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PLEASANTON, Calif. - January 18, 2011 - Ventana Research today released its 2011 Value Index for Sales Performance Management, the latest in a new category of quantified, research-based Indexes on technology vendors and products. This new Value Index provides guidance that will enable organizations to ascertain the value to them of applications for addressing sales performance management. Using the Value Index, businesses and the sales, operations, finance and IT organizations within them will be able to evaluate vendors and their products and make choices based on an understanding of how well existing and new offerings satisfy their needs.

The Value Indexes are the product of more than two decades of experience and knowledge of the market and of in-depth analyses of technology suppliers' products. This Value Index examines applications for sales performance management, which is the practice of managing the effectiveness and efficiency of sales-related business activities and processes to a common set of customer and revenue goals and objectives. This category of applications is essential for ensuring optimal efficiency of sales operations and effectiveness in the performance of sales organizations of any size. The methodology used to produce the Value Index for Sales Performance Management evaluates in detail aspects of product functionality and suitability-to-task as well as the effectiveness of vendor support for the buying process and customer assurance. The Index reflects the value offered by a vendor and its products, presented both as a clear and accessible graphic representation in thermometer form and as a precise index percentage.

The technology vendors earning the highest Hot and Warm Vendor classifications are those that Ventana Research certifies best deliver buyer value based on a thorough evaluation and audit - that is, based on research and verifiable facts. The Value Index is not just a selection of "cool" products, and rather than merely representing a vendor on a four-quadrant chart, the Index provides specific thermometer readings, both overall and of a series of component metrics, for a technology buyer to consider. Organizations can use the Value Index by first determining their priorities and then consulting the Index to determine which vendors best meet those needs.

In the 2011 Value Index for Sales Performance Management, the company delivering the highest value on an overall weighted-evaluation basis is Varicent, which earned the Hot Vendor rating. It is followed closely by Synygy, Xactly and Callidus Software, which also were rated as Hot Vendors, and then Merced Systems, SAP, salesforce.com, Oracle and Microsoft, which earned the Warm Vendor rating.

"Sales performance management provides a portfolio of needed applications for Sales to reach its ultimate objectives of revenue and customer satisfaction while also providing the confidence needed by management and the visibility needed by finance," said Mark Smith, CEO and executive vice president of Ventana Research. "It's all about a focus on business having the ability to manage its sales operations and effectiveness, which is essential to every organization that depends on revenue to fuel its future operations. Unfortunately, the lack of focused buyer-oriented analysis of vendors and products in this area has resulted in organizations acquiring technology that is not as well suited as it should be to meet their needs. This Value Index on Sales Performance Management is the kind of research that is necessary to enable business and IT organizations to accurately match their environment, needs and plans to vendors' products. The research-based assessments in this Index will help sales organizations advance beyond the typical environment of custom and legacy applications, spreadsheets and limited sales force automation applications - an environment that typically does not address the entire sales organization's needs.

"I would like to thank all the customers and vendors for the support of the research to enable a deep level of scrutiny, enabling us to provide assessment of this critical market segment," Smith added. "The lack of vendor and product reviews offered in the market by IT analysts and the skewed focus on the last generation of applications with the moniker of CRM has misled the business and IT buyers on the importance of this category. This isn't surprising, as most analysts only advise and research IT organizations and have been influencing vendors to take a focus on the past and prevent smart investments in the future."

This new research-based undertaking is fully independent. It is neither sponsored nor influenced by technology vendors and is conducted solely in pursuit of Ventana Research's mission to provide value to business and IT through benchmark assessments, workshops and advisory services. Ventana Research's goal is to guide organizations to optimal efficiency in their use of technology investments for business and IT. To learn more about the Value Index for Sales Performance Management, please visit http://www.ventanaresearch.com/spmvalueindex.

About Ventana Research

Ventana Research is the leading benchmark research and advisory services firm. We provide expert guidance to help organizations manage and optimize performance - to become not only more efficient but more effective. Our unparalleled insights and best practices guidance are based on our rigorous research-based benchmarking indexes of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions worldwide. The combination we offer of benchmark research, rigorous market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver business and technology education and expertise to our clients where and when needed. The Ventana Research Indexes - the Value Index and the Benchmark Index family - have redefined the research industry by providing accessible, easy-to-use research-based business and technology guidance to businesses.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; the many business and IT professionals worldwide who are members of our community benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Business Week's Business Exchange. Ventana Research was ranked the #1 analyst firm you can trust in enterprise software for 2009 for its relevance to the industry. We focus on business and technology trends and best practices that maximize organizations' potential to perform while reducing the time, cost and risk and still achieve optimal outcomes.

Media: Copies of the Value Index for Sales Performance Management are available upon request.

Media Contact:

Marisela Reynoso

(925) 242-2579

marketing@ventanaresearch.com