If anything could be said about today’s world, it’s certainly filled with complexity. Today’s sales landscape is reflective of this trend: complexity in data, leads, opportunities, the sales cycle, multiple pipelines, multiple companies, multiple product lines, tier pricing, and much more.
How can salespeople and sales managers deal with all this complexity? Well, we have at least one answer: with Pipeliner CRM, and it’s new version: Automata.
Okay, What’s With the Name?
Automata was a work written by Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria (c10-c70 A.D.). It was a description of machines which enabled wonders in temples by mechanical or pneumatic means. Two thousand years ahead of its time, Automata is considered some of the first formal research into the science of cybernetics.
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the study of how machines can be created to think and act like humans. But cybernetics is also described as the “science of simplification” and is used to approach and understand complexity.
Cybernetics simplifies complexity by providing models of systems that are too complex for the viewer to understand without some kind of assistance. These models are real-time navigators that enable shared understanding and communication.
And with that concept, we move right into Pipeliner CRM Automata.
Navigator
The prime feature of Pipeliner CRM Automata is its new Navigator feature. With Navigator, Pipeliner has totally parted ways with the traditional concept of a CRM dashboard and is providing far more innovative and targeted ways to deliver instant intelligence to the user. With it the user can cut out the noise, navigate that complexity and focus right in on what is most important.
Pipeliner Navigator is composed of 5 basic components:
- Activity Stream—This is a list of activities, tasks, and opportunities in date order, beginning with the closest to the present, displayed on the right-hand side of Navigator. You can click on any item to drill down and get the full information on what needs to get done. All priority items are here, in one convenient, visual location.
- Target Overview—This component combines our Dynamic Target feature with a Target Trend graph that displays progress toward a sales goal over a specified time period, using 3 different metrics. Pipeliner users always know where they are at in relation to a target, and what needs to be done to get there.
- Notifications—This section contains “Tasks,” “Missed Close Dates,” “Velocity Issues” and “Largest Open Opportunity”–all important notifications of various issues within a user’s pipeline.
- Suggestions—In this section can be seen other areas in which actions should possibly be taken. These include Cold Accounts, Inactive Accounts, Inactive Leads, Stuck Opportunities, New Leads and more. This component is always providing guidance to help improve a rep’s performance.
- Business Overview—This section provides a graphical display of Open Opportunities, Open Sum, Won Sum, and Lost Sum—for the user-defined date range for which Navigator is currently set. A user can look in the rear-view mirror to see what has already happened, and look forward to assessing where they are going– allowing them to make the necessary adjustments for the road ahead.
Forecast Report
Automata introduce a new Pipeliner report: the Forecast Report. It allows a sales manager to set quotas for each member of a sales team, and track quota achievement through a sales period for each quota set.
Like many Pipeliner features, the Forecast Report is fully customizable can be filtered with profiles, and shared with team members.
Dynamic Dropdowns
This new functionality allows user-defined drop-down menus to dynamically relate to one another. For example, if a particular sales territory is selected, then another dropdown menu of “sales reps” would only be those reps for that territory.
User Rights Management—Greatly Simplified
Administrators will be very happy with the ease of which user rights can now be managed, within Pipeliner Automata, in several different areas.
Pipeliner Automata is a major leap forward for Pipeliner CRM. If you have yet to try Pipeliner, the time has never been better! Do it today.
