Host Analytics Launches Host Analytics Sales Planning

Host Analytics, a provider of cloud-based enterprise performance management solutions, today launched Host Analytics Sales Planning for finance and sales leaders looking to better align and collaborate. The new application also gives sales professionals the tools they need for sales forecasting, commission planning, and more and seamlessly integrates with Salesforce.com.

Host Analytics streamlines critical processes such as sales forecasting and trend reporting to territory, quota, and commission planning. The new application ensures that regular updates to the sales forecast are incorporated in finance and accounting processes.

Finance professionals can use Host Analytics Sales Planning to manage the following:

• Corporate planning: Closes the loop between finance and sales by tying the sales plan to the corporate plan in one system;
• Executive reporting: Automates the creation of weekly sales forecast reports in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint and makes updates with a push of a button;
• Early warning: Alerts executives and updates corporate level what-if models; and
• Predictable revenue: Analyze how sales orders will actually convert into revenue with built-in financial intelligence.

The new application allows sales managers to do the following:

• Sales Forecasting: Automatic weekly snapshots and updates to sales stages with flow-through, discount modeling, and waterline forecasting;
• Quota and Commission Planning: Top-down, bottom-up, or middle-out modeling capabilities that can analyze sales performance by individual and team, with overlay analysis, as well as comprehensive modeling of spot-bonuses  and other compensation exceptions;
• Trend Reporting: Week-by-week comparisons and waterfall reports allow analysis across representatives, managers, sales stages, forecast categories, and more;
• Territory Planning: Integrated analysis of sales and marketing information including leads, opportunities, pipeline, and territory modeling and support for multiple direct and indirect channels; and
• Salesforce.com Integration: Deep, seamless financial analytics for Salesforce.com users.

The application also helps sales professionals move off of Excel as their primary planning tool.

Host Analytics Sales Planning also includes patent-pending AirliftXL. This is a data integration tool that allows organizations to reuse the best of what they already have. With Host Analytics, Sales can recycle their existing models and move them to a centralized, secure cloud environment. That includes formulas, formatting, metadata, and more.

"In today's business environment, it is absolutely critical that sales and finance departments partner and effectively communicate to achieve revenue predictability," said Lance Walter, chief marketing officer at Host Analytics, in a statement. "Host Analytics Sales Planning gives business leaders the ability to align and stay agile and synchronized in a very dynamic selling environment."

Host Analytics Sales Planning automatically captures and retains sales history and provides multidimensional analysis and modeling capabilities that help link sales activity to business outcomes.

"Today's outdated mixing and matching of CRM and ERP data in Excel has made it far too difficult for sales and finance to collaborate and answer questions around revenue, forecasting, staffing, and territories that are paramount to the success of the organization," said Dave Kellogg, CEO at Host Analytics, in a statement. "With the launch of Host Analytics Sales Planning, we are eliminating the sales and finance siloes and giving an integrated view of revenue and sales performance that ties back to the corporate plan. We can get your finance and sales teams out of wrangling data so that they can use analytics and advanced modeling to drive better enterprise performance."

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