Aktana Debuts Collective Intelligence Suite for Field Sales
Aktana has launched its Collective Intelligence Suite for Field Sales, an iPad- and Android-compatible engine designed to increase sales force effectiveness.
"What we do is use analytics to provide reps with suggested action so that the impact is more direct," explains Aktana CEO David Ehrlich. "We use information both from the enterprise as well as public information, information from the rep and the customers themselves to [help reps] make better decisions about who to meet with, when to meet with them, what to say to them, and how to follow up on those sales calls."
Aktana, formerly called IncentAlign, breaks the Collective Intelligence Suite into three modules. "Targeting" incorporates the sales cycle and "the cadence around the sales cycle," through points like segmentation, geography, timeframe, and availability patterns.
"Messaging" begins with marketing strategy and takes into account what a customer looks like in different stages of the sales cycle. It also identifies who should deliver a message and whether or not a product specialist or another customer could deliver the message more effectively than the rep in a particular instance.
The final module centers on the "coordinating" of information and data that arises from things like telesales and channel partners, then feeding that information into "the strategy of messaging and targeting," Ehrlich explains.
Aktana finds most of its business originates in the telecom, financial services, high-tech, and pharmaceutical space, where the company reports stark demand for sales effectiveness as a result of cuts to commercialization budgets, regulatory oversight, and increased competition from generics.
"We tried to design an application that would not only benefit the sales rep, but one that was designed around their natural usage patterns and workflows," Ehrlich says of functionality. "Most sales reps are given tools and told they have to use them, and they only use them to the extent that they have to."