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Vendor Selection Matrix™ –
Sales Engagement Management SaaS And Software:
The Top 20 Global Vendors 2019
Peter O’Neill
Research Director
March 2019
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Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Sales Engagement
Management: The Top 20 Global Vendors
Top Five (alphabetical order)
Top Six to Ten (alphabetical order)
Top 11 to 20 (alphabetical order)
Clearslide
Highspot
SAP
Seismic
Showpad
Apparound
Bigtincan
Brainshark
Mediafly
Pitcher
Accent Technologies
ClientPoint
CustomShow
DocSend
Fileboard
Insite Software
Journey Sales
Octiv
Prolifiq
SalesLoft
© 2019, Research In Action GmbH Reproduction Prohibited 3
The Research In Action GmbH
Vendor Selection Matrix™ Methodology
Data Summary:
➢ Unique, primarily survey-based methodology for comparative vendor evaluation.
➢ At a minimum, 60% of the evaluation results are based on enterprise and SMB buyers’ survey
results.
➢ Analyst’s opinion accounts for a maximum of 40% of the evaluation results (not close to 100%
as in most other vendor evaluations).
➢ More than 45,000 data points were collected.
➢ Data was collected in Q4 of 2018 and Q1 of 2019, covering 1,500 business and IT managers
(with budget responsibilities) in a combined telephone and online survey.
➢ The top 20 vendors of Sales Engagement Management SaaS and Software solutions (selected
by the survey respondents) were evaluated.
➢ The evaluation results and forecasts are based on customer and vendor feedback, publicly
available information, triangulation, as well as the analyst’s opinion.
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Industry breakdown
Energy 98
Financial Services 247
Government & Non Profit 102
Healthcare & Chemicals 198
Manufacturing 303
Media & Telecoms 126
Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail 123
Technology & Professional Services 200
Travel & Transportation 103
Total 1.500
Country breakdown
DACH 200
United Kingdom 150
France 150
Benelux 50
Europe (Rest) 150
North America 500
The Americas (Rest) 50
Australia and New Zealand 30
Asia Pacific (Rest) 220
Total 1.500
Company size breakdown
Headcount below 2.500: 252
Headcount 2.500 to 5.000: 312
Headcount 5.000 to 10.000: 336
Headcount 10.000 to 50.000: 499
Headcount over 50.000: 101
Total 1.500
The Research In Action GmbH
Vendor Selection Matrix™ Methodology
Survey Instrument:
Job title breakdown (Buyer role)
CEO 142
CMO 119
General Manager 113
CTO 114
VP Sales 108
VP Marketing 105
Project Manager 100
BU Head 97
Client Engagement Manager 95
BU Marketing Manager 91
COO 88
CIO 85
IT Manager 83
VP IT 59
Supply Manager 43
CFO 29
IT Operations Manager 17
Others 12
Total 1.500
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Decision Makers use
a mix of traditional
and online tools
What Tools Do You Use To Create The Vendor Longlist?
MQ/VSM
Press
Peers
VendorsSocial Media
N = 3.000 Business and IT Managers with budget responsibilities (multiple surveys)
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Market Definition: Sales Engagement Management
➢ Sales Engagement Management (SEM) is a vital family of business processes for companies who promote
and sell "considered purchases”1 - products or services representing a significant investment and involving
complexity that requires in-depth research by the buyer as well as direct representation by a seller. These
sales are made primarily by companies selling in a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-business-to-
consumer (B2B2C) capacity.
➢ Investments in SEM software are initiated by the marketing and/or sales operations departments of a
company (marketing seeks a system to distribute content to sellers, sales-ops automates operational
workflows like configure-to-quote). The primary SEM market driver is the need for a more coordinated
customer experience from marketing and sales combined, so today’s focus is on driving customer
engagement and discovering/providing optimal sales content. Most vendors provide tools for elements of
SEM but not for everything. Other labels used within this category include Sales Enablement, Sales
Acceleration, Sales Operations, and Sales Training.
➢ In the near-term, SEM investment projects will rationalize the current myriad of centrally-installed and self-
loaded applications found on a sellers device; providing one platform of robust tools for sellers to use in
their engagement with increasingly informed buyers. SEM will support sellers in their internal collaboration,
as well as optimizing and supporting them for all communications with external parties. We anticipate that
companies will be budgeting well over $100 per seller per month for solutions in this area.1Considered purchases, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Considered_purchase
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Market Overview: Market Trends 2019
What is your number one investment area in the Sales Engagement Management space for 2019?
N = 1.500 Business and IT Managers with budget responsibilities
Notes
• Optimized content for
sales conversations is
the top priority
(availability and
performance).
• Sales productivity is
next in importance,
including finding new
customers.
• Seller adoption
recognized as a critical
success factor.
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Are you planning to implement or replace your Sales Engagement Management solution in the next 1-3 years?
Market Overview: Market Trends 2019
N = 1.500 Business and IT Managers with budget responsibilities
Notes
• Almost half of the
companies have not
yet invested in sales
engagement software.
• 35% of those with
current sales
engagement software
now plan to replace it.
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Market Overview: Market Trends 2019
What are your top three priorities when considering a Sales Engagement Management vendor?
N = 1.500 Business and IT Managers with budget responsibilities
Notes
• Local (regional)
support is a significant
factor.
• Price/Value ratio is
next.
• Buyers value project
implementation
services incl.
templates.
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Market Overview: Market Trends 2019
What is your most important sales engagement transformation objective for the coming years?
N = 1.500 Business and IT Managers with budget responsibilities
Notes
• Again, system
adoption is an
overriding success
factor.
• SEM is often aligned
with the launch of a
new sales
methodology.
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Market Overview: Macro-Trends Affecting Sales
Engagement Management Projects in 2019
➢ Market size and growth. Today, there are roughly 30 active software and SaaS vendors generating
around $ 1 billion in global annual software licenses, maintenance and SaaS revenue with a prevailing
CAGR of around 60%. Many vendors in this report are in their early business phase and enjoying annual
growth rates of around 100%.
➢ Mobile devices become the platform of choice for sales staff. Sales staff are by nature mobile, so
mobile devices will serve as the primary target for sales engagement solutions. Mobile hardware
rollouts are often used to encourage adoption of the new SEM system.
➢ Story-telling requirements and advocacy messaging drive need for video content. Most SEM
systems can prompt sales staff on–the-job to deliver content messages and are used to share customer
reference stories. Video will be found to provide the best engagement media for these processes.
➢ Vendor consolidation is a priority. Ultimately, buyers wish to avoid working with too many martech
vendors, so often a “good enough” solution from an incumbent vendor may suffice. SEM vendors will
therefore strive to embed themselves into larger vendors’ ecosystems.
➢ Cloud-based solutions are preferred. Almost every vendor in this market is “born-in-the-cloud” or has
acquired such a vendor for this category.
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Market Overview: Sales Engagement Management
Market Predictions➢ Content presented by sales requires personalization and context. Marketers will want to provide sales with content that
is as specific as possible to the customers they meet and sales-users will even be enabled to complete the personalization.
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine-learning, and even virtual-reality technologies will further contextualize the content used
in sales meetings.
➢ Pressure to minimize number of systems displayed to sellers. Sales force productivity and system adoption
considerations will drive the need for more complete SEM; covering sales operations, content distribution, training/coaching
and productivity tools. SEM solutions that cover only parts of this will need open APIs to support integration to other
systems. In verticals like life sciences and financial services, that includes systems for audit and compliance. Buyers will also
expect the SEM to connect seamlessly to (or even be embedded within) their CRM, MLM and/or BCM systems*.
➢ Partner sales coverage. Eighty percent of B2B or B2B2C products and services are sold through a partner channel. Many,
though not all, companies have a Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system to manage the partner business and
marketing processes. More advanced firms also have a Through Partner Marketing Automation (TPMA) system to share lead
management and content. These companies will also want to provision partner sales staff as users of their SEM platform.
➢ Provision of sales automation functions. The old adage of “you cannot train a sales force” prevails. If a firm wants to
train/coach their salespeople, it should happen on-demand and in-context. In addition, sales “conversations” will increasingly
execute electronically/on-screen – perhaps even between two bots (i.e. the buyer is also an automated dialogue). SEM
systems will therefore leverage AI and predictive analytics functions to prompt, coach, and support sellers on an ongoing
basis - ultimately even replacing (automating) some of the sellers.
* CRM – Customer Relationship Management, MLM – Marketing Lead Management, BCM – Brand Content Management
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Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Sales Engagement
Management SaaS And Software: Evaluation Criteria
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Name Product(s)1 Accent Technologies Accent Accerlerate, Accent Connect, Accent Present, CRM Supercharger
2 Apparound Intelligent Quoting, Sales Trackeer, Knowledge Manager, Solution Advisor
3 Bigtincan Bigtincan Hub, Bigtincan Studio, Bigtincan SalesAI
4 Brainshark Brainshark Pro, Brainshark Coaching
5 ClearSlide Clearslide Sales Engagement Platform, Clearslide Sales Enablement
6 ClientPoint ClientPoint
7 CustomShow CustomShow
8 DocSend DocSend
9 Fileboard Fileboard Workflow, Sales Assistant
10 Highspot Highspot
11 Insite Software InsitePortfolio
12 Journey Sales Smart Rooms
13 Mediafly Mediafly Evolved Sellin Solution
14 Octiv Octiv, Conga Collaborate
15 Pitcher Pitcher Sales Enablement Platform, Pitcher Impact, Pitcher Connect, Pitcher Zero
16 Prolifiq Prolifiq ACE, Prolifiq CRUSH
17 SalesLoft SalesLoft Sales Engagement Platform
18 SAP SAP Sales Cloud, CallidusCloud Enablement
19 Seismic Seismic, Savo Smarter Content, KnowledgeTree
20 Showpad Showpad, LearnCore
Evaluated Vendors and Solutions:
Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Sales Engagement
Management: The Top 20 Global Vendors
© 2019, Research In Action GmbH Reproduction Prohibited 15
Vendor Selection Matrix™ – Sales Engagement
Management: The Top 20 Global Vendors
Top Five (alphabetical order)
Top Six to Ten (alphabetical order)
Top 11 to 20 (alphabetical order)
Clearslide
Highspot
SAP
Seismic
Showpad
Apparound
Bigtincan
Brainshark
Mediafly
Pitcher
Accent Technologies
ClientPoint
CustomShow
DocSend
Fileboard
Insite Software
Journey Sales
Octiv
Prolifiq
SalesLoft
© 2019, Research In Action GmbH Reproduction Prohibited 16
The Research In Action GmbH
Vendor Selection Matrix™ Methodology
Vendor Selection Matrix™ Disclaimer:
Research In Action GmbH does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our
research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors
with the highest ratings. The information contained in this research has been obtained from
both enterprise as well as vendor sources believed to be reliable. Research In Action GmbH’s
research publications consist of the analysts’ opinions and should not be considered as
statements of fact. The opinions expressed are subject to change without further notice.
Research In Action GmbH disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this
research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
About:
Research In Action GmbH is a leading independent information and communications
technology research and consulting company. The company provides both forward-looking
as well as practical advice to enterprise as well as vendor clients.
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Contact
Peter O‘Neill
+49 174 3210020
RESEARCH IN ACTION
Research In Action GmbHHauptstrasse 9
56244 HartenfelsGermany
Office: +49 2626 291251Fax: +49 2626 291272
Email: [email protected]