals.

Also read: Sales Games & Contest Ideas That Work

It’s important to make your gamification sustainable, so combine short-term weekly goals with longer-term monthly, quarterly, and yearly sales goals. Set up sales gamification like your fantasy football team, everyone moves positions every week, every week is a new opportunity to rank better, and the seasonal winner takes home a bigger prize. This keeps employees engaged weekly when they can gain small bonuses and recognition, and rewards high achievers at the end of the period.

Open data means higher engagement

Lots of teams talk about visibility, but gamification opens up sales data to help increase growth and improve overall sales. By making your data open for general consumption, everyone has a chance to publicly recognize high performers and share best practices with the team. While best practices (and general politeness) don’t suggest punishing low-performers, the fact that their stats are published every week may help motivate those who tend to fall behind.

Like any open data policy, plan your way forward carefully. You want to reward high performers and help the stragglers. Bring the performance metrics to light in an atmosphere of full cooperation rather than competition, and you should find your team striving for higher and higher group goals.

Re-Focus on ROI

When done correctly, gamification can help your teams rally around direct business objectives that drive revenue. Sales can get caught up in the day to day grind of individual prospect touches, but gamification refocuses teams back on the larger business objectives. Gamification rewards the sales rep for the wins, and helps them move toward more and more of those. It teaches the team to focus on the important metrics rather than the daily grind.

Also read: 5 Of The Best Tools For Gamification In Business

Ideas for improved performance

1. It’s not all about the Benjamins

Money is awesome. As Homer Simpson so succinctly put it: “money can be exchanged for goods and services.” We all want more of it. You should probably tie monthly and quarterly goals to bonuses, because your employees come to work to earn money, not to play games.

At the same time, other factors of operant conditioning and positive reinforcement are at play here:

Varying your rewards to include recognition, time off, and “buying” tickets for games of chance like raffles can keep the motivation momentum rolling. While that $5 payout per sale seems like a good idea at first, teams can quickly become immune to its charms, at which point they’ll up the ante.

2. Combine gamification with your LMS

A great example of a gamified LMS is the Salesforce Trailhead, where individuals earn badges as they make their way through training modules. Trailhead drives engagement with the Salesforce product and makes surface users into power advocates because of their increased knowledge sets. A defined learning set of videos and activities keeps people on track and builds knowledge and confidence. Combining the gamification and LMS also lets everyone on the team have a chance to participate for points and recognition, not just the sales reps.

3. Keep it simple, then upgrade your tech

Yes, you heard that right—I’m not here to sell you gamification software (but here’s a lot of options if you want to take a look). If you want to succeed, begin with a workable reward system. Don’t get so bogged down in which software to buy that you lose sight of your goal: increasing ROI.

Before you purchase and implement a sales gamification software, try running a few contests to see how your teams respond. Once you know that it works and improves engagement, you can buy gamification software that will give you lots of reports and insights into how your team is doing. Remember that you should look for a software that connects with the tech you already use: your CRM, sales software, lead scoring, and reporting.

4. Make gamification part of business

Tie your games‚Äîand your rewards‚Äîto business objectives. Playing games and friendly competition are fun, but you don’t want to distract from the reason you’re at work: to make money. If it doesn’t tie directly to business goals, you run the risk of alienating management and some of the employees who won’t see the value to the company. Tie each gamification program to a specific set of business goals, objectives, and values to stay aligned and on track.

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Once you’ve tested your gamification process, you’ll want to start looking for software that provides sales teams with an easy to use interface and managers with agile reporting so that teams can continue to improve.

Looking for the latest in Gamification solutions? Check out our Gamification Software Buyer’s Guide.

FAQs

The post 4 Sales Gamification Ideas to Improve Performance appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

To help you gain and keep your customers, you’ll need to work on your relationships. Personalizing and humanizing your brand goes a long way toward building customer contacts that can mature into advocacy.

ALSO READ: How Marketing Can (and Should) Improve the Customer Experience

How do you do that? Here are three suggestions:

1. Make Yourself Available When the Customer Needs You

This seems like a no-brainer, but many customers leave a company due to lack of contact or support. Rack up critical loyalty points by making yourself available when the customer has a question. There are several ways your company can do this:

2. Follow Up with Customers

Thank you notes aren’t dead; they just changed form. Open the lines of communication with your customers by following up after a deal is completed. Solicit customer feedback within a reasonable amount of time, and take action on that feedback. At the same time, don’t over-communicate to the point of annoyance. The best times to follow up with your customers are:

ALSO READ: 5 Outbound Sales Strategies to Increase Revenue in 2023

3. Be Honest and Upfront

Every relationship has rough patches, especially B2B customer relationships. The true test is in how you handle those problems. Whether it’s an incorrect insertion order or something completely out of your control, it’s best to communicate about the problem and what you’re doing to fix it.

B2B customer relationships are difficult. They require constant communication and mutual trust. If you can be proactive in opening conversations and building personal connections with your customers, you put yourself at an advantage over competitors.

Looking for the latest in CRM solutions? Check out our CRM Software Buyer’s Guide.

The post 3 Keys to Improving B2B Customer Relationships appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Many of these quotes include bulk ordering, discounting, and time-dependent pricing structures automatically. This reduces the math your sales team has to do and makes it easier to share accurate quotes with customers.

ALSO READ: 8 Sales Mapping Software Tools for Your Dispersed Team

CPQ software comes as a standalone option or built into more advanced CRM and sales tools. You may even find CPQ features in larger ERP suites. The list below provides a fair cross-section of market leaders, with a variety of options for different implementation needs. 

CallidusCloud CPQ

CallidusCloud CPQ offers automated pricing with mobile capabilities and analytics that show you which products are selling fastest. Guided selling helps locate appropriate products quicker, and the product list narrows as the salesperson enters more information. Competitive cross-reference features will pull matching products in your catalog when you enter a competitor’s part number. Products move in and out of your catalog automatically, based on the dates you specify. Multi-tier and complex pricing rules provide granular control over each quote.

Oracle CPQ Cloud 

Part of the Oracle cloud, this will dovetail easily with your other Oracle products. CPQ Cloud includes guided selling and complex configuration rules. A built-in product suggestion tool promotes upselling and cross-promotion to help salespeople improve their numbers. You can set program pricing and discounting rules across the organization to improve profit margins and consistency. CPQ Cloud also includes a contract management system that lets salespeople build proposals and contracts in the same app where they find their quotes. Quote-to-order conversions reduce double entry, and workflow automations remove bottlenecks and speed time to purchase.

Salesforce CPQ

Salesforce’s CPQ features are built into the Salesforce cloud, so your salespeople can work from a single app, rather than switching back and forth. Salesforce offers the ability to move quotes to invoices and configure subscription pricing. Because this CPQ is integrated in your Salesforce CRM, you can pull sales, product, and quote data into your larger sales and performance reports.

Quotewerks

A quoting solution for business and manufacturing, Quotewerks provides product uploads via database, excel or text documents, and it connects with many of the tools you already use, including Microsoft products, cloud and desktop CRMs, and accounting tools. Quotewerks’s capabilities extend from the quoting and buying process all the way to the purchasing and receiving process.

Endeavor CPQ

This CPQ software uses cloud technology to streamline your quoting process, and help you build smarter quotes. Endeavor lets you network your catalogs with potential customers and even competitors, so you can quote against one another while maintaining your internal pricing rules. Build a customer portal within Endeavor CPQ to let buyers handle their own purchasing, which frees your sales reps to find new business. The e-signature features let all parties quickly transfer quotes to purchases.

Verenia CPQ

This solution connects your CPQ with self-service and e-commerce features, which lets your customers buy on their own time, without needing your sales team to get involved. Automated discount rules and upselling features grow your sales while keeping pricing accurate. The self-service portal lets customers see their order history and tracking or browse your catalog. The e-commerce module is built specifically for omnichannel sellers and B2B suppliers.

CPQ Case Study

Company: StepStone is a multinational job board that connects corporations to the best candidates across 21 countries.

Solution: Oracle CPQ Cloud

Challenge

StepStone needed to eliminate paper and spreadsheet processes and improve their quote-to-purchase time. They were searching for a cloud solution that would provide improved quoting, standardized discounting across countries and customers, and sales analysis for quotes and purchases.

Solution

StepStone partnered with Oracle CPQ Cloud to improve their quoting and pricing process, standardizing it across all countries. Oracle’s larger enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution helped StepStone build an end-to-end product that serves from quote through order fulfillment.

Outcomes

StepStone streamlined their quoting process from 48 hours to 20 minutes, giving their salespeople and customers a faster understanding of pricing and saving salespeople from tedious quoting. They also deployed Oracle CPQ Cloud to their affiliate network, thanks to its cross-channel and multinational capabilities. Customers have seen increased efficiency, since they don’t have to wait days for quote approval. Instead, they have near-instant access to StepStone’s network of job applicants.

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Oracle CPQ Cloud is just one of many configure, price, quote software tools available to businesses. Many other options are couched within larger CRM or ERP platforms. Use our software category page to browse solutions and find the right sales tool for your team, or call us for a free consultation.

The post CPQ software: Top 6 Solutions and a Case Study appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

When you’re ready to find the best task management software products with these features, visit our Task Management Software Guide, where you can find many of the most popular options out there.

1. Subtasks

While a simple to-do list can enumerate individual tasks, each of the tasks are inherently weighted the same. Subtask features let the user assign tasks to nest under other tasks. Subtasks can take the form of a checklist within the task, connected dependent tasks in a Gantt chart, or they may have other structures. The feature lets users map out the individual steps that must happen for the larger task to launch successfully.

Subtasks give a visual representation of how a task progresses. Imagine a new product that must go through three rounds of planning with approvals after each one. This helps both the individual user and any stakeholders that may have access do quick checks without interrupting workflows.

Also Read: Wrike vs. Asana Review

2. Alerts and notifications

Alerts and notifications can remind users of upcoming due dates, overdue items, and approvals that need attention. Task management tools now use several different common methods of communication for alerts

• Emailed reminders of the tasks
• App icon notifications
• Text messages
• Home screen mobile app notifications
• In-app reminders

These tools help individuals remember that they have tasks nearing a due date or that they owe a task owner an action. These tools raise use of the task management tool, which has the dual advantage of helping people be more productive and reminding people to use the software.

3. Reporting and analytics

Reporting dashboards and analytics tools help project managers and task management software users better understand their productivity day to day and over the course of projects. This is especially helpful for task management software users, as tasks typically disappear from lists after they’re completed.

Reporting and analytics dashboards can help show progress toward the overall goal and put the day’s task completion into perspective against historical or team data.

Also Read: Trello vs. Jira: Top Agile Project Management Tool (2023)

4. Automation and workflows

Automation and workflow tools work on a basis of trigger and action. The user specifies a trigger in the software—like a tagged item that is moved from a “working” to “in review” state—and an action that will be performed when the trigger is achieved—such as the item being sent to a manager for approval. In other words, for these examples, the automation instructs the task management software to automatically notify the manager when it’s ready for review.

Automations save time on manual, repetitive processes. In the previous instance, it saves the time it takes to switch apps and email the asset to the manager for approval. While sending a single email may take under a minute, the cumulative effect of sending that notification several times a day over the course of years saves a significant amount of time—and that’s not including the time cost of regular focus interruptions.

Automations are also credited for keeping projects on track in the cases where people may forget to send an item for approval or follow up on the item. Notifications can often be set to remind approvers of their outstanding tasks.

5. Task visualization tools

While the simplest of task management software maintains a list of tasks to complete, this is easily duplicated in a spreadsheet or on paper. To add value beyond a list view, many task management tools provide several visualization methods to enhance the way teams can assess a project’s progress.

Look for task management software that includes a visualization that works best for the type of work you do. Perhaps viewing task due dates in a calendar is most helpful. Other teams might find benefit from a Gantt chart, which shows subtask start and end dates and can show how progress between subtasks is dependent on one another.

Another popular visualization is the kanban board, which gives each task a card that a person can move to different lists on the board that indicate varying states of completion.

Also Read: Best Kanban Tools & Software

6. Integrations to connect apps

Our increasingly digital world relies on connections between apps to help us ensure priorities are appropriately aligned and work gets completed on time. Many task management apps connect to other highly useful software tools that help teams communicate, remind users of outstanding tasks, and facilitate data sharing.

Look for task management software that integrates directly with the business and productivity apps you already use. Consider whether the task management software can send alerts to your collaboration software, say Slack or Teams. Can you automatically add due dates to your Google Calendar or integrate with a word processing tool like Microsoft Word?

If your task management software doesn’t have a native integration with your most-used software, like your CRM, HR, or ERP software, it might be worthwhile for your team to inquire about an API integration. A competent software developer should be able to connect to an API and build simple tools that connect your data.

Choose the right task management software

The task management software vendors pictured above are popular choices, but they may not have the right features for your team’s workflow. To explore more solutions, hop over to our Task Management Software Guide for a list of software favorites in the industry.

The post 6 Task Management Software Features Your Company Needs appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

• ITSM software tools are designed to improve efficiency and productivity and help manage all IT project management and responsibilities throughout the entire life cycle of technology used by an organization.
• If you want to be scalable while increasing efficiency and be proactive in how you provide services and tackle issues without disrupting productivity, then ITSM software is a necessary asset.

Information technology service management (ITSM) is the implementation, regulation, management, and delivery of IT services, policies, and procedures within a company. This includes everything from planning, creating, delivering, and supporting IT service requests.

IT service management practices are how IT teams manage the end-to-end delivery of services to the client and are critical to the customer journey and operational efficiencies within the business. IT service management can also have an impact on the employee experience, as redundant tasks are automated and workflow is streamlined.

In addition, ITSM tools can also include features for:

• Problem Management and Incident Management: Find solutions to decrease downtime and prevent incidents before they happen as well as incident management tools to help streamline the process when they do.
• Ticketing Tool: Track solutions and assign work based on specialties or technical experience, and observe trends in the scope of work.
• IT Service Model-Ready: Use existing models of best practices to guide your processes with built-in IT service management and problem management models.
• Asset Management: Track and manage physical devices and add-ons throughout their life cycle.
• License Management: View license requirements and manage updates, and be informed on upcoming changes or renewals.

What are the Current Trends in ITSM?

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ITSM creates structure and a process-based approach to service management for all organizations. The focus on trends for managing IT operations has shifted from fixing short-term solutions for the hybrid workplace to automation and future thinking process improvement. The following top forward-looking ITSM trends are worth noting.

ALSO READ: What is ITSM?

AIOps leading automation

Artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) combines AI with machine learning, analytics, and data science to quickly identify and flag IT operational issues for resolution. A detailed breakdown of data helps identify the root cause of issues and supports the automation of problem incident response. The result will be a reduction in labor needs and costs as well as sheer number of tickets raised by the hybrid and remote workforce.

A change in terminology

IT Service Management will phase out and will soon be called enterprise service management (ESM) or just service management. This trend will be a single source of truth tool for organizations that taps into multiple sources of data and provides a better view into operations across the organization.

Advanced analytics

Analytics will continue to further permeate all aspects of IT Service Management, including incident, problem, change, release, and request. In particular, business analytics and analysis from multiple sources will grow.

Best IT Service Management Tools

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When choosing an ITSM tool, it’s important to consider its use case for your business’s needs. With that in mind, ITSM tools span three different categories: enterprise ITSM software, scalable solutions, and security solutions.

Enterprise ITSM

Enterprise-level companies have complex needs when it comes to IT software and IT service management, whether it be provisioning devices and servers for a global workforce or maintaining or looking for ways to automate processes.

SLA (service-level agreement) performance must be achieved across a variety of cloud and on-premises apps, and companies must ensure change management is supported. In larger organizations, knowledge management and the need for technology tools to support an up-to-date knowledge base also comes into play.

These ITSM tools will help mitigate some of the IT department’s stress and become a tool that supports success for enterprise-level service management.

ServiceNow

A leader in the ITSM market for the better part of a decade, ServiceNow is a cloud platform that smartly centralizes the management of all IT processes and markets their service desk tool on the basis of ease of use for setup, business process building, and customer use.

The service management tool offers built-in ITIL processes to help you get started and visual task boards let your team stay productive without a lot of workflow reorganization. Automation features also help your team automate repetitive tasks to free up time for more difficult problems with a streamlined workflow. In addition, an online user portal allows customers and end users to contact and request service delivery easily and gets you the information you need on the front end.

With its suite of robust features, ServiceNow is best suited for mid-sized and large organizations interested in the flexibility of one of three packages and costing options: ITSM, ITSM Professional, and ITSM Enterprise.

BMC Remedy

BMC Helix ITSM solution is a multicloud-capable integration tool that employs mobile-first design to give IT departments access to their service management workflows from any device. You can use one of the 90 built-in reports to monitor issues related to service management and communicate with staff.

Moreover, Remedy is a full ITSM tool that includes other BMC products like the self-service portals MyIT self-service desk, and Atrium CMBD life cycle planning. It also has a one-click self-service for all devices.

Due to its integration capabilities, BMC Remedy can be well-suited for small to large businesses that need remote mobile access for teams who need a service desk in multiple locations.

ITSM scalable solutions

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In this category, you’ll find ITSM tools that are suitable for small and growing businesses, but also designed to be a solution as they scale for future growth.

SolarWinds Service Desk

Previously the Samanage service platform, SolarWinds Service Desk gives business and teams of all sizes tools to build an IT service management system, with pricing that’s great for small businesses and scales to the enterprise level.

SolarWinds Service Desk helps IT departments automate service management throughout the organization in over 150 ways. Users can gain insight into problems and service levels related to the service desk to increase efficiency across their whole environment as well as improve customer satisfaction.

In addition, this incident service management tool helps consolidate, manage, and prioritize incoming tickets with a focus on the end-user, and the service desk catalog standardizes service requests and fulfillment processes.

Cherwell

Ivanti provides small to large businesses ITSM tools with flexible options, including on-premises and software as a service (SaaS). Codeless integration means your service management software can connect with other applications and upgrade automatically without diverting resources from your IT department.

Ivanti  also includes IT service management and asset knowledge management, so teams can track and improve processes related to their knowledge base, asset management, and upgrades. The system uses the same code between cloud and on-premises versions, which makes it easy to switch between configurations.

Formally, Cherwell® Service Management software,, Ivanti acquired Cherwell and their Service Management tool in early 2021 for the enhancement of service activities across organizations — expanding beyond IT into HR, Facilities, Information Security and Project Management.

The acquisition cemented Ivanti’s position as the only enterprise service management vendor to offer end-to-end service and asset management from IT to lines of business and from every endpoint to the IoT edge.

Spiceworks

Spiceworks offers software for help desk, mobile help desk, inventory, and network monitoring for IT departments. You can download these tools individually to build an interconnected ITSM framework for collaborative and tighter control of IT incidents and tasks.

If you have several third-party apps running for your IT department, this software can connect through APIs to integrate the whole system. IT support agents also have the ability to discover the devices on your network automatically with the help of Spiceworks IP Scanner.

With scalable pricing options, any business can begin their ITSM processes at no cost and choose from several annual pay options as they grow.

ITSM for security

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These ITSM tool vendors were built with information security in mind. Whether it’s the safe transfer of data between systems, backing up data across your company, knowledge management, or blocking outside threats, these tools are designed to keep your IT environment secure and support machine learning and the data-centric organization.

Symantec

Symantec has long been a leader in internet security, and they bring this same approach to their ITSM tool. As such, they are suited for enterprises that seek to effectively manage their endpoints with a customizable tool.

Enterprises can use this software for patch management, asset management, knowledge management, and software license management for Windows and Mac devices across your entire company. In addition, asset management tools include device discovery and license management to help you understand and improve the devices on your network.

Autotask

Autotask is a unified IT business platform best suited for small businesses that need access to a service desk, project management, document management, account management, time tracking, billing, contracts, resource management, asset management, account management, inventory, procurement, and reporting. All of this is provided as a cloud service with 99.99% promised uptime.

You can access customer relationship management (CRM), service desk, time and billing, and reports all from the same system. Moreover, the remote mobile service management feature gives you visibility into the service desk and service delivery on all devices in your network, and the Autotask Endpoint Backup provides backup security for your team.

SysAid

SysAid’s all-in-one service management and help desk software tool is designed to give users and customers or end users access to services with a lower barrier to entry. As such, it allows small to large businesses looking for an all-encompassing service management and help desk option the flexibility to choose between a-la-carte pricing options and tiered plans.

With SysAid, you can benefit from asset management for your hardware, software, and mobile assets. In addition, the Help Desk tool gives customers a self-service portal with a knowledge base, while ticketing and automation features move service providers more quickly toward a solution for streamlined IT service management—a complete incident management experience from logging to resolution. This ITSM tool is also built on ITIL and ITIL v3 methods and includes capabilities for service desk problem management, mobile device management, and workflows.

Why Implement ITSM Software?

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The IT service management tool space is vast and evolving, and finding the right solution for your organization can seem daunting. IT service management software tools are designed to improve efficiency and productivity and help manage all IT project management and responsibilities throughout the entire life cycle of technology used by an organization.

If you want to be scalable while increasing efficiency and be proactive in how you provide services and tackle issues without disrupting productivity, then ITSM software is a necessary asset.

Take stock of your current needs and processes including total cost of ownership, integration and automation needs, and your plans for expansion when deciding which features you need now and what you can evolve into later, so you can choose an ITSM solution based on the current actual value of your department as it stands today.

The post Top IT Service Management (ITSM) Software appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Salesforce vs. SAP

Salesforce Sales Cloud

SAP Sales Cloud

Salesforce vs. SAP Sales Cloud Features

Sales automation

Configure price quote (CPQ)

Sales performance

Artificial Intelligence

• data
• customer
• sales
• marketing
• service cloud

And the winner is

The post Salesforce vs. SAP: A CRM for SME Comparison appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.