The Internet of Things (IoT) has changed sales and marketing significantly, and organizations need to take advantage of that and continue to innovate and learn to achieve results. That was the message from Callidus Software President and CEO Leslie Stretch at the company’s CallidusCloud Connections 2016 conference in Las Vegas in May.
“The software industry is kind of like the artificial world of [the movie] The Matrix,” Stretch said. “It’s a marketing silo, it’s a sales silo, it’s a commissions silo, it’s an ERP silo. The way we should perceive the world in the Internet of Things is as a joined-up environment. Remember the moment where [Neo, the main character] suddenly sees the digital vision of everything joined up?”
“The alignment of sales and marketing has never been more possible,” he said. While Stretch underlined the fact that the connectivity afforded by IoT can benefit companies, he cautioned it is still in the early days. “Don’t get too carried away with IoT. It does have real relevance to the sales and marketing world, [but] we’re nowhere near that today.”
Callidus Software announced several new products and upgrades to its cloud-based services at its conference, many of which have been designed to leverage IoT and additional technologies such as virtual reality and visualization tools.
For example, the company’s just-announced Internet of Things platform connects customer devices to its Lead to Money product suite. The company said this platform is designed to drive new capabilities in sales, marketing, learning and customer experience creation in the connected economy.
The sales performance management SaaS company’s announcements included a visual territory builder for sales managers that includes real-time updates. “This is a marriage of marketing and sales,” Stretch said. “We can now look at the entire addressable market.”
Callidus also came out with a new interface for its flagship CallidusCloud Commissions product, and two new solutions for specific verticals: Telco Dealer Pro, a unified process for managing indirect sales in the telecommunications industry; and OK to Sell, an insurance industry solution to help agents and dealers ensure regulatory compliance. “We believe in deepening the vertical assets in the business,” Stretch said.
In addition to those announcements, Callidus also introduced:
- A new solution for multi-level marketing businesses, designed to automate commission payouts, on-board and train new sales associates and manage the distribution of sales leads;
- Litmos VR Immersive 360 video player, a tool that is meant to enable companies to use off-the-shelf camera equipment to create immersive learning experiences; and
- Litmos Bot, a tool that the company said would enable personalized learning and instructor interaction.
Stretch said the technology changes within Callidus — and in the overall market —are not about transformation; they are more about disruption. He said what is most important is that marketers change their thinking and become disruptors within their own organizations.
“When other software companies talk about transformation, we like to talk about disruption. We have a choice. It’s either be the disruptor or the disruptee. We want you to go back from here and think about the mentality of a disruptor and what you can do to add value to your roles and your organizations.”
