Merced Systems Blog - Performance Matters

Merced Systems Goes Global in Singapore

Gadi Bashvitz — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:43:29 +0100

In our third edition of “Merced goes Global” we travel south to Singapore and our APAC headquarters which covers our operations throughout APAC but specifically Singapore, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

I am actually writing this posting on a flight between Hong Kong and Mumbai.

On the right are a few shots from of our office in Raffles Place...

In the spirit of Billy Beane & the Oakland A's, 6 non-obvious metrics for big impact on ...

marketing — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:07:34 +0100

In the spirit of Billy Beane, here are examples of "Moneyball Metrics": uncommon and non-obvious metrics which we have found to have a major impact on performance:

Coaching frequency -- can be tracked using web Forms and is always highly correlated with subsequent agent performance management
AHT or ASA variation -- permits superior forecastin...

How is performance management like "Moneyball"?

marketing — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:07:07 +0100

In the 2003 bestseller and now major motion picture "Moneyball," (opening nationwide on Sept. 23) we learn how Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane used data-driven management to reshape a laggard major league baseball team into a world-class winner. Instead of focusing on traditional metrics, Beane discovered that winning baseball games was more strongly...

Merced Systems Goes Global....in Hong Kong

Gadi Bashvitz — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:36:33 +0100

In this, the second edition of “Merced goes Global” we’ll start discussing our activities in Asia Pacific. I am writing this blog entry from my hotel room in Hong Kong.

I wish that this was my view from the hotel, it is actually the view from a client we visited earlier this week.

The Merced office in Hong Kong was the first office we opened earlier this ...

Merced Goes Global...in Asia Pacific and Latin America Regions

Gadi Bashvitz — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:22:59 +0100

At the end of 2010 we decided it was time to build on Merced’s success in North America, Europe and initial success we had in APAC and establish our business in Asia Pacific and Latin America in earnest.

We put together an aggressive plan which we have been executing to in the last eight months. This blog posting is the first in a series entitled: Merced Goes Global, describing the significant progress we have made in our global expansion.

We’ll start by shar...

Dreamforce 2011 - Merced Systems' Sales Performance Contest - Day Two iPad Winner

marketing — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 05:35:44 +0100

Our Day Two winner of our second annual “Sales Performance Contest” was announced at the end of the day at Dreamforce 11 (#DF11) - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Check out the video to find out just how many steps it took to win an iPad!

Dreamforce 2011 - Merced Systems' Sales Performance Contest - Day One iPad Winner

marketing — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:30:37 +0100

Our first winner of our two day “Sales Performance Contest” was announced at the end of Day Two of Dreamforce 11 (#DF11) - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Check out the video to find out just how many steps it took to win an iPad!

Sales Reps & the Comp Process: Hey – Where’s my Money?!

David Kelly — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:58:26 +0100

Sales Performance Management (SPM) is all about empowering, incenting, measuring, and eventually paying the sales force to align its behaviors and tactics with corporate goals. The compensation plan is a key part of the SPM process. Ideally, it rewards the payees for doing what the company needs them to do. If your sales force is focused on doing things for their own benefit that will also benefit your company, it becomes a win-win.

The payees’ perception of...

CSO Insights 2011 Sales Compensation & Performance Management Survey

marketing — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 07:17:36 +0100

CSO Insights, an independent 3rd party research firm, is currently in the process of launching its fourth annual Sales Compensation & Performance Management survey.

CSO Insights specializes in analyzing companies’ sales effectiveness and optimizing the way they attract, acquire and retain customers.

Merced Systems is proud to again be a survey sponsor this year. We would like to invite you to take part in this year’s new survey. In re...

iPads: Their Impact on the Top Six Sales Processes - Leading Analyst Firm Reports on iPad ...

marketing — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 04:52:26 +0100

Gartner Research recently published a research report outlining the Top Six Sales Processes that iPads will have the most impact on within sales organizations, “iPads: Their Impact on the Top Six Sales Processes.” This report is extremely timely, as Merced has recently rolled out our own iPad functionality – a true first in the Sales Performance Management space. Our app (free to download via Apple’s App Store – search for “Merced Systems”) al...

Contradiction Prediction

Harold Goldberg — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 07:54:12 +0100

Predicting the future is hard, especially when it comes to enterprise software sales. Forrester says ERP spending will be down, Gartner says it will be up. In the Sales Performance Management category, we are seeing significant interest that started early in 2010 and seems to be continuing in 2011 for our products and services. We believe large enterprises are coming to three conclusions as the recession recedes and growth returns that is driving uptake of SPM solutions:

Should I be in t...

How to drive End User Adoption & Success with your brand new Performance Management ...

Aparna Fernandes — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:29:35 +0100

This entry is part three of three on the topic of “How to drive End User Adoption & Success with your brand new Performance Management Solution?” In my previous posts, I introduced Essentials, then for parts 2, 3 and 4 I spoke of “Communication, Education and Daily DNA.” Today, I will introduce essentials 5-7:

5. Now that everyone is bought into the solution how do we sustain the success?
The biggest failures in this space come from not having...

End-of-year Checklist for Compensation Administrators

Jackie Wheeler — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:28:00 +0100

As you approach the end of a financial year, there are several tasks you take to ensure your plans and calculations will be handled correctly in the new year:

Set Up Exchange Rates The plan rate should be set for the whole year at the beginning of the year. This is the rate generally used to convert annualized information such as targets (quotas).

Set Up Plans Now is the time to review your existing plans and make any necessary updates to reflect changes in rates, thresholds,...

Merced Systems’ Second Performance Challenge winner at Dreamforce Announced!

marketing — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:39:30 +0100

Our second winner of our two day “Performance Challenge” was announced at the end of Day Three of Dreamforce - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Ben Ziegler was awarded an iPad after logging 30,502 steps on his Merced “Dreamtrekker” pedometer. Congrats to Ben!

This was Merced Systems’ first time exhibiting at Dreamforce, and what an experience we had! We met an extraordinary grou...

Dreamforce 2010 - Merced Systems Performance Challenge, Day One

marketing — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:26:15 +0100

Our first winner of our two day “Performance Challenge” was announced at the end of Day Two of Dreamforce - Saleforce.com’s annual user conference and exposition at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Simon Kong walked away (pun intended) with an iPad after logging almost 58,000 steps on his Merced “Dreamtrekker” pedometer! Congrats to Simon !

Merced Systems Plans for Dreamforce 2010

marketing — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 10:20:06 +0100

Next month, Merced Systems will be a first-time sponsor of the Dreamforce 2010 conference. A few details on the conference:

Dreamforce will be held Dec. 6-9, 2010 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center
Registration is still open at www.dreamforce.com
Merced Systems will be in booth #1121
We will be providing regular updates via Twitter, Facebook and this blog.

We decided the time was right for Merced to sponsor Dreamforce for several reasons. Approximately 20,000 attendees are exp...

Merced Systems Plans for Dreamforce 2010

marketing — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0100

Next month, Merced Systems will be a first-time sponsor of the Dreamforce 2010 conference. A few details on the conference:

We decided the time was right for Merced to sponsor Dreamforce for several reasons. Approximately 20,000 attendees are exp...

What is Truth? Or, what does all this Data in my SPM System Really Mean?

David Kelly — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:07:31 +0100

An SPM system can be one of the most complex systems in a company’s business environment because it solves one of the most complex problems a company has. The system’s job is to help align sales force behaviors with the company’s strategic goals. Good data – about the payees, about the company’s business drivers, about the plan elements like quotas and rates, and about the sales events – is critical to the process. Sourcing and maintaining...

What is Employee Segmentation?

Diana Leccese — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:54:42 +0100

In consumer marketing research there are 4 P’s, with the first “P” being People. Marketers segment consumers by income, geography, gender, age, etc. in order to prescribe the right “treatment” or create the right message to the population. We are now taking that same segmentation concept and applying it to employee development.

All employees are not created equal. We suggest that team leaders and managers segment their employe...

What Performance Metrics are Right for my Business? (Part Four of Four)

James Burr — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:28:51 +0100

This entry is the last of a series of entries on the topic of “What Performance Metrics are Right for my Business?” In previous posts I discussed the first and second tiers of the return on investment from performance management. In this post I’d like to introduce the 3rd tier: Contribute Back.

The final and hardest tier to accomplish is the ability for an organisation to exploit the huge wealth of information in the contact centre to drive product developme...