Mark Smith of Ventana has this stuff figured out.. Companies should listen

See Mark Smiths, CEO Ventana Research below.  Mark gathers his information from industry research, surveys and talking to the end users of SPM.  



Organizations are now realizing the limits of what customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force automation (SFA) systems can do and that they need new applications to manage to expected outcomes.

The strong market demand for sales performance management software has shifted the focus to applications that can support the activities and processes associated with sales operations and performance....

We expect to see sales performance management become a top priority for sales and finance organizations that are looking reduce the risk and uncertainty around meeting their sales and financial performance targets.

For the thousands of sales organization still relying on silos of data, spreadsheets and e-mail to track and manage sales performance, the opportunity for improvement is significant. Ventana Research continues to advocate the importance of investment in sales performance management. We see the educational effort beginning to help organizations understand how to adopt a mature approach to sales effectiveness.