Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc. subsidiary, has announced that the company has received a Positive rating in Gartners October 2007 MarketScope for Sales Configuration, 3Q07 (Gene Alvarez).
For the report, Gartner evaluated the Comergent C3 Configurator, which is now part of the Sterling Configure, Price Quote (CPQ) product within the Sterling Selling and Fulfilment Suite. Sterling CPQ helps companies drive higher revenues and reduce cost by automating the most complex multi-channel selling processes while hiding complexities from end users.
The report states, Sales configurators reduce complexity and improve productivity by helping salespeople or customers in a self-serve environment match customer needs to unique products and service offerings. Sales configuration systems are used to configure STO, ATO and ETO [ship-to-order, assemble-to-order and engineer-to-order] products as well as non-product information such as pricing, discounts, and customised financing plans. A Positive rating indicates the company demonstrates strength in specific areas, but execution in one or more areas may still be developing or inconsistent with other areas of performance.
Sales configurators are critical in automating one of the most challenging aspects of the sales process. Most companies rely on manual processes for configuring complex products and services, which results in a high cost of sales, slow response times to customers and partners, and incorrectly configured and priced products and services, said Andy Nicholas, vice president of Global Product Management and Marketing, Multi-Channel Selling solutions, for Sterling Commerce. Sterling Commerce excels in these complex situations by enabling companies to create a superior buying experience for their customers while shielding them from the complexities of the companys organisation, channels and supply chain.
Sterling Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) automates the entire sales process, enabling companies to generate revenue, lower the cost of sales, and create a positive buying experience for their customers and channel partners. It guides customers and channel partners through the process of finding and configuring products and services via a Web-based, self-service and assisted-selling environment. Key strengths of Sterling CPQ include its easy-to-use interface for maintaining product configuration rules, ERP integration capabilities, and multiple purchase options.
Sterling CPQ is part of the Sterling Multi-Channel Selling solution bundle within the Sterling Selling and Fulfilment Suite. Sterling Multi-Channel Selling helps companies drive higher revenues, improve business responsiveness, and reduce costs by enabling their customers and partners to accurately find, configure and order complex products and services through every available touch-point. Sterling Multi-Channel Selling is unique in enabling sales through multiple channels and varying business models, such as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C). In addition, it includes the ability for companies to sell via a personalised, branded online buying experience; perform customer segmentation capabilities to help up-sell and cross-sell; utilise a pricing engine to manage rules, discounts and promotional pricing to drive sales volume in key target segments and channels; and deploy configuration capabilities to ensure customers and partners configure the right products and services to meet their needs.
The Gartner MarketScope can be found at: http://www.sterlingcommerce.com/About/News/AnalystViews/
About Gartner MarketScope
The MarketScope is copyrighted 2007 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The MarketScope is an evaluation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the MarketScope, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About Sterling Commerce
Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), helps customers thrive in a global economy by connecting their business communities, processes, people and technology. More than 30,000 customers worldwide including 80 percent of the Fortune 500 use Sterling Commerce solutions for business process integration, multi-channel selling, and supply chain fulfilment to improve profitability inside and outside their company walls. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Sterling Commerce has offices in 19 countries and most major cities around the world.
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