Revenue Disruption: Game-Changing Sales and Marketing Strategies to Accelerate Growth

A Platform for Change

Over the last few years, the best Marketing Automation applications have been reformulated in keeping with the reinvention that needs to take place within, as well as between, marketing and sales departments. The result is that a number of vendors have introduced strategic Revenue Performance Management platforms, which are comprehensive software systems that span marketing, sales, and finance; that support both operational and analytic business processes; and that fully enable the business processes needed for an RPM transformation.

Notice that I use the term platform, not application. I do this deliberately. Modern companies use hundreds if not thousands of software “applications.” Some are small desktop tools, and some larger programs are used at the departmental or divisional level. But there are only a few that really merit the term platform: a software application that spans a significant range of business operations, used by personnel in multiple departments. It is a system of record, storing and managing important data used across the corporation. And it is a hub into which a variety of other applications and tools can be plugged to meet the company’s unique business needs. One example of a platform is the ERP system, which might span and support manufacturing, supply chain, and finance. Now it’s time for businesses to adopt an RPM platform.

But what does an RPM platform do? What are its essential elements? And how is it different from Marketing Automation? ...