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Executive Guide

Improving Business Performance through Sales Teams, Partners, and Customers Engaging Your Extended EnterpriseA SumTotal Executive Guide

Organizations today face multiple challenges to sustain and grow their bottom line, and they engage multiple audiences to achieve success including customers, partners, suppliers, channel and distribution networks, independent agents, and others. These diverse groups of constituents who have an impact on your organization’s success are known as your Extended Enterprise.

Likely, your organization is involved in activities to derive the greatest value from these groups including:

• Strengtheningsalesskillsandtoolsetstoincreasesaleseffectiveness

• Cross-sellingandup-sellingtocustomerstogrowyourexistingshareofwallet

• Focusingoncustomersatisfactionandretentiontoprotecttherevenuestream

• Improving customer service by finding newways to sell, generating greaterknowledge of the customer and adding value to current offerings to reduce churn

• Findingnewcustomerstocapturenewrevenue

• Generatingadditional revenuestreamsviaprecisely targetedmarketingandheightened brand awareness

• Evaluatingsupplieragreementsandprocessestominimizecosts

• EnablingChannelandDistributionnetworkswith toolsetsandknowledge todrive more sales

Improving Business PerformanceBut exactly how are these objectives to be attained in a cost effective manner? The answer lies in the concept of the Extended Enterprise. SumTotal’sExtended Enterprise platform is ideal for companies that are to some degree dependentonexternalaudiencestopromoteandselltheirproducts.Industriesincluding insurance, real estate, financial services, durable goods manufacturing,

Source: Bersin & Associates

Annual growth rate of companies delivering knowledge, information & training to an audience beyond employees.

25%

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Improving Business Performance through Sales Teams, Partners, and Customers

technology, communications, or any field relying on the channel or independent reps/dealershipscanallbenefitmarkedly from theExtendedEnterprise.Firmsoperating in such sectors can harness Extended Enterprise to:

1. Boost agility to prepare for and react to rapidly changing market conditions

2.Improvebusinessperformanceandproductivitytoimpactthetopand bottom line

3.Increasecustomerretentionandacquisitiontomaximizerevenue

4. Protect, reinforce, differentiate, and promote brand image toattractandacquirecustomers

The concept of the Extended Enterprise encompasses the extension of a cor-porationoutwardbeyond traditionalbounds. Itcanstretchout intomanydiffer-ent business or performance spheres. This might include customers, partners, suppliers, channel and distributor networks, franchisees, association members, independent agents, contractors or volunteers. Various combinations of these external audiences form part of any company’s Extended Enterprise.

Obviously, some organizations are more dependent upon a healthy Extended Enterprise than others. An insurance firm that is reliant on a large group of independentagentsisagoodexample.Similarly,amember-basedorganization’slivelihood is directly tied to groups existing external to the corporation.

The same goes for a durable goods manufacturer that distributes products to a varietyofretailoutlets.Itssalesarecarriedoutbysalespeoplewhodon’tdirectlywork for the company, and who have the option of selecting competitive products if they choose. Those firms that best understand the concept of the Extended Enterprise are most likely to survive and expand in a chaotic economy.

ThepurposeofSumTotal’sExtendedEnterprisetrainingplatform,then,istobringabout the efficient delivery of knowledge for the strategic purpose of transforming business performance. This can perhaps best be explained by looking at what typically happens with educational programs aimed at suppliers, distributor networks and independent agents:

Organizationssendoutmaterialintheformofmailings,emails,PDFsorlinkstowebcasts in order to brief external audiences on their products. This approach can be supplemented by visits to train these individuals in a classroom setting. However, they are also inundated by collateral about competitive offerings. In such an environment, even the most finely crafted training campaign is likely to struggle.

What the Extended Enterprise is all about, therefore, is achieving success with suchprograms. It cuts through thenoise toeffectively capture theheartsandminds of external audiences. Result: training initiatives are turned into profit centers.

Extended Enterprise solutions are embraced by some of the biggest names in technology, telecommunications, engineering and sales. In addition, a host ofsmall and emerging businesses utilize the Extended Enterprise to stretch their

The concept of the Extended Enterprise encompasses the extension of a corporation outward beyond traditional bounds.

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sphere of influence beyond traditional corporate boundaries. Let’s look at some of the ways that the efficient delivery of knowledge can transform business performance.

Boost Agility in Rapidly Changing Market ConditionsInmanyindustries,speedtomarketisamajorsuccesscomponent.Particularlyin industries such as computer hardware, software, durable goods and telecommunications, rapid development of products is rarely enough. It takesvelocity and agility on the marketing side to ensure results.

Taketheexampleofasoftwarerelease.Inmanycases,multiplevendorscometomarket at the same time with their latest offerings. Extended Enterprise training can help differentiate products by educating channel partners and resellers about a new release more effectively than those of competitors. The speed with which that knowledge gets out can make or break a new product release effort. This doesn’tmeanthatformaltraininghastobeabsentfromtheprocess.Distributionof a webcast, PDF or PowerPoint in conjunction with accurate tracking ofparticipants can move your product to top of mind in the target audience.

Another way to become more nimble in a rapidly changing marketplace is in the areaofcentralizedtraining.Manycompaniesrequireexternalsalespersonneltobe out of the office for one week every year for an update on products, pricing and policy. This represents a hefty annual expense for all concerned when you take airfares, hotels, food and lost productivity into account. What if that week could be either eliminated entirely or reduced to only two days, with the rest of the training done online? An Extended Enterprise solution can facilitate these needs.

Improve Business Performance and ProductivityThere are many ways the Extended Enterprise concept can boost business performance. In addition to helping organizations increase top-line revenuefrom more productive channels, it can also reduce the cost to sell to and service customers and channels. Incentives can be offered to sales reps to completecertain educational requirements concerning your products. End users canrapidly get up to speed about technical products so they feel comfortable they are making the right decision. By training retail store personnel about how to use your goods properly, the level of product returns can be markedly reduced.

Further, such training programs can become a valuable revenue stream.Companieswith large affiliate programs,membership bases or external salesteams can charge fees for training and certification. At the very least, this can defray the cost of delivery.

Suchinitiativesmustberapidandeffective,whichiswheretheExtendedEnterprisesolutioncomesintoitsown.Coursesarefast,dynamicandtothepoint.Additionally,the SumTotal Extended Enterprise system automatically tracks usage, making iteasy to see how many users have completed training, how many are incomplete and who has yet to begin. This data can then be correlated with sales figures to determinetheeffectivenessoftraining.Forasmallinvestmentintraining,salescanbe increased significantly.

Improving Business Performance through Sales Teams, Partners, and Customers

Extended Enterprise training can help differentiate products by educating channel partners and resellers about a new release more effectively than those of competitors.

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Increase Customer Retention & AcquisitionSales managers don’t typically think of training as a key element to addresswhen leads are not being followed up. Yet Extended Enterprise training programs can markedly increase responsiveness to the valuable leads generated through corporate channels. How? Vice presidents and managers often know what needs tochangebehaviorally to improvesalesperformance.Short targetedofferingscan be developed to encourage the right attitudes and habits about sales leads.

Another benefit is a reduction in the amount of time spent in training by focusing only on those areas that will have a positive impact on sales, as directed by the line of business managers. The key to success with a sales force is to minimize the training by specifically tailoring their education towards driving behaviors with known positive outcomes.

In a financial services organization, for example,ExtendedEnterprise trainingputs the company’s message and value proposition front and center. While brokers may have dozens of packages to choose from, the addition of the right training element as a value add for the broker or potential customers can be a driving factor in decision making. By aligning a simple training item to a sales or businessgoal,customerretentionandacquisitioncanbeboosted.

Protect, Reinforce, Differentiate and Promote Brand ImageThe Extended Enterprise solution can exert a major impact with regard to brand awareness and loyalty by helping organizations to enhance information sharing with external audiences. By making it easy for distributors to become better educated, they sell more of your products and fewer of your competitors. By targeting sales personnel in a retail chain, it is possible to provide an incentive to take a short online training course to become better informed about specific products. By aligning training programs to a distinct business purpose such as the improvement of sales, a small investment can pay substantial dividends.

And in a world where a multitude of brands are vying for attention, a professionally produced training program is an excellent way to reinforce brand recognition. When implemented correctly, it cleverly differentiates a brand in the eyes of external audiences.

Extending Your EnterpriseDelivering training to an audience beyond traditional employees is one ofthe fastest growing segments of the learning industry. According to Bersin & Associates, this type of education is increasing at an annual pace greater than 25%. This level of growth is occurring due to the business and economic benefits that can be realized by professionally delivered training.

SumTotal’sExtendedEnterprisesolutionscanhelpyou:

• Developanddelivertrainingtoaudiencesoutsideyourorganization

• Driverevenuethroughcustomer,channelanddistributorchannels

• Improveproductivityandinformationsharingwithexternalpartners

• Delivercertificationprogramsandshareknowledge

Improving Business Performance through Sales Teams, Partners, and Customers

Extended Enterprise training programs can markedly increase responsiveness to the valuable leads generated through corporate channels.

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• Eliminateexcesstrainingcostswhileacceleratingtime-to-market

• Increasecustomersatisfactionandproductadoption

• Provideconsistenttrainingavailable24x7x365

Such training can easily be developed and delivered on-demand in a timelymanner to customers, partners and resellers with no hardware to install. ASoftware as a Service model only requires users to have Internet access tocomplete their training, allowing maximum return on training investment byprovidingafunctional,flexibleandscalablesolution.

More InformationFormoreinformationontheExtendedEnterprisesolution:www.sumtotalsystems.com/solutions/extended-enterprise-solutions.html

Foradditionalinformation,sendanemailtoconnect@sumtotalsystems.com

About SumTotalSumTotal Systems, Inc. is the global leader in complete learning and talentmanagement software that enables organizations to more effectively drivebusiness strategy and growth. Recognized by industry analysts as the mostcomprehensivesolution,SumTotalprovidesfullemployeelifecyclemanagement,includingacoresystemofrecord,fromasingleproviderforimprovedbusinessintelligence.Thecompanyofferscustomersofallsizesandinallindustriesthemostflexibilityandchoicewithmultiplepurchase,configuration,anddeploymentoptions.Wehaveincreasedtheperformanceoftheworld’slargestorganizationsincluding Sony Electronics (NYSE: SNE), AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN [ADR];London:AZN),Amway,GKN(London:GKN),andSeagate(NYSE:STX).

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Improving Business Performance through Sales Teams, Partners, and Customers