Enterprises Adopting AI-Powered Revenue Performance Software, ISG Says
New ISG research says AI will improve territory, quota and incentive compensation planning to optimize revenue across all channels
New research from leading global technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III) says enterprises will increase the use of AI in their revenue performance management (RPM) platforms over the next two years to expedite time-to-value and deploy more effective revenue performance plans.
The ISG Buyers Guides for Revenue Performance Management, produced by ISG Software Research, say initiatives that apply AI, including generative AI and machine learning (ML), to historic data can create new insights for both management and revenue-focused professionals.
ISG Software Research defines revenue performance management as the activities, processes and systems that enable organizations to plan, execute, monitor and make adjustments in real time to achieve customer, product and revenue targets across all revenue channels. The ISG Buyers Guides on RPM evaluate software products for their ability to support analytics and forecasting and manage incentives, opportunities, quotas, renewals, territories and variable compensation plans.
"AI has been applied across sales and revenue management to support individual deal-scoring and overall pipeline health. We are now seeing new developments from providers using AI to help design and optimize incentive, territory and quota plans to accommodate complex omnichannel buyer engagement," said Stephen Hurrell, director of Research, Office of Revenue, ISG Software Research. "We assert that software providers will be adding AI tools over the next two years to speed time-to-value and help enterprises deploy performance plans."
The traditional use of spreadsheets to manage revenue operations and performance is ineffective and can be problematic when trying to achieve optimal outcomes. A dedicated approach can provide a better method to achieve an organization's goals, the research states. Even revenue-related applications such as sales force automation and customer relationship management that are designed to capture data about accounts, contacts and opportunities cannot deliver optimal visibility into overall revenue performance in the way a dedicated system can.
As organizations embrace additional sales channels, such as indirect sales from partners or new digital selling channels like e-commerce, revenue management will require alignment and coordination beyond sales teams to marketing, partner management, commerce, customer service and finance. The evolution to RPM enables users to maximize outcomes across all buying or revenue channels.
For its 2024 Revenue Performance Management Buyers Guides, ISG evaluated software providers across three platform categories – Revenue Performance Management, Sales Performance Management, and Incentive Compensation Management – and produced a separate Buyers Guide for each. A total of 15 providers were assessed: Akeron, Anaplan, Beqom, Board International, CaptivateIQ, Everstage, Forma.ai, Jedox, Oracle, Performio, Pigment, Salesforce, SAP, Varicent Software and Xactly.
ISG Software Research designates the top three software providers as Leaders in each category. For the 2024 study, the leading providers in ranked order are:
Revenue Performance Management: Oracle, Anaplan, Xactly
Sales Performance Management: Oracle, Anaplan, Xactly
Incentive Compensation Management: Oracle, Anaplan, Xactly
"The next generation of revenue and sales leaders has an opportunity to optimize their processes through dedicated business applications that help manage and achieve expected revenues and performance," said Mark Smith, partner, ISG Software Research. "This portfolio of ISG Buyers Guides is essential to assessing and selecting software providers that are best able to support operations and manage territories and incentives across all sales and revenue channels."
The ISG Revenue Performance Management Buyers Guides are the distillation of more than a year of market and product research efforts The research is not sponsored nor influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments.
Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Revenue Performance Management Buyers Guides and read executive summaries of each of the three reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG Software Research.
About ISG Software Research
ISG Software Research provides authoritative coverage and analysis of the business and IT software industry. It distributes research and insights daily through its user community, and provides a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Its ISG Buyers Guides help enterprises evaluate and select software providers through tailored assessments powered by ISG's proprietary methodology. Visit www.isg-research.net for more information and to sign up for free community membership.
About ISG
ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 900 clients, including more than 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including AI and automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs 1,600 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry's most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.
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Will Thoretz, ISG
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Julianna Sheridan, Matter Communications for ISG
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