With all the media- and analyst-fueled hype and noise that surround horizontal technologies like operating systems or Web services tools, it’s refreshing to talk with vendors delivering tightly focused offerings that address well-documented business inefficiencies and deliver a clear, quantifiable return on investment (ROI). The vendor of the week that falls into this category is Webcom Inc., a self-funded software firm that began in 1997 as a Web and eCommerce shop but has since concentrated on marketing a suite of products designed to help companies sell complex products and services.

The idea of using technology to guide salespeople and buyers through a complex buying process is not new. In fact, the term “guided selling” and software configurators are aimed at this problem. Webcom is not so much innovating as delivering a solid solution for guided selling. What we like about Webcom’s offering — the full bundle is called WebSource CPQ (the acronym stands for configure, price, quote) — is that it:

• Is designed as an extension to existing systems. Using XML, the international and extensible standard for sending data and its context, Webcom software connects with existing back-end and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. In the latter case, Webcom highlights its partnership and product integration with salesforce.com CRM solutions, though any system capable of creating and consuming XML can be linked to WebSource.
  
  
• Is architected to fit into the real-world situation of multiple sales channels. Even if companies only sell direct, they usually rely on a direct sales force manning the phones and servers hosting the Web site and related apps. Obviously, it makes sense for both of these channels to use the same tool to work through the sales cycle — which WebSource does. But Webcom also built in the capability of working with third-party sales channels, such as distributors. Being able to tailor a system so that the right data — for example, direct and wholesale pricing — and tools are presented to the right users is critical to improving multichannel sales efficiency.
  
  
• Shows obvious, quick ROI. Webcom implementations are designed to improve the sales process, and these results are measurable in terms of increased order accuracy, reduced process time, and saved money. For example, Webcom customers have reported reducing order-entry errors — from more than 25% to less than 1% (the remaining errors are the result of incorrectly entered addresses by human order takers), cutting order processing from a glacial four weeks to a single hour and saving a million dollars in engineering costs by automating the process of configuring multipart products.

The automation of business processes has always been the goal for corporations. While there are thousands of tools — some general-purpose, others industry- or process-specific — aimed at automating processes, there are thousands of examples of failed efforts to implement these solutions. Often, these failures result from trying to do too much — for example, re-engineering critical processes by implementing an enterprisewide, single-vendor solution.

Luckily for organizations, the arrival of inexpensive integration based on XML and Web services lets companies apply smaller, more focused solutions to specific, measurable business issues. For Webcom customers, they have not only automated manual or semimanual processes and improved their sales efficiency, but they also are doing so with a solution designed to fit into modern — and future — IT architecture.