Centive, the leader in on-demand strategic sales compensation management, recently announced that the number of subscribers to its flagship product, Compel®, has surpassed the 10,000 mark. As a true indicator of leadership status, Compel has been selected and deployed by more CFOs and VPs of Sales than any other on-demand sales compensation management system.

In addition to surpassing the 10,000 subscriber mark, Centive is also tracking up in terms of the average number of subscribers per Compel customer. Over the past 11 months, that number has increased by 26% to an average of over 200 subscribers per customer. Compel is now deployed at companies ranging from those with as few as 20 sales representatives to those with over 1,000. In the month of November alone, Centive closed a record volume of business, adding over 1,500 new subscribers.

Compel is an affordable, on-demand sales compensation management solution that automates the entire sales compensation process in one secure, centralized system. Compel goes beyond simply calculating accurate sales commission and bonus payments; it also provides strategic value by enabling customers to model and forecast commission expense, optimize plan effectiveness, and drive sales performance and top-line revenue growth.

"Clearly, the market for on-demand sales compensation management is heating up," said Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director for THINKstrategies. "Centive's success is indicative of the growing interest in on-demand solutions. More organizations are viewing SaaS as a viable alternative to traditional legacy applications that can also produce greater business benefits. SaaS solutions continue to make significant inroads with organizations that recognize the higher value and lower risk associated with the pay-as-you-go model."

Today, more sales representatives subscribe to Centive Compel than any other on-demand, SaaS-based sales compensation management solution. By any measure, be it product functionality, product maturity, number of customers, average customer size, or awards, Centive continues to be the undisputed leader in the on-demand sales compensation space.

To learn more about Compel, follow the links below.

According to Nick Carr of "IT doesn't matter" infamy, McKinsey is set to release a study suggesting widespread and robust adoption of SaaS at Global 2000 companies.

"Large companies appear to be jumping en masse onto the software-as-a-service bandwagon, according to a new survey of CIOs by management consultants McKinsey & Company. The survey found that 61% of North American companies with sales over $1 billion plan to adopt one or more SaaS applications over the next year, a dramatic increase from the 38% who were planning to install SaaS apps in 2005."

The most popular SaaS business applications, according to the McKinsey study, are for human-resource management, billing and order entry, and sales management.

What are the top 10 reasons for you to adopt SaaS?

#1 Lower up-front costs – there is no need for you to purchase software or hardware; your infrastructure expenses are not only included in the subscription fee under the SaaS model, but they are also substantially lower due to the significant economies of scale when sharing code base, hardware, and software among customers.

#2 Faster implementation – SaaS solutions eliminate the need to build a stand-alone installation with software and hardware components for each customer. You can deploy most SaaS solutions in a matter of weeks or a couple of months.

#3 Lower total ownership costs – The subscription fee under the SaaS model includes all your expenses related to on-going maintenance, security, upgrades, virus protection, trouble-shooting, and issue resolution. There are no hidden costs and the affordable monthly fee can fit into any operating budget.

#4 Seamless upgrades – You receive seamless upgrades without the need to install, test, and roll out new functionality on an ongoing basis. Upgrades are provided without interruption of your daily workflow and at no additional cost. Since the code base is shared, there are no issues or risks related to reconfiguring a custom installation every time an upgrade becomes available.

#5 World-class security – SaaS solutions allow multiple clients (tenants) to use the same piece of software and hardware, and thus share their cost while enjoying top security and performance. The costs of running a data center with carrier-class security, availability and disaster recovery, are spread among multiple customers. Very few enterprises can actually afford a data center with security of that class.

(List to be continued in the January issue.)

As the leading on-demand sales compensation management solution, Compel® fully leverages the SaaS model. To learn more about Compel and the benefits of SaaS, follow the links below.

With the New Year come new challenges, new products, new competitive threats and new market opportunities. In preparation, most companies review and update their business strategy, priorities and goals, and as a result review and redraw their sales compensation plans and processes to ensure they align to support the new requirements of the business.

There are those that struggle every year going through a painstaking plan review and update process that leaves them stranded with no plans in place for months or even quarters. In the meantime, they reward sales performance with fixed draws or bonuses not related to goals, strategy or achievement levels. That does nothing to support or motivate the sales team to reach and exceed company goals.

With Compel® – the award winning, on-demand sales compensation management solution – customers eliminate the guessing game in creating and updating compensation plans. Compel’s Plan Modeler gives you the science to ensure that your plans align and motivate your sales reps to sell the right products and services at the right price, fit within your compensation budget, result in a reasonable attainment and commission earnings distribution curve, and adequately reward your top producers. Compel enables you to evaluate commission costs on both a macro and micro level and change variables within your plans and/or your data until you arrive at the optimal compensation plan.

Only Compel brings all the tools sales and finance executives need to proactively manage and coach their team, drive peak sales performance and identify trends so they can adjust course ñ promptly:

• Plan modeling & commission forecasting
• Real-time visibility into sales performance
• Pipeline forecasting
• Executive analytics
• Interactive dashboard reports

More VPs of Sales and CFOs have turned to Compel than any other on-demand sales compensation solution. To learn why, follow the links below.