The design and development of a sales force automation tool using business process management software

A sales force automation (SFA) tool is a computerized system that provides sales team members and managers with the functionality to track sales leads, manage contacts, control customer relations, monitor sales processes, schedule meetings, forecast sales and analyze employee performance. SFA tools aim to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a sales team; however many commercially available SFA tools are generically structured solutions that do not accommodate the specific needs of a company. However, because of recent interest and developments in business process management (BPM) software, an emerging technology capable of modeling and automating business processes, it is possible for individual firms to custom-design their own sales force automation tools. In general, BPM software tools provide automated support for tracking tasks across multiple departments as they are completed by different employees. This paper discusses the design and development of an SFA tool using BPM software, including the identification of a detailed sales process, an analysis of the reporting capabilities, a model for determining the probabilistic outcomes of the sales process, and a decision-analytic model for optimizing sales force resource allocation.