B2B Connection

Q. What distinguishes an organization that is successful with business intelligence (BI)? A. Successful BI implementations are not just about tools, but are about people and processes. Focusing too soon on tool selection is not going to provide the best result. A BI project is not a one-shot thing, but is a journey that takes time and patience. Data is extremely valuable, but hard to manage. Companies that want to reap the value of data need to treat it as a critical asset and resource and adopt a systematic, rigorous approach to managing it. To succeed, BI projects need a strong leader who is knowledgeable about both technology and business and can straddle both worlds, translating between the two. Since the ultimate goal is to achieve significant business value, it’s usually better to have a technically-oriented business person lead the team. Q. What steps should an organization take to establish a BI program or strategy? A. The first step is to outline the expected business outcome and to make sure that there is buy-in around the ultimate goal. This is much more important than technology, which is a secondary matter at this early stage. The second step is to focus on the data. […]

Be sure to check out our new Buyer Blog for the latest B2B blog articles & discussions! TR: What distinguishes an organization that is successful with business intelligence (BI)? BD: The important thing to remember is that it’s usually not about tools, and is more likely to be about organizational maturity and the ability to get decisions made and get things done. Many organizations I encounter are somewhat internally dysfunctional and this ability to get things done is weak or even non-existent. TR: What steps should an organization take to establish a BI program or strategy? BD: I prefer to work on larger enterprise-wide programs where organizations are looking at bringing coherence to their data across departments and divisions. These large cross-functional efforts are best thought of as a process containing multiple projects. The leader of such a major process change needs the ability to understand multiple stakeholders with various different needs and different timeframes. Managing through what I called a “staged implementation roadmap” is essential. In order to do that successfully you need strong program management skills. It’s important to be politically aware and understand things like the consequences of deciding to work with one department or division before another. TR: Who drives – IT or business? […]

I recently met with Sangram Vajre, Co-Founder and CMO at Terminus at the recent Martech conference in San Francisco.  I thought Terminus would be of interest to our readers. Sangram was previously VP of Marketing at marketing automation software vendor Pardot, now owned by Salesforce. The lead investor in Terminus is David Cummings, a co-founder of Pardot. Terminus positions itself as a platform for B2B advertising automation. Their mission is to address two key B2B marketing challenges: 1) The B2B buying cycle is getting longer and more complex. Multiple people have influence so to maximize effectiveness, you need to market at an account versus an individual level. 2) You need to engage buyers on their channels of preference, e.g. mobile, Facebook, different websites. Advertising is relatively new for B2B. How does it compare to B2C? “The typical spend levels in B2C advertising are huge. In B2B, you’re not spending nearly that much. For every account you’re targeting you can control the number of impressions delivered, and the devices on which you render above fold, and to some degree clicks.” How do you target? “We’re advocating an approach call ‘Flip My Funnel’, where you start with your best fit prospective customers. Then you figure out the titles you […]

On April 8, 2015 enterprise social media management software vendor Sprinklr announced the acquisition of Get Satisfaction, a customer community software platform. Terms for the deal were not disclosed. This is Sprinklr’s fifth acquisition since January 2014. I caught up with Jeremy Epstein, VP of Marketing at Sprinklr, and Rahul Sachdev, formerly CEO of Get Satisfaction, who now serves as Sprinklr’s VP of First Party Experience, to talk about their motivations for the deal and integration plans. Get Satisfaction’s origins were as a freemium online community solution. It was rapidly adopted mostly by SMBs. The company started to focus on the enterprise market in 2012 and completed the build out of an enterprise solution by late 2013. Today Get Satisfaction hosts about 1,000 communities, 300 of which are for enterprise companies. Enterprise communities include the Pampers Diaper product line for Procter & Gamble, and the TV group of Korean electronics company LG. Get Satisfaction’s primary use case is customer care, but it also supports product research and marketing. Get Satisfaction’s enterprise edition was typically sold for $30-50k per year per community, and as high as $100k depending on add-on modules and services. Get Satisfaction is rated positively on TrustRadius with an average “likelihood […]

In the spring of 2015, Spear Marketing Group, a leading full-service B2B demand generation agency, conducted a market research survey designed to document the level of maturity (or lack thereof) present in the typical marketing automation deployment. It was the firm’s hypothesis, based on anecdotal evidence and its own work with marketing automation clients, that underutilization of marketing automation software was rampant in the B2B community. To test that hypothesis, the agency designed a survey that targeted B2B marketing executives, marketing operations titles, and other marketing automation users. More than 100 respondents completed a series of 33 questions that asked how much their organizations were either: 1) Using specific features, in a way that would illustrate full utilization of the functionality available to them, or 2) Enjoying business value in areas consistent with generally accepted best practices. Respondents were then assigned a “grade” based on how many of their responses aligned with those best practices.  Taken as a whole, the average respondent answered 56% of the questions “correctly” and scored a grade of C. Whereas that single grade would suggest a general lack of maturity in most marketing automation deployments, responses to individual questions tell a more complex story. In some notable […]

Earlier today we announced the release of its TrustMaps™ for Talent Management software, which rank products based on user satisfaction ratings and evaluation frequency among SMBs and enterprises. Unveiled in the company’s first Buyer’s Guide to Talent Management Software, the TrustMaps™ help software buyers quickly locate the solutions most highly rated and widely adopted by companies of a similar size, and therefore most closely aligned to their needs. Each TrustMap™ depicts Talent Management suites on two dimensions – “likelihood to recommend” ratings by users and evaluation frequency on TrustRadius, as measured by unique page views. All ratings come from authenticated users of Talent Management suites who reviewed or rated the product on TrustRadius.com. The guide also includes common capabilities and key factors to consider when selecting Talent Management software. “Enterprise talent management suites encompass an ever-broader range of integrated capabilities forcing standalone vendors of individual components to focus on the mid-market or on more complex needs for niche markets.” said Vinay Bhagat, CEO of TrustRadius. “Our Talent Management TrustMaps™ provide HR professionals with a pragmatic approach to identify the best-fit solutions based on market segment, user satisfaction and evaluation frequency on TrustRadius.” Michael D. Haberman, Co-founder and Senior Consultant, Omega HR Solutions agrees: “With […]

  Every business wants an answer to certain questions: What do people say about our product? Who is talking about – and who likes or dislikes – our product? However, businesses have a few options for how to develop insight into their customers. They could run focus groups, but those are logistically difficult, expensive, and the data is inaccurate because the study subjects are psychologically “primed”. They could dig into owned data they have on their current customers, which is a great idea. But this can only go so far: what about customers who chose not to purchase? Or who switched products? The Social Web and Its Vast Data There is a world of customer data out there, ready to be used to drive real business results. This is the social web (or web 2.0, or more commonly: “The Internet”). Ever since the dawn of social networks, forums, blogs, comments, and all such 2-way conversation channels, people have been talking about what they do, like, eat, wear, hate, love, think, and feel. This massive set of unstructured data can actually be mined and analyzed. More often than that, the results produced can be used to define new assumptions, or modify […]

In our latest Buyer’s Guide to CRM Software, users among all market segments – small businesses, mid-size companies and enterprises – have picked Salesforce as a top rated CRM software. Salesforce is also the most frequently evaluated software on TrustRadius. Products with large customer bases or high growth momentum are usually evaluated more frequently. However, in our Buyer’s Guide to CRM Software we have also seen a few new highly rated CRM tools. For those considering purchasing a CRM or switching from your current CRM, is Salesforce a sound investment given the highly rated alternatives? We asked five experts: “Do you see anything shifting in Salesforce’s position i.e, more dominant, less dominant, or more focused on a particular segment?” Here are four main takeaways from their responses: The CRM software market is largely untapped, with many companies still using email or homegrown solutions. Most experts agree that Salesforce dominates the CRM space. However, there are too many categories within CRM for Salesforce to claim leadership in all of them. Salesforce has been shifting focus to the enterprise, and expanding beyond CRM to become a software development platform. A tool that is highly focused and helps companies give valuable context to each customer interaction is going […]

We’ve recently asked BI users about their Business Intelligence software usage and spend in our 2015 Business Intelligence Survey. The results indicate that BI continues to be a strategic area of focus and investment for companies of all sizes. While intent to invest is highest amongst small and mid-size companies, large companies will invest more in areas like Cloud BI, Data Discovery and Visualization, and Big Data. Most companies will continue to use multiple tools in tandem with each other rather than look to a one-size-fits-all solution; if anything the number of distinct BI tools used is likely to increase. In our Buyer’s Guide to Business Intelligence Software, we talk more about this renewed interested in the BI software space, particularly in the areas of cloud, big data, and data visualization. Here are the key findings from our 2015 Business Intelligence Survey: 1. Many companies are using multiple Business Intelligence solutions Large companies, not surprisingly, use the most BI software products, using an average of 2.5 distinct tools per company (fig. 1), with 55 percent using two or more tools, and 29 percent using four or more (fig. 2). More surprisingly, 34 percent of small companies (those with less than 100 employees) use […]

How has Tealium expanded beyond tag management, and what is the strategy behind that expansion? Tag management is a foundational element to any digital marketing strategy and it starts to crystalize quickly that it is not just about managing tags on a page, but about managing the data collected across the multiple systems marketing uses to create seamless and effective user engagement and experiences. Our customers have on average 20 or more systems they are using to create user experiences for their customers. Their marketing technology portfolio consists of disparate, siloed systems, collecting information in unique, inconsistent ways making it nearly impossible to create a truly integrated program. We solve this problem by harmonizing and standardizing all this data, connecting vendor actions and delivering real-time action based on user behavior. When using Tealium, our strategic approach to data management and our purpose-built marketing solutions to integrate the data across channels—social channels, e-marketing channels, mobile, website— enable marketers to stitch together omnichannel, multi-device data to build a universal, 360-degree profile of their customer. We are changing the data game with point-and-click simplicity. Now marketers are able to see, in real time, the panoramic view of their customers and are able to take action on these customers […]

3/17/2015 Earlier today we announced the release of our TrustMaps™ for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, which rank products based on user satisfaction ratings and evaluation frequency among small businesses, mid-size companies and enterprises. Unveiled in our first Buyer’s Guide to CRM Software, the TrustMaps™ help software buyers quickly locate the solutions most highly rated and widely adopted by companies of a similar size, and therefore most closely aligned to their needs. Each TrustMap™ depicts CRM products on two dimensions – “likelihood to recommend” ratings by users and evaluation frequency on TrustRadius, as measured by unique page views—an indication of product growth or momentum. All ratings come from authenticated users of CRM tools who reviewed or rated the product on TrustRadius.com. The guide also includes common capabilities of CRM software, key factors to consider during the evaluation process and pitfalls to avoid when implementing CRM software. “While Salesforce remains the dominant player in the space, we see a lot of highly rated, small business-focused CRM tools that are simple to use and include other functionalities like marketing automation,” said Vinay Bhagat, CEO of TrustRadius. “Our CRM TrustMaps™ provide prospective buyers with a pragmatic approach to identify the best-fit solutions based on market segment, user […]

A lot of HR tools are switching from being specialized to adding broader functionalities from other adjacent HR categories resulting in many talent management suites. Vendors are moving towards providing a one-stop shop, so customers don’t have to deal with the hassle of syncing data across multiple tools. However, picking best-of-breed vs. talent suites is much more than just comparing features and functionalities. We asked four experts: Tim Sackett, Jon Ingham, Ward Christman and Bryan Wempen about when HR should pick best of breed vs. talent suites and what the pros and cons of each system. Here is the take away from their responses: A lot of best-of-breed HR software often get acquired and assimilated into larger suites. If you are a nimble organization, which can adapt when HR software companies get acquired and want software with in-depth features, then go with the specialized HR tool. However, there is no guarantee that the software you purchase is not going to be merged with a mature product. Also, be aware that innovative products may require continuous training. However, if you prefer stability with everything located in one place then go for suites. Read their responses below for more insights: Tim Sackett Suite vs. […]

We recently conducted an in-depth analysis of 250+ reviews for 10 Core HR Software to understand how HR products were meeting customer expectations and what was important to buyers in the market. In our analysis, we found that Core HR software is seeing a shift in value from features to usability. More and more users are looking for a better user experience and usability and, as a result, many Core HR Software vendors are focusing on user experience improvements. So we asked three experts about their take on usability in HR: Tim Sackett A 20 year HR/Recruiting Talent Pro with a Master’s in HR and SPHR certification, currently residing in Lansing, MI.  Currently the President at HRU Technical Resources – a $40M IT and Engineering contract staffing firm and RPO. He tweets at @TimSackett I think all HR vendors face a core issue, not that there software isn’t valuable, effective, or return a great ROI, it’s how do we get people to actually use it the way it’s designed to be used. Which leads to your point of usability. If HR software isn’t user-friendly, it doesn’t get adopted and used properly, and ultimately the company doesn’t sign up to keep using it.  User […]

While conducting research for our latest Buyer’s Guide to Core HR Software, we observed a few key trends in the HR software space. Most notably, HR software is becoming more usable and more able to provide strategic insights. We asked three HR experts, Tim Sackett, Jon Ingham and Bryan Wempen about the changes they are seeing in HR software and how this is going to start affecting HR professionals and departments. Here are three major takeaways from their answers:  HR departments will need to hire more and more professionals who are strategic and forward-looking because software is reducing the burden of administrative tasks. HR architecture is going to have two significant parts: strategic and transactional. With changing software landscape, HR departments and managers will need to figure out which parts of HR will remain strategic and which of these will become transactional and process driven. In the long term, HR will become a function of finance or marketing. Read their full responses and their explanation: Tim Sackett A 20 year HR/Recruiting Talent Pro with a Master’s in HR and SPHR certification, currently residing in Lansing, MI.  Currently the President at HRU Technical Resources – a $40M IT and Engineering contract staffing firm and RPO. […]

Just over a month ago, HubSpot, widely known for its comprehensive online marketing suite and as the torch bearer for inbound marketing, took many including myself, by surprise in announcing their own CRM solution at their user conference. HubSpot’s stated market focus is companies from 10 to 2,000 employees, however we estimate that 75% of their customers are SMBs with <50 employees (using the 158 reviews on TrustRadius as a guide). In recent years, HubSpot has been increasingly focused on attracting and retaining larger clients through adding more powerful marketing features. For example, in 2011, they acquired Performable, an email centric marketing automation provider, and in 2013 they upgraded their content management system (COS).  At first blush, entering the CRM category seems like a departure from this strategy as the likely initial market is smaller companies. It does however further reinforce their position with SMBs and allows them to ultimately earn a higher “share of wallet” among those customers, once they elect to charge for the offering. I caught up with Mike Volpe, CMO to ask about the move and learn more about their new offering. What drove HubSpot to launch a CRM? Our customers have been asking us to […]

What’s new at Marketo? We had a great 2014. We grew revenues by 56% and we now have 3,724 customers. We’ve also done a great job with customer satisfaction, with a 109% retention rate (as measured by dollars).  When we generate more revenue from our customer base, that means that they are generating more revenue as a result of using Marketo, so that’s a very good thing. We also launched a major thought leadership agenda – the Era of Engagement Marketing. The focus is on mastery of digital marketing and helping marketers shift from mass marketing to engagement marketing, or — in other words — helping them talk to their audiences not as a whole, but as individuals with specific needs and interests. This helps marketers build lasting relationships with their customers, which is especially important in today’s world where buyers have lots of choices and can move to a competitor’s product or service at a moment’s notice. We’ve got some great examples where we are enabling marketers to move from mass marketing to engagement marketing, such as how we are helping Microsoft build subscription revenue for Office 365 or helping Pfizer map their marketing to their customers’ journeys. Dropcam […]

Earlier today, we announced the release of our TrustMaps™ for Core HR software, which rank products based on user satisfaction ratings and evaluation frequency among Small and Medium-Sized Companies and Enterprises. Unveiled in our first Buyer’s Guide to Core HR Software, the TrustMaps™ help software buyers quickly locate the solutions most highly rated and widely adopted by companies of a similar size, and therefore most closely aligned to their needs. The Buyer’s Guide includes a detailed review of products by use case, and a distillation of 290+ authenticated end-user reviews and ratings across 10 Core HR products. Each TrustMap™ depicts Core HR products on two dimensions – “likelihood to recommend” ratings by users and evaluation frequency on TrustRadius, as measured by unique page views. All ratings come from authenticated users of Core HR tools who reviewed or rated the product on TrustRadius.com. The guide also includes common capabilities and key factors to consider when selecting Core HR software. “The HR software landscape has been changing rapidly as Core HR vendors add capabilities from adjacent categories like talent management and recruiting to better serve customers who seek to hire, develop, engage, measure and retain their people more holistically” said Vinay Bhagat, CEO of TrustRadius. “Our Core HR TrustMaps™ provide […]

A/B Testing is a rapidly growing software category. Our August 2014 Conversion Rate Optimization Survey indicated that 48 percent of companies plan to spend more on A/B testing tools in 2015. Page views on TrustRadius for A/B Testing software products – a measure for how many people are running evaluations – grew 15 percent from Q3 to Q4. While page views are not an absolute representation of category growth, they are a good proxy. The most evaluated AB Testing software product on TrustRadius in both Q4 by a wide margin was Optimizely with more than 4,000 unique page views in Q4 2014, followed by Monetate and Qubit. Additionally, the evaluation frequency ranks of several vendors changed from Q3 to Q4 indicating high competitive intensity. Of note, Monetate climbed from #4 to #2 and Qubit climbed from #5 to #3. Fastest Growing A/B Testing Products Used by Enterprises Some of these products are geared towards enterprises. Using reviewer company size mix on TrustRadius as proxy for customer mix, and assuming prospective customers follow a similar distribution, it’s possible to estimate evaluation frequency by customer segment. The A/B Testing product most frequently evaluated on TrustRadius by enterprises with more than 500 employees is Adobe Target, followed by Monetate, Qubit and Maxymiser. For the most […]

This article was first published on Social Media Today According to our latest Enterprise Social Media Management report, Customer Care, Social Intelligence and Marketing are the three primary social media software use cases for companies with more than 500 employees. The research is based on the analysis of 400+ in-depth reviews across 23 social media management products and thousands of insights from real software users reviews on our site. Below is an infographic that summarizes which enterprise social media platform each use case. The report also lists the tool functionalities that are required for each use case and feature in-depth case studies of Comcast, British Telecommunications and Groupon. You can download a free copy of the report here: https://www.trustradius.com/social-media-management

Earlier today we announced the release of our TrustMap™ for Enterprise Social Media Management software, which ranks products based on end-user “likelihood to recommend” ratings and frequency of evaluation by enterprises. Unveiled in our new Buyer’s Guide to Enterprise Social Media Management Software, the TrustMap™ helps software buyers quickly locate the products most highly rated and evaluated by their peers. The Buyer’s Guide includes a detailed review of products by use case, and a distillation of 400+ authenticated end-user reviews across 23 social media management products used within enterprises. Because social media management software requirements vary depending on use case, the guide explores the three major ways enterprises are leveraging social media: customer care, social intelligence and marketing, along with the software features and products that support them. The guide also includes in-depth cases studies of how Comcast, British Telecommunications and Groupon are using social media management software for enterprise-level social media programs. “Since we launched our first Buyer’s Guide to Social Media Management Software in November 2013, companies have matured in their use of social media technology,” said Vinay Bhagat, CEO of TrustRadius. “Social media programs are now enterprise-wide and no longer confined to marketing. While we are focusing on the needs […]