September 16, 2014
By Maria Minsker, contributing writer

Aviso Launches Sales Forecasting Tool

Aviso, the brainchild of Zuora founder K V. Rao and former global head of quantitative research at JP Morgan Chase, Andrew Abrahams, has launched its first product today—Aviso Insights. A tool that relies on predictive analytics and machine learning to deliver insight-based quarterly predictions, Aviso Insights will help sales users gauge more accurate sales forecasts.

While the adoption rate for predictive analytics in marketing has been growing quickly, sales teams have been slow to adopt predictive tools. Many rely on outdated spreadsheets and build forecasts based on intuition rather than actual data, which creates inaccurate expectations that may lead to disappointing results, according to Rao.

"Most sales executives have been doing this a long time and typically have a good idea of whether a sale will close or how the quarter will turn out, but even the most well-educated hunches are just that. Sales teams need more data-driven analytics that are based on actual insights and calculated predictions. There's always room for that human element, and it's very important when paired with the right technology," he says.

Aviso Insights provides sales teams with a highly sophisticated prediction capability that automates the overall forecasting process and leverages data science without completely eliminating the human element. The tool is a cloud-based application that follows a series of five steps—forecast, analyze, prioritize, collaborate, and measure.

During the first step, Aviso Insights compares the forecast predicted by the data with a sales team's own prediction and identifies any gaps between the two in order to make corrections in the second step. The solution then prioritizes the next set of actions to ensure that key deals for the quarter close. In the fourth step, Aviso Insights enables users to share the insight across teams to promote collaboration, while in the last step, the tool uses key performance metrics to measure trends and overall performance.

Though many CRM vendors have similar capabilities built into their sales tools, Rao maintains that their reports and dashboards aren't specialized enough and don't have the analytical foundations to give sales teams the insight they need. The applications are too basic compared to Aviso's tool, according to Rao. "We just don't see this level of sophistication in other tools that claim to have this function," he says.

Customers that have already tried Aviso Insights say the tool has been effective for the sales team as well as for the rest of the organization. "Aviso Insights has powerful analytics hidden behind a great user experience, which makes our sales managers' lives easier and provides them the tools to motivate their reps to achieve their goals. Having detailed insights across our sales organization changes the game not only for our sales team but for our entire business,"Shawn Farshchi, president and chief executive officer at Saba Software, said in a statement.

Aviso Insights is now widely available as a standalone application, but the tool also integrates with solutions from top CRM vendors including Salesforce.com, Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics.