Xactly Launches CRM-Based Non-Cash Rewards Application
August 18, 2008
Xactly Corporation has launched what may be the first ever CRM-based automated employee performance application centered on non-cash incentives that can also be applied in contact centers. The solution, Xactly Rewards, is built on Force.com and is presently only available to Salesforce.com customers.
Xactly Rewards provides an innovative easy to use and more effective, non-cash rewards management and fulfillment environment for motivating and rewarding the performance of sales, marketing, support, and contact center individuals and teams.
Traditional non-cash rewards programs tend to rely on limited sets of fixed prizes or gift cards. In contrast, Xactly Rewards points can be redeemed for millions of merchandise items via an online catalog from the world’s top brands, travel and leisure, adventure packages, and tickets to entertainment and sporting events.
Xactly Rewards for Force.com, which is directly integrated with the Salesforce CRM application, spans the entire non-cash rewards-management lifecycle. That includes creating compelling incentives programs and contests customized for specific employee audiences, to real-time rewards-attainment tracking, and to immediate online points redemption. iGoogle users can also log into Xactly Rewards to check points status.
Xactly’s solution can be used to motivate the performance of contact center agents across a number of areas: accounts receivable management, billing, customer service, acquisition/lead generation, outbound sales, and support. The rewards can be based on any individual agent-connected metric, including customer satisfaction, first call resolution, problem resolution, and qualified lead generation rates and sales per hour.
Contact centers and others purchase Xactly Rewards points for $1/point and allocate them as they see fit for rewarding employees who reach specific performance objectives. Because Xactly’s solution is hosted, that takes the data load for managing rewards programs off contact centers’ computers.
Previous and other applications have relied on raw sales figures, workforce optimization (WFO), and time-consuming manual entry to track performance.
“CRM-based rewards programs like ours provide superior and direct performance-award accuracy because they are based on the actual results unlike WFO obtained in and through the CRM software, and are fully automated, unlike other methods, “explains Karen Steele, Vice President of Marketing. “It also completes the loop on CRM by directly connecting agent performance and incentives with increasing customer retention and lifetime value through agents’ interactions with customers.”
Non cash-rewards that translate directly to goods and services have also proven more effective and popular on the uptake by employees than gift cards and cash. Xactly cited a story in the January 2008 Consumer Reports that revealed that 27 percent of gift cards – worth approximately $8billion dollars – went unredeemed in 2007.
“Non-cash rewards can work like a catalyst to motivate desired employee behavior, but are rarely wielded creatively or to complete advantage, “says Steele. “And traditionally, these programs have been rudimentary affairs – managed in spreadsheets and limited to fixed prizes. We have made non-cash rewards viable and manageable. In bringing together non-cash rewards, incentive compensation management and CRM, Xactly is breaking new ground in engaging employees, motivating behaviors, and aligning those behaviors with corporate goals.”
Xactly has partnered with Amazon.com to provide one of the primary catalogs for these rewards. The application has been set up for employees and managers with the same look and feel to the very popular online store, thereby making it easier to check up on and use. It has also partnered with PayPal to manage employee points-to-purchases.
Future plans include custom catalogs, more pre-built incentive programs, support for custom objects within Salesforce CRM, International Rewards redemption, and options for donating points to charities.
“We have received much interest from clients and from charities to be included in Xactly Rewards,” explains Steele. “The program would offer a great way for employees who make modest incomes, to make donations without affecting their take-home incomes, and provide another powerful incentive for them to perform well.”
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Brendan B. Read is ContactCenterSolutions�s Senior Contributing Editor. To read more of Brendan�s articles, please visit his columnist page.
