Cloud-based solution widens access to company’s patented sales configuration
technology
SAN MATEO, Calif., February 29, 2012 – Selectica (NASDAQ: SLTC), provider of
software that accelerates sales cycles and streamlines contract processes,
today introduced Selectica Guided Selling, a cloud-based offering that
brings the proven benefits of the company’s patented sales configuration
technology to growing organizations with revenues of $100 million to several
billion dollars.
The new software shortens quoting cycles-often from days to mere minutes-and
increases overall sales effectiveness by making it easier for companies to
manage complex product, pricing, and packaging information and share it with
internal sales teams and channel sales partners.
Selectica Guided Selling brings an easy-to-use web interface to the
patented, constraint-based Selectica sales configuration engine that has
long been used by Fortune 500 companies to configure, price, and sell
billions of dollars of deals per year. The application can be seamlessly
integrated with leading CRM systems and ERP systems from companies such as
Oracle and SAP, to ensure that the latest product, customer, and pricing
data is always being used. It also includes Selectica Playbook for Guided
Selling, which enables business users, rather than IT, to enter selling
strategies and update them as needed to reflect shifting priorities or
changing market needs.
“Selectica sales configuration technology has helped Fujitsu America reduce
quote approval time from weeks to minutes and has allowed our sales team and
channel partners to operate more autonomously and effectively,” said Bipin
Badani, chief information officer at Fujitsu America. “The increased
efficiency has become a competitive advantage, and combined with our ability
to ensure that customers receive the exact products they need, we have
unprecedented agility and flexibility to execute our multi-channel business
strategies.”
Selectica Guided Selling makes it easy to define, manage, update, and share
product, packaging, and pricing information across all direct and indirect
channels. The system’s patented constraint-based engine ensures that
salespeople and channel partners propose only valid product and service
combinations-and ensures that those proposals are always priced correctly.
The user interface allows salespeople to select items from a product catalog
or walk through a question-based interface to custom-build the right
solution to meet each customer’s needs. Since quotes are built from
up-to-date information and pre-approved rules, sales opportunities move more
efficiently through the pipeline and deals close faster, thus accelerating
time to revenue.
“Organizations need to move beyond configuration challenges so they can
focus on automation from lead to cash,” said Praveen Sengar, principal
research analyst-e-commerce, CPQ, and CRM at Gartner. “Sales experience,
scalability, and agility are critical to achieving sales effectiveness that
goes beyond efficiency and productivity gains.”
“Selectica Guided Selling software uses the most powerful constraint engine
on the market, which has proven over the years that it can handle the most
complex configuration needs,” noted Kamal Ahluwalia, chief strategy officer
at Selectica. “What’s new is the ease with which companies can define,
manage, share, and access the information that fuels this engine. Selectica
Guided Selling broadens the set of companies that can use our technology as
a competitive advantage for overcoming product, channel, and sales
complexity, selling complex offerings, and executing multi-channel selling
strategies.”
Highlights of Selectica Guided Selling include:
. The ability to specify product catalogs that include complete
information about product structures, groupings, SKUs, discounts, pricing
rules, packages, and configuration rules.
. The flexibility to define pricing for products and services at all
levels, including feature, quote, proposal, and bundle.
. Fully customizable layouts for proposal documents that can be sent
directly from the application.
. A declarative constraint-based engine that can manage extremely
complex information while using dramatically less code than rule-based
engines.
. Selectica Playbook for Guided Selling, which allows business users
to define, manage, and update product information and business rules through
an easy-to-use interface that doesn’t require coding or IT support.
. Messaging capabilities that allow the use of custom “intelligent”
messages to guide salespeople to create effective offers.
. Permission-based rule publishing to ensure that only accurate,
real-time information is available to sales teams.
. Quote tracking for insight into upsell opportunities.
. Tight integrations with leading CRM systems and ERP systems from
companies such as SAP and Oracle.
For companies seeking a seamless quote-to-close process, Selectica Guided
Selling can be used with Selectica Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM). When
the two systems are integrated, salespeople can request contracts directly
from Selectica Guided Selling and have them automatically populated with
details from a quote or proposal. Legal teams can then manage the contract
review and approval process in Selectica CLM.
Selectica Guided Selling is available immediately. Those interested can
learn more by visiting www.selectica.com, calling 1-877-712-9560, or
emailing [email protected].
About Selectica, Inc.
Selectica (NASDAQ: SLTC) develops innovative software that the world’s most
successful companies rely on to improve the effectiveness of their sales and
contracting processes. Our guided selling, sales configuration, and contract
lifecycle management solutions support the Global 2000 and growing mid-size
firms in closing billions of dollars’ worth of business each year. Our
patented technology, delivered through the cloud, makes it easy for
customers in industries like high-tech, telecommunications, manufacturing,
healthcare, financial services, and government contracting to overcome
product and channel complexity, increase deal value, and accelerate time to
revenue. For more information, visit www.selectica.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release and elsewhere by Selectica are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws
and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such information
includes, without limitation, business outlook, assessment of market
conditions, anticipated financial and operating results, strategies, future
plans, contingencies, the effectiveness of the Company’s software solutions,
and contemplated transactions of the Company. Such forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause or
contribute to actual results of Company operations, or the performance or
achievements of the Company or industry results, to differ materially from
those expressed, or implied by the forward-looking statements. In addition
to any such risks, uncertainties, and other factors discussed elsewhere
herein, risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause or
contribute to actual results differing materially from those expressed or
implied for the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to
the ongoing global recession; fluctuations in demand for Selectica products
and services; government policies and regulations, including, but not
limited to those affecting the Company’s industry; and risks related to the
Company’s past stock granting policies and related restatement of financial
statements. Selectica undertakes no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events, or otherwise. Additional risk factors concerning the Company can be
found in the Company’s most recent Form 10-K, filed by the Company with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
