The constant evolution of technology, coupled with your business's shifting needs and priorities, makes digital infrastructure change inevitable. If you are considering new options for your incentive compensation management processes, you know how important it is to choose the right solution.

At Canidium, our software implementation experts work exclusively with best-in-class partner solutions. We help clients find the right fit for their unique compensation needs and goals.

This article focuses on Xactly, covering five considerations you should take into account before switching software vendors.

1. Map Out How You Plan on Using Xactly's Features 

Before you build Xactly into your organization's incentive compensation management framework, it helps to thoroughly understand the tools and processes you currently use. The first step is to take inventory of your existing sales performance management or incentive compensation management solutions; or, if you are not yet using a digital platform, take stock of your manual, spreadsheet-based administrative processes. Evaluate the effectiveness, user satisfaction, and limitations of these tools, particularly looking at functionality, scalability, and performance issues.

This evaluation will identify the existing gaps in your data visibility, integration, and functionality. Common pain points companies uncover during these assessments include slow data access, lack of key features such as predictive analytics, and cumbersome manual processes. 

Once you've identified these gaps, you can map out how Xactly's features—such as its analytics, complex commissions calculation capabilities, and integrations with Salesforce and Workday—can bridge these to enhance efficiency and accuracy.

Finally, set specific, measurable improvement objectives based on these needs, such as significantly reducing the time required to generate reports or improving sales data accuracy. This strategic approach allows you to create a strong business case for investing in new incentive compensation management software while also ensuring that the adoption of Xactly addresses specific challenges you face. 

2. Features and Flexibility

Often, the impetus for switching your incentive compensation management processes and tools is a lack of features and flexibility in existing solutions. Your ability to adapt to new strategies or altered market conditions is limited when your tools are rigid. It is important to identify these shortcomings so you can pinpoint the specific Xactly configuration, applications, or dashboards you want to include in your implementation. 

Enhancing your tools in this way can significantly improve the management, analysis, and reporting of sales performance, aligning technology more closely with business needs and driving better results. Xactly's recent introduction of the Extend solution allows you to target specific inefficiencies with additional functionality. 

Canidium built the following three Extend solutions to offer clients additional flexibility if needed:

The HR Automation Solution

The HR Automation Solution addresses common inefficiencies associated with entering new hire data into systems like Xactly Incent. Traditionally, HR teams have had to manually input each new employee's information, a time-consuming and error-prone process, especially during periods of high recruitment. The HR Automation Solution revolutionizes this process by providing a downloadable template that HR personnel can fill out and upload. This automated process not only saves significant time but also enhances data accuracy, ensuring that new hires are integrated into the payroll and commission systems promptly and correctly.

The Manual Adjustments Solution

Recognizing the need for more streamlined operations in order adjustments, the Manual Adjustments Solution allows administrators to directly change orders within the Incent system. This capability is particularly crucial when errors need to be corrected without the usual delays caused by multi-layer approval processes. With this app, administrators can quickly search for and adjust orders, including reassigning or changing amounts, with the changes reflected immediately in the system. This responsiveness ensures accurate commission calculations and payments, improving overall operational efficiency and employee satisfaction.

The Dispute Workflow App

The Dispute Workflow Solution is another innovative solution tailored to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the commission process. It enables sales representatives to initiate disputes quickly concerning order assignments and amounts directly within the Incent system. With an intuitive search and submit functionality, representatives can easily find specific orders and raise disputes without deleting and re-entering data. This solution not only reduces the administrative burden but also minimizes potential frustrations associated with payment errors, ensuring that commissions are calculated accurately and disputes are resolved swiftly.

3. Solution Adoption 

One key factor in any software investment is your solution adoption rate post-implementation. Software solutions can only confer benefits if integrated into existing processes and adopted in your employees' daily workflows.

Luckily, Xactly's platform is renowned for its user-friendly interface, particularly when it comes to administrative functionalities like setting up compensation plans and making mid-year adjustments. The ease with which administrators can configure and modify compensation structures is a standout feature, simplifying the process of responding to changing organizational needs or market conditions. 

At the same time, Xactly offers extensive resources to help users learn the nuances of the platform. Xactly University is an exceptional educational resource that offers comprehensive training and community support. With these resources at their fingertips, both new and existing users can quickly become proficient with the system.

4. Self-Sufficiency Post Implementation 

Many companies prioritize the concept of self-sufficiency in terms of digital infrastructure management. It's possible you do not want to depend on third parties to oversee the maintenance of your incentive compensation management solution. 

While some incentive management software solutions are too complicated for anyone but specialists to maintain, Xactly has the advantage of an intuitive back-end design that can be managed by IT professionals within your organization. 

Alternatively, for those who do not want to manage their Xactly solution in-house, the platform has partners like Canidium that offer specialized managed services. Essentially, we offer an added layer of support post-implementation. The service ensures that any potential challenges in adopting Xactly can be addressed swiftly and efficiently, minimizing downtime and enhancing user competence. 

Canidium's expertise in Xactly helps fine-tune the system to meet specific organizational needs and provides ongoing support and training, ensuring that the organization maximizes the benefits of its investment in Xactly. This comprehensive support structure is designed to empower teams, helping them leverage the full capabilities of the tool effectively and independently as they continue to evolve their sales performance management practices.

5. Calculating Your ROI

Your ROI is not just a product of Xactly itself. The margin of improvement within your organization's current sales cycle, the potential earnings from your sales strategy, and external market volatility all impact potential revenue growth, just to mention a few factors at play. As a result, no singular figure covers all business scenarios. That said, it is possible to estimate your potential ROI based on your understanding of how your organization fits into the costs and benefits presented in this article. However, before diving into the factors that impact your ROI, it helps to have a benchmark against which you can measure your prospective returns. 

Xactly and Salesforce commissioned Forrester Consulting to perform a Total Economic Impact (TEI) study to explore the potential ROI of Xactly Incent.

The study found the composite organization representative of interviewed companies that use Xactly Incent experienced an ROI of 328% over three years.

Moreover, the research yielded the following results:

• Efficiency: 60% decrease in time needed to configure payment plans and calculate commission payments; streamlined process due to integration with Salesforce
• Accuracy: 99% payment accuracy; 90% average reduction in overpayments
• Productivity: Reduced payment inquiries and disputes by 83% with 24/7 visibility into performance & expected commissions.

Read this comprehensive guide to estimate your Xactly software implementation costs.

Switching Software Vendors to Xactly

When planning to integrate Xactly into your organization's incentive compensation management system, it's essential to first understand and evaluate your current tools and processes. This includes reviewing existing sales performance management systems or manual, spreadsheet-based processes. Assess their effectiveness, user satisfaction, and limitations, focusing on functionality, scalability, and performance issues. This evaluation will help identify data visibility, integration, and functionality gaps, such as slow data access and cumbersome manual processes.

Mapping out how Xactly's features can bridge these gaps is the next crucial step. Xactly's robust analytics capabilities, seamless integrations with Salesforce and Workday, and out-of-the-box commissions calculations are designed to enhance efficiency and accuracy in your sales operations. Setting specific, measurable improvement objectives, like reducing the time needed to generate reports or improving sales data accuracy, will help create a strong business case for adopting this new software.

Moreover, Xactly's feature flexibility is often a primary motivator for organizations looking to switch from rigid tools that don't adapt well to new strategies or market conditions. Xactly's Extend solutions, like the HR Automation, Manual Adjustments, and Dispute Workflow apps, provide additional functionalities that target specific operational inefficiencies, thereby enhancing the management, analysis, and reporting of sales performance.

If you want to learn more about investing in Xactly, read our comprehensive Buyer's Guide.