Professional Courtesy

Even CRM-related companies can learn a thing or two from one another, especially if they specialize in two different disciplines. We talk a lot about breaking down information silos, and that's what e-commerce and business rules engine Selectica did by choosing Marketbright to improve its customer insight. Selectica specializes in automating price quotes and sales operations for companies with complex products and services. It uses a constraints-based rules engine to regulate e-commerce, guided selling, and other key rules-governed business processes. "Our customers increasingly expect specialization, so we have to go out and find the ones that fit well with our offering," says James Dias, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. "We spend a lot of time identifying microsegments of customers that have a need for our specialty." Too much time spent aiming means less time shooting, so Selectica turned to Marketbright, a yearling vendor of marketing automation. "We sit at the intersection of site management, campaign management, and CRM," says Dom Lindars, CEO and cofounder of Marketbright. "With many of our customers like Selectica, the problem is getting a single view of all leads and campaigns from various channels. They don't care about how many hits; they care about which hits--where they came from, not just where they go." Selectica was one of Marketbright's first customers when the two companies started working together in December 2004. It was a good start. Selectica discovered it had doubled its site traffic, and leads were growing 50 percent a month. "We have much more visibility into what's happening in our marketing world," Dias says. "Now we have trade show, print, Web, and Webinar channels, and we have three managers carrying the entire business. Normally we'd need at least five." The effect of Marketbright has been so positive that Selectica is now rolling out the capabilities it gained to its partners. "The guys at Marketbright are the Jedi masters of online marketing."