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This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comG00289779Magic Quadrant for Sales Force AutomationPublished: 10 August 2016Analyst(s): Tad Travis, Ilona Hansen, Joanne M. Correia, Julian PoulterThe sales force automation market grew 9.8% in 2015, to almost 6 billion.IT leaders supporting sales have new mobile, business process modeling,and predictive analytics options. Our evaluation of 19 products from 17vendors will help them to choose the solution that best fits theirrequirements.Strategic Planning AssumptionsBy 2018, manual data entry by salespeople for sales force automation systems will be reduced by50% due to adoption of mobile sales productivity tools.By 2018, 20% of large B2B organizations will build business graphs of their sales processes toimprove their sales execution.By 2018, 20% of B2B organizations will have changed their indirect channel sales approach byfocusing on commercially available partner relationship management applications.Market Definition/DescriptionSales force automation (SFA) applications automate the sales activities, processes andadministrative responsibilities for an organization's sales professionals.SFA is considered to be a foundational technology, which is fundamental to how companiesexecute their sales processes. Core SFA capabilities include account, contact and opportunitymanagement, pipeline management, and sales forecasting.Additional (noncore) capabilities that are often a part of SFA offerings include lead management,content management, guided selling, quote management, territory management, partnerrelationship management (PRM) and analytics. Because these noncore capabilities are frequentlyused in B2B selling, Gartner also evaluates vendors on these categories.Gartner continues to see innovation from the vendors of SFA products in opportunity predictiveanalytics, business process modeling functionality and vertical-specific products. These capabilitiesare not yet core SFA functionalities, but are likely to become very central to SFA product offerings inthe next two to five years.This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comMagic QuadrantFigure 1. Magic Quadrant for Sales Force AutomationSource: Gartner (August 2016)Vendor Strengths and CautionsApteanAptean was a Niche Player last year and, with development progress focused on core usabilityfeatures for existing users, it remains in this position. Aptean is a long-standing CRM provider with aPage 2 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comrichly functional product, Pivotal CRM. Pivotal CRM has typical SFA functionality and is suitable formidsize companies looking for a flexible, customizable and functional offering or those wantingindustry-specific capabilities. In the past year, Aptean has introduced the Pivotal UX mobile deviceuser interface, which is based upon HTML5 responsive-design technologies. The roadmap includesrelevant functions such as customer health and sentiment scoring. Aptean has made some progressin the market, mainly outside the U.S., and maintains a modest and active partner resellercommunity.Strengths Forecasting: Pivotal CRM provides strong forecasting capabilities (as distinct from lists ofopportunities), with the ability to set up multiple and overlapping forecast periods. Platform: Customers cite Pivotal CRM's rich functional development environment — whichallows many different use cases and business requirements to be personalized and modeled,and solutions to be deployed on the web and on mobile devices with comparative ease. Workflow processes: Pivotal CRM is very customizable for client-specific workflows and salesprocesses and, as such, will work well for complex user requirements — particularly in aMicrosoft IT-based organization where it can leverage its .NET foundations.Cautions SaaS offering: Pivotal UX has some functional limitations compared with the full Pivotal CRMproduct. The Windows (Smart Client) version can be operated with a cloud-based hostedserver, but users are not likely to want to mix interfaces and functionality. User interface in transition: Compared with the desktop application, Aptean's Pivotal UXHTML5 and mobile app only provides a subset of the functionality and the interface issubstantially different. Customer support: Some customer references expressed issues with several aspects ofAptean's support and service, including issue resolution, consulting and guidance, and keepingthe product up-to-date.BaseBase moved from the Niche Players quadrant to the Visionaries quadrant this year, based on thestrength of its SFA product vision and mobile productivity capabilities. Base is a SaaS-only,platform-based solution with standard sales functions that satisfy many different selling roles. Baseis primarily targeted to small or midsize businesses (SMBs), but has increased its average deal sizeand added more clients with more than 300 users during 2015. This means that Base is becomingincreasingly relevant to midsize organizations. Base raised an additional 30 million in venturecapital (VC) during 2015, bringing its total VC funding to 53 million.Page 3 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comStrengths Product vision: Base's customer references most value the smart dialer functionalities, nativeemail integrations (with open/read real-time notifications) and visual reporting capabilities thatare standard capabilities of the offering. Mobile-first application design: In early 2016, Base released two new functionalities: the Base3.0 Android application, built with the latest material design guidelines; and the Base Launchcloud integration, with an enterprise form generator for mobile data collection that isbuilding out Base's native mobile functionality. Integration: Customer references for Base have shown strong ratings for its integration withOutlook/Exchange, a detail that many customers will value.Cautions Predictive analytics: Base has introduced two new predictive analytics products during thepast 12 months, but Gartner's survey of customer references indicates that these are not yetfully accepted by its users — it was rated as average in this category. Implementation delivery and support: Base has a very small professional servicesorganization and provides requested implementation support through its own team. Basedoesn't maintain an ecosystem for implementation partners. Activity management and integration capabilities: Some customer references rate Base ascomparatively low in activity management, especially when rated on maintaining a teamcalendar. Another comparatively low rating was given for Base's integration possibilities withOffice 365 Live.bpm'onlineBpm'online is a new entrant to the Magic Quadrant this year. It enters the Niche Players quadranton the basis of its innovative SFA offering and strong customer experience scores. Bpm'online is amodel-driven tool that uses business process modeling techniques to design and automate salesprocesses. The vendor offers 24 different vertical products. The solution is most suited toorganizations with extensive sales process complexity or business rules, particularly in business-toconsumer (B2C) or B2B2C sales. Bpm'online grew business notably in 2015, and has some fourfigure SFA license implementations; however, it has a comparatively small average SFA deal sizeand primarily sells to midsize and large organizations in Europe.Strengths Platform capabilities: Customer references give bpm'online high marks for platformfunctionality, including building custom sales processes, creating custom workflows andcustomizing for multiple languages. Customer experience: Of all of the vendors in the reference survey for this Magic Quadrant,bpm'online received the highest score for perception of contract value and satisfaction with thePage 4 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comcontracting processes, and also received the second-highest score for customer service andsupport. SFA capabilities: Bpm'online received high scores for its ease of configuration andmodification, as well as for core SFA functions such as account and contact management,activity management, opportunity management, and forecasting.Cautions Sales and marketing strategy: Prospects of bpm'online should be aware that the companyhas not built a large practice in North America; what presence it has there is primarily composedof sales and marketing resources. About 60% of bpm'online's current customer base is locatedin Europe. Application marketplace: Currently, clients cannot expect to find extensive add-ons tosupplement the SFA offering on bpm'online's marketplace. Overall viability: Bpm'online has a relatively low customer retention rate and an average SFAdeal size (as measured by annual contract value) compared with other SFA vendors.BullhornBullhorn is a Niche Player in the Magic Quadrant again this year, but has improved its positioningwithin the quadrant based on strong revenue growth and the ability to respond to its customers'product improvement requests. Bullhorn is a SaaS-only solution aimed at all sizes of organizations,but is especially suited to the midmarket due to innovative capabilities for managing accounts andcapturing sales activities. The majority of Bullhorn's revenue and customers come from its legacystaffing- and recruitment-specific solutions, but Bullhorn is also relevant to other industries thatemphasize account management processes over opportunity management. In 2015, Bullhornintroduced enhanced communication tracking, improved customer sentiment analysis and newaccount white-space analysis capabilities.Strengths Sales productivity capabilities: Bullhorn offers strong sales productivity functions that reducemanual data entry. It has a native communication monitoring function that automaticallyassociates emails and telephone calls with CRM records and creates new contact records fromrecent email interactions. Relationship management: Bullhorn offers an innovative account relationship managementcapability that is based on a unique communication tracking platform. Using patentedadvanced analytics technology, Bullhorn analyzes all customer interactions in order to surfacenew insights about the health of the business relationship and possible next sales actions (suchas best time to call). Market responsiveness: Bullhorn has a notable record for developing and releasing productenhancements that arise directly from customer requests — including meaningful newPage 5 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comgamification and white-space analysis functions, as well as a function that automatically exportscontacts to Gmail.Cautions Quota management: Although Bullhorn allows quota management, its forecasting ability islimited to simple roll-ups of lists of opportunities based on close date and value, and there areno sales items/products. Lead management: Bullhorn lacks some of the native lead management capabilities that arecommon to other SFA vendors, such as web-to-lead capture and email campaigns. Thesefunctions require third-party applications with Bullhorn. Marketing strategy: Bullhorn is still rooted in its legacy market for recruiting management. Thestand-alone SFA tool, having come from a recruitment background, is a concern for someusers. Some configurable legacy recruitment fields and processes remain in the product.CRMNEXTCRMNEXT (a division of Acidaes Solutions) moves from the Niche Players quadrant to theVisionaries quadrant this year. It features a strong product vision, SFA functionality, advancedanalytics, process modeling and large-scale implementations in complex B2C environments.CRMNEXT has some of the world's largest SFA implementations, with several in excess of 50,000users, covering sales and service in banking and insurance environments. CRMNEXT is mostsuitable for enterprise B2C clients with large numbers of users that need a complete solution tomanage multichannel customer journeys. The majority of its business comes from the Asia/Pacificregion and from the financial services industry. CRMNEXT opened its first U.S. office in early 2016.Strengths Product enhancements: CRMNEXT delivered two major new releases in 2015, with additionalfunctionality including a card-based interface, customer journeys for self-service capabilities,improved predictive analytics, a decision engine for complex business rules and processes, andimproved integration capabilities. Guided selling: CRMNEXT calculates and surfaces coaching advice and content, and nextbest offers, at each stage of the sales cycle for reps/agents and other channels. Collaboration: CRMNEXT provides strong social collaboration on opportunities and accounts,and includes chat, files and polls.Cautions Product offering: CRMNEXT is a CRM suite, which is a consideration for buyers that only wantto purchase an SFA solution. Sometimes the breadth of the offering causes complexity even forexperienced users, although the interface can be highly customized and simplified to reducedfunctionality for novice and low-level users.Page 6 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com Geography and sales execution: CRMNEXT has a very little business in North America. Newprospective purchasers will need to query support and overseas commitment and support forlocal data centers and delivery capabilities. Implementation: Most CRMNEXT implementations are large and require considerableinvestment as well as significant support from services. Most implementations are on-premises,which is typical in the finance and banking industry. Prospects in other industries, andespecially B2B, will need to determine the costs and CRMNEXT's implementation and supportcapabilities.InforInfor is a Niche Player again this year. Infor has improved the product vision for SFA functions andhas standardized the product on the Infor ION middleware platform. SFA capabilities are bundledinto the Infor CRM solution and are based upon technology acquired from Saleslogix in 2014. Infor'sCRM capabilities span most of the sales capabilities that enterprises require, including PRM,configure, price and quote (CPQ) and lead management. Infor has released several relevant SFAenhancements during the past 12 months, such as a new mobile user experience, predictiveanalytics, machine-learning solutions, and enhanced graphical workflow capabilities.Strengths Functionality: Infor was rated very highly by customer references for its account and contactmanagement capabilities. References also noted the strength of its activity, opportunity, quoteand order management functions. Platform: Infor's configurability for creating custom fields and creating/maintaining customsales processes has been rated second highest among the evaluated vendors. Customers valueits better focus on ease of use than its larger competitors. Integration with ERP: Customer references gave Infor the highest ratings (of all evaluatedvendors) for its integration of the SFA application with ERP systems. This is relevant to currentInfor ERP customers that are considering SFA systems, and is also attractive to prospectslooking for a comprehensive opportunity-to-cash solution.Cautions Functionality: References gave Infor comparatively low ratings for forecasting and leadmanagement, two critical capabilities for B2B sales processes. References also cited concernswith configuring the mobile app for multiple languages. Application marketplace: Infor lacks the third-party application marketplace that the leadingSFA vendors offer. Customer references cited the lack of extensive partner add-on products forInfor CRM, and gave Infor comparatively low scores for its application marketplace.Page 7 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com Mobile capabilities: References scored Infor's creating/maintaining of custom mobileapplications as lower than average in comparison with other evaluated vendors, followed byonly average ratings for its tablet and smartphone capabilities.Microsoft (Dynamics CRM)Microsoft Dynamics CRM (the on-premises companion to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online), returnsin the Leaders quadrant again this year. Sharing the same codebase as the online Dynamicsproduct, Microsoft Dynamics on-premises offers a full set of SFA capabilities for B2B and B2Cprocesses. Microsoft maintains a single annual product release for Dynamics CRM, updating theproduct with functionality already released in the preceding two releases of Online. Organizationsconsider Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premises primarily in order to capitalize on their existinginvestments in the on-premises Microsoft technology stack (such as SharePoint and SQL Server),and to maintain control over data security considerations. It also gives them control over whenproduct enhancements are released and applied, which is not an option with many other SaaS SFAofferings.Strengths Partner networks: Microsoft continues to maintain a large community of value-added resellersand independent software vendors for selling, implementing and maintaining on-premises SFAimplementations. Microsoft integration: Customer references gave Dynamics CRM high scores for itsinteroperability with Microsoft Outlook, Office 365, SharePoint and Skype for Business. Configurability: Customer references scored Dynamics CRM highly for its deep applicationconfiguration capabilities and its ability to customize processes with Azure and xRMadministrative functions.Cautions Product release schedule: Microsoft's single annual release will not be frequent enough forcompanies that want to rapidly transform their sales processes, an issue also cited by itscustomer references. Mobile: Microsoft scored comparatively low levels of satisfaction with its mobile offering.References cited issues with limited functionality and a lack of customization. Outlook integration: Clients of Dynamics CRM cited several issues with Outlook integration,including the Outlook login and the ability to synchronize calendar events.Microsoft (Dynamics CRM Online)Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online remains a Leader in this year's Magic Quadrant on the strength ofits SFA product capabilities, SFA product vision, marketing execution and end-user satisfaction.Dynamics CRM Online appears on many buyers' shortlists, because of its attractive price and itsrelevance to other Microsoft offerings, but Microsoft has also improved its ability to sell to salesPage 8 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comleaders. Dynamics CRM Online has a wide range of SFA capabilities that are relevant to salesorganizations, both midsize and large. In the past year, Microsoft acquired additional technologies,notably VoloMetrix and FantasySalesTeam. Microsoft announced its intention to acquire LinkedIn inJune 2016, but roadmap details were not available at the time of publication.Strengths SFA product vision: Among the leading SFA vendors, Microsoft has a notable vision for howadvanced analytics in SFA applications apply to sales execution. Microsoft Power BI advancedanalytics and Azure predictive analytics are already embedded into Dynamics CRM Online. Inthe future, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will unite these capabilities with big data analyticcapabilities to produce data-driven sales execution benchmarks and to identify sales processbest practices. Platform: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online offers a highly configurable solution, based onMicrosoft's proprietary technology. Customer references give Microsoft high scores for theability to use the platform to build custom sales processes. Customer experience: Microsoft's reference customers gave it high scores for postsalescustomer support and customer success processes.Cautions Platform architecture: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is supported by two differenttechnology architectures, the product configuration architecture and the Azure cloud platformfor advanced capabilities such as predictive analytics and offline mobile functionality. Clientsand prospects with significant customizations should be aware that Microsoft plans to migrateall Dynamics CRM Online services onto Azure, but has not yet publicly committed to a cut-overroadmap with firm migration dates. Sales strategy: Microsoft needs to improve how it sells to enterprises; it currently relies on anextensive partner network to source, sell and implement Dynamics CRM Online. SomeDynamics CRM Online customers have told Gartner that they had expected better input fromMicrosoft regarding product implementation and product best practices. Application marketplace: Compared with other leading SFA vendors, Microsoft offers relativelyfew sales-specific applications in the CRM App Store, which is a consideration for clientswanting to quickly extend their SFA implementation with additional processes without buildingextensive customizations.NetSuiteNetSuite is a Challenger again this year, based on the breadth of the NetSuite CRM productoffering, the improved depth of capabilities in product releases, and the total number of SFAimplementations. NetSuite offers a SaaS-based solution of integrated ERP, CRM, digital commerce,and professional services automation. NetSuite CRM offers a full set of SFA functions, includingopportunity management and forecasting, plus relevant native SFA extensions (such as upsellPage 9 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.comrecommendations) that will be attractive to SMBs or business units. NetSuite has an applicationmarketplace for third-party solutions, but Gartner notes that few of the listed apps relate specificallyto sales.Strengths Integrated business applications: NetSuite's solutions are built on a common applicationframework, which means that SFA offerings integrate easily with other NetSuite capabilitiessuch billing, order management, HR and incentive compensation. Product value: Customer references cited CRM's low total cost of ownership, mentioning thatCRM is highly configurable, offers helpful training materials and has good quality customersupport services. Product capabilities: NetSuite gained strong scores from its reference customers for accountand contact management, and for opportunity management. Gartner notes that NetSuite hasadded meaningful improvements to the core SFA product during the past year, including newcustomer segmentation and mobile capabilities.Cautions Market strategy: NetSuite CRM is targeted at midsize organizations already using NetSuitefor ERP functions, and organizations that require integrated CRM/ERP functions. This is aconsideration for buyers looking only for SFA capabilities. Customer experience: Customer references raised their concerns with the quality of NetSuite'shelp and training documentation, as well the quality of its implementation partner network. Product capabilities: NetSuite gained comparatively low scores from its reference customersfor mobile smartphone, forecasting, collaboration and reporting capabilities.OracleOracle Sales Cloud is a Visionaries entry again this year. The product offers a strong valueproposition for IT leaders and sales leaders, featuring deep SFA functionality for B2B and B2Cprocesses. Oracle Sales Cloud is central to Oracle's unified CRM offering, which includes productsfor CPQ and marketing automation. Oracle has continued to deliver a good product vision, featuringadvantages such as industry-specific products and new advanced analytics capabilities. Oracleoffers a product upgrade program to Siebel clients, Customer 2 Cloud, in which Oracle providesspecialized services to assist with incremental migration onto Oracle Sales Cloud.Strengths Industry-specific capabilities: Offering more than 20 different industry-specific Sales Cloudproducts, Oracle has one of the deepest vertical-specific product offerings of any vendor in theSFA market, which is relevant to enterprise customers.Page 10 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com SFA capabilities: Oracle Sales Cloud has a full set of SFA capabilities, as well as good noncorefunctions such as partner relationship, content management and territory management. Product enhancements: Oracle Sales Cloud features one of the strongest records for productenhancements in the past year; notably, releasing Sales Predictor, a predictive analytics solutionfor opportunity management, a new REST API, and improved sales content managementfunctionality.Cautions Implementation partners: Oracle received comparatively low satisfaction scores from itsreference customers for its system integration partners. References noted issues with gettingaccess to qualified implementers, with the quality of product knowledge, and with the quality ofthe implementation work performed. Sales execution, contracting and pricing: Customer references gave Oracle comparativelylow scores for pricing and contract flexibility, and also expressed concerns about how Oracleexplains the technical implementation considerations to prospects. Marketing strategy: Oracle positions its CRM offerings as industry-specific, customerexperience solutions, which may not be relevant to prospects seeking only a SFA system.PegasystemsPegasystems is a new entrant for the Niche Players quadrant, and was added to the MagicQuadrant because of the SFA functionalities in its Pega Sales Automation product and its ability toautomate complex selling processes. Pega Sales Automation is a model-driven, BPM-basedsolution that offers predictive analytics functionality with its SFA capabilities as part of its unifiedCRM product suite. Pegasystems targets B2B and B2B2C large enterprise customers — mostly ininsurance, communications, banking and healthcare. Pega Sales Automation will be most relevantto companies that want to unite complex, rule-intensive sales methodologies across many differentcustomer-facing roles. Pegasystems Customer Decision Hub manages all customer data andinteractions. It provides deep insights into customer behavior, data and previous buying patterns,and proposes next-best-action recommendations to sales representatives.Strengths Platform: Pegasystems supports many business models and delivery modes, including virtualprivate cloud, multitenant SaaS and on-premises and business process outsourcing. This lattercapability is unique in the SFA market, and is relevant to companies that want to outsourcesome of the roles in their sales processes. Customer experience: Pegasystems customer references cite several business benefits fromthe company, including an accelerated sales cycles, increased revenue per sale and faster timeto productivity for new hires.Page 11 of 31Gartner, Inc. G00289779This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com
This research note is restricted to the personal use of mschneider@sugarcrm.com Scope of product capabilities: Pega was given a high rating by reference customers in theareas of partner relationship management functionalities and lead management. Its ability toalign lead process steps and status values with the customers' selling process has beenacknowledged by references. Pega's ability to convert leads into accounts, contacts andopportunities has also been rated highly by its customer references.Cautions Implementation considerations: Reference customers gave Pega below-average scores forease of deployment. Gartner notes that the learning curve for achieving competence inconfiguring and customizing Pegasystems' products is long compared with other vendorsolutions that do not offer model-driven application development and process automation. Opportunity functionality: Pega was rated comparatively low by its reference customers in theareas of opportunity forecasting, (especially for the ability to create forecasts by territory),maintaining sales team forecasts and maintaining opportunity splits. Email integration: Pega reference customers had concerns about integration with Office 365Live, Gmail and Google Calendar. They also cited concerns with the ability to manage andresolve duplicate calendar entries resulting from synchronization conflicts.PipelineDealsPipelineDeals is a new vendor in this Magic Quadrant and is rated a Niche Player based on thescope of its offerings, pricing and comparatively low number of implementations. PipelineDeals is aSaaS-only offering that runs on Amazon Web Services. PipelineDeals is built specifically for SMBorganizations that need an economical, easy-to-deploy B2B and B2C SFA solution that offerscomprehensive account, lead and opportunity management capabilities. PipelineDeals will be mostattractive to sales organizations that require represen
Magic Quadrant Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation Source: Gartner (August 2016) Vendor Strengths and Cautions Aptean Aptean was a Niche Player last year and, with development progress focused on core usability features for existing users, it remains in this position. Aptean is a long-standing CRM provider with a
