Continuing from where we left off in the last article, I wanted to go more in-depth on which incentive compensation management (ICM) reports you should start with as you begin moving toward a full-scale sales performance management (SPM) strategy. In my experience, ICM implementations include at minimum both a compensation statement containing high-level compensation information and a detail statement, also called an Individual Performance Report. Although the quality can vary, these two reports cover the immediate needs of an ICM system in which the primary goal is to calculate and pay variable compensation. Read more
The deep BI knowledge of Ironside’s Education Services department was showcased this year at IBM Insight 2015. Wayne Estrada, one of our most experienced Senior Technical Instructors, delivered an in-depth session on a topic that is often a chief concern for many IBM Cognos environments: report security. Using advanced techniques in Report Studio, Wayne showed participants how to create customized security protocols that exactly meet their environment’s security needs and fine-tune report responses based on security requirements. Read more
This year at IBM Insight 2015, Ironside had the unique opportunity to tell one of our most compelling recent customer stories: how Manchester PD used Ironside’s IronShield predictive policing platform to implement some highly effective crime reduction strategies. Greg Bonnette, our VP of Strategy & Innovation, delivered the presentation on behalf of Manchester PD, who IBM had selected as a presenter, and highlighted the components of IronShield and the results that Manchester PD is getting out of it. Read more
Ironside is excited to welcome Maria Ippolito into our organization as our new Practice Director for Sales Performance Management. She’s a high-energy, results-driven executive who has over 25 years of experience in engineering, marketing, sales, and sales operations management. Maria’s dynamic blend of expertise and industry experience perfectly embodies Ironside’s commitment to meeting the unique requirements of each of our customers’ sales performance management (SPM) goals and provides the foundation needed to take our existing SPM practice to the next level.
With a proven track record of driving overall profitability and effectiveness of sales channels in both startup- and enterprise-level technology and life sciences companies, Maria is able to hit the perfect mix of technical skill and strategic awareness needed to show clients the value that SPM processes can bring to their organizations.
During her career, Maria has directed and supported initiatives around many SPM-related activities, such as:
- Business planning tool implementation
- Sales analytics and reporting
- Quota setting and territory design
- Compensation design and administration
- ICM system implementations
- CRM implementations
- Sales process design and optimization
- Mobile sales enablement deployments
- Competency profiling for sales force recruitment and expansion
- Sales training and coaching
Regardless of the project she takes on, Maria’s core focus is always transformation to drive top line revenue and bottom line cost savings. She redefines how companies think about their sales process and the technologies they’re using by building highly functional teams, planning and rolling out process changes, and acquiring the tools organizations require to improve and optimize.
Maria’s list of credentials is extensive and distinguished. She has held key directorial positions at places like Smith & Nephew, Sales Science, Bolt, Beranek & Newman, and ITP Boston, Inc. and has overseen major process changes and improvements at all these companies. She also served as a cofounder of her own company, which was based on manufacturing simulation software that she took part in developing after receiving her Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Industrial Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
Here are some highlights from Maria’s numerous accomplishments:
- Successfully integrated two separate sales forces into a single unit after a $1.7 billion acquisition by Smith & Nephew, the largest they had ever made. Assimilated three different sales channels and restructured the entire US field organization, including new territory alignments and compensation plans.
- Built a world-class ICM system from the ground up at Smith & Nephew, transforming what was a manual process relying on Excel spreadsheets into a robust automated database for compensation plan design simulation and compensation plan efficiency analysis. The infrastructure she put in place now supports 1200 reps on 40 plans across 5 channels.
- Established a center of excellence for commercial process optimization at Smith & Nephew to drive internal efficiencies and sales force effectiveness.
- Championed Smith & Nephew’s transition to a modern business intelligence (BI) framework, providing a self-service sales analytics tool to the company’s field reps to encourage data-driven sales activities.
- Rebuilt the North American sales team at Bolt, Beranek & Newman, motivating the existing employees and recruiting new sales executives and technical consultants to create a high-performance sales engine.
- Developed and marketed the first commercially available input-driven manufacturing simulation software for optimizing discrete part manufacturing processes, cofounding her own company, Horizon Software, Inc., based on the technology. Horizon was later acquired by ITP Boston, Inc.
If you’d like to see what SPM can do for your company, check out our SPM page.
Are your reports an asset or a liability? It’s an important question, but it’s one that many compensation administrators typically see as secondary as they put on and take off the many hats they wear on a daily basis. It’s time we started reevaluating that assumption. Of course, the number one priority with incentive compensation management (ICM) is paying commissions correctly and on time, but a strong reporting strategy tied to that process can make a huge difference in terms of building employee trust and increasing productivity. Read more
Selling financial services effectively requires a highly motivated, deeply knowledgeable team that can keep up with all the shifting recommendations, regulations, and investment options endemic to the industry. In this kind of a chaotic atmosphere where priorities change by the minute, it’s crucial to know with certainty that your sales organization is not only taking action to secure new customers but is also targeting that action and optimizing it to have the largest impact possible. One of the top mutual fund and financial services groups in the world engaged with Ironside to put this kind of transparency in place and establish strong sales performance management (SPM) strategies that would drive effective actions from the executive level down to the individual field reps. Read more
Last week at IBM Insight, Ironside was presented with IBM’s Business Intelligence Partner of the Year award for 2015. The press release below provides more details on the award and what it means for us.
Lexington, MA (October 24, 2015) – This week at the IBM Insight conference, Ironside had the honor of being name Business Intelligence Partner of the Year for 2015. The award recognizes the IBM Business Partner that has delivered exceptional solutions using IBM products and services in the BI space this year. Read more
Ironside is a data, analytics, and AI consulting and technology implementation company. We work with clients to understand their business objectives and day-to-day challenges, then employ our deep expertise in data strategy, architecture and engineering, integration, business intelligence, AI, and generative AI. We create technical solutions and practical approaches designed to drive smarter, data-driven decisions across a company and help it move further and faster toward its business goals.