Many organizations rely on spreadsheets and other siloed tools to manage their sales planning processes.
These tools don’t integrate with corporate planning systems, or with one another. This creates data silos and inaccurate forecasts, misaligning quotas, territories, and incentives with corporate plans.
A centralized system with real-time data enables more accurate sales and revenue plans, and decision-making that’s aligned with financial goals. Without integration, sales and finance strategies work against each other, and CFOs lose visibility into how sales is driving toward organizational goals.
OneStream’s research shows that 72% of business managers expect CFOs to be “masters of everything,” underscoring the need for unified sales planning tools.
Our own survey of 100 enterprise sales leaders found that 45% say their sales and finance teams don’t even use the same tools to do forecasting whether or not there’s any integration.
CFOs need an integrated system to align revenue plans with financial targets, control incentive costs, and ensure sales teams drive profitable growth.
These legacy silo tools are not designed to handle the complexities of modern sales planning, which can lead to several challenges:
- Limited Scalability: As an organization grows, the volume of data and the complexity of calculations can quickly overwhelm manual systems, leading to delays, errors, and missed opportunities.
- Increased Risk of Errors: Manual data entry and calculations are prone to human error, which can have a significant impact on sales forecasts, budgets, and other critical business decisions.
- Lack of Collaboration: Spreadsheets and other siloed tools can make it difficult for teams to collaborate effectively, leading to misalignment, duplication of effort, and missed opportunities.
- Inefficient Reporting: Manual processes can make it difficult to generate timely and accurate reports, hindering the ability to track progress, identify trends, and make informed decisions.
The Benefits of Sales Performance Management (SPM) Software
By adopting an SPM platform, organizations can overcome the limitations of manual systems and achieve a number of significant benefits:
- Improved Scalability: Sales Performance Management software is designed to handle large volumes of data and complex calculations effortlessly, ensuring accuracy as your organization scales.
- Reduced Risk of Errors: SPM software eliminates the risk of human error in data entry and calculations, leading to more accurate forecasts, budgets, and other critical business decisions.
- Enhanced Collaboration: An SPM platform provides a centralized platform for collaboration, allowing teams to share data, insights, and best practices. This leads to better alignment, improved communication, and increased productivity.
- Streamlined Reporting: SPM software can generate a wide range of reports with just a few clicks, allowing organizations to track progress, identify trends, and make informed decisions quickly and easily.
- End-to-End Alignment: Linking the top-down annual operating plan with the bottom-up sales plan ensures that every team operates with a unified vision and simplifies cross-functional workflows by seamlessly connecting sales planning with corporate performance management, eliminating data silos and reducing manual handoffs.
- Data-Rich Insights: Leveraging financial, operational, and sales data from a centralized platform enhances visibility and cross-functional workflows, allowing for more informed decisions and real-time refinement of plans.
In today’s fast-paced business environment, relying on outdated tools like spreadsheets for sales planning is no longer a viable solution. To stay competitive, organizations must adopt modern Sales Performance Management software that not only streamlines processes but also aligns sales strategies with financial goals. By eliminating data silos, reducing errors, and fostering better collaboration, Sales Performance Management software empowers sales and finance teams to make smarter, data-driven decisions that drive profitability and growth.
The transition to SPM is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity for businesses looking to scale and thrive in a complex market. Don’t let outdated processes hold your organization back. Invest in an integrated solution that brings clarity, efficiency, and alignment to your sales planning, and position your company for long-term success.