Interaction management vendors compete on the power of their rules, automated model generation, user interface, scalability, and analytics. But although some clients do use it for customer service, sales, and operations management, 90% of implementations are still for marketing decisions, primarily to select offers for Web sites and call centers. One of the few dependable rules in the software industry is that Suites Win. When a market first develops, it is filled with “point solutions” that do one function – say, send emails or analyze Web traffic. appear at a dizzying pace. MORE >>

Apart from personalization, Neolane doesn’t seem to offer execution features for channels such as Web sites, call centers and sales automation. Analytics is the final function. Over all, Neolane does provide a broad set of marketing functions, although it may not be quite as strong as its major competitors in some areas of execution and analytics. Neolane , a Paris-based marketing automation software vendor, formally announced its entry to the U.S. market last week. ve been tracking Neolane for some time but chose not to write about it until they established a U.S. MORE >>

still suspect they will, driven by the need for ever-closer cooperation between marketing and sales teams in managing prospect relationships. The movement is coming mostly from the marketing automation side, presumably because there is more money to gain by moving into sales from marketing systems than vice versa: - marketing automation systems for small businesses ( Infusionsoft , Office Autopilot , Net-Results , ActiveConversion , etc.) Technology may impede Software-as-a-Service sales automation vendors from adding marketing automation. Vendors take note. MORE >>

The scores may also have different thresholds for sending the lead to sales. define score formula jointly with sales: the salesperson is the ultimate judge of whether a lead is qualified. But many marketing departments still set up lead scoring formulas without sales input. let sales return leads for more nurturing: traditional lead management is a one-way street, with leads sent from marketing to sales and then never heard from again. advanced analytics training: analytics play a central role in the continuous improvement process. But I digress. MORE >>

Most obviously, it’s another example of an adjacent vendor finding the marketing automation attractive: following Pardot ’s acquisition last week by email vendor ExactTarget , and earlier acquisitions of Leadformix by CallidusCloud (sales effectiveness), Alterian by SDL (Web content), SmartFocus by Emailvision (email), and Demandforce by Intuit (small business accounting). The B2C products are generally built on a more powerful foundation than B2B systems, in terms of having a more flexible database structure, deeper marketing operations support, and more powerful analytics. MORE >>