The Next Big Thing In Software: Ex Siebel Exec And VC Says RPM
Bruce Cleveland is better able than most to see around the corners of the enterprise software industry.
A decade-long member of the Siebel Systems executive team and now a partner at InterWest Partners, Cleveland has first hand experience with products, customers, investors and competitors.
These days, his experience tells him the next big thing is at hand, a product category with the esoteric name of revenue performance management. The idea is more down to earth than you might think.
The thesis goes like this: Big corporations have used business intelligence software with back office applications for years (think ERP, or the big enterprise resource planning programs sold by Oracle and SAP). But they have failed to harness these analytical programs to give front office line managers the same decision making capabilities with their customer relationship management and salesforce automation applications.
The ability to marry business intelligence with front office CRM and salesforce applications should enable informed, objective decision making where gut calls rule today, says Cleveland. It will allow managers to more easily resolve typical daily dilemmas such as:
*How to optimize revenue from sales territories;
*How to price deals;
*Which leads to pursue; and
*Which customer calls to return first.
“I think it is an enormous opportunity,” he says. “It’s the holy grail.” It also is no easy task from a coding and integration perspective.
Cleveland has made three investments so far, including ones in Marketo Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., and Cloud9 Analytics Corp. of Redwood City, Calif., with a total of $50 million at work.
A fourth will be unveiled soon. Aria Systems Inc. plans to announce the round in January and is presently negotiating with a potential strategic investor, he says. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company provides online subscription and billing services and has raised $14.6 million from Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Venrock Associates, according to data from Thomson Reuters, publisher of this blog.
Cleveland says it is early days for revenue performance management, or RPM. Marketo just began using the term several months ago.
The question is whether it really will be the next thing or just a flash in the pan. What seems clear so far is this. “I don’t think the world needs another CRM system,” says Cleveland.
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