JCB Partners client is one of the nation's largest communications service providers, employing over 4,000 people and counting over 90,000 customers. Customers are spread across the United States, and are serviced by dozens of sales offices and service centers located in every part of the country.

In a business with so many customers and salespeople, it is a major challenge to ensure that all accounts are provided with excellent customer service by a salesperson and that quota and commissions are allocated to the correct salespeople. Failure to maintain a complete picture of account ownership can lead to services lapses and ultimately customer turn-over.

Recognizing the importance of retaining its customers, our client launched a new sales plan that was designed to ensure its account managers were focused on providing outstanding customer service. To support this new plan, they needed the ability to assign account executives to accounts in an efficient manner. Like many communications service providers, our client had all the data it needed - and a robust data infrastructure - but it did not have a central repository from which to manage account assignments and to feed downstream systems such as its customer relationship management (CRM) system, order management system, or quota and commissions system.

The assignment of accounts without a central repository is a daunting challenge. With multiple local offices rolling into larger regional offices, the prospect of dozens of employees manually entering account assignments and manually feeding the CRM and other systems was unacceptable due to the potential costs in terms of money, time and accuracy. As a result, they decided to automate the account assignment process.

JCB Partners was engaged to help with an account assignment solution based on our deep experience in data consolidation projects and strong partnership with IBM. Utilizing IBM Cognos TM1, JCB provided both deep expertise in performance management and strong technical and project management skills for the implementation and development of the software.

The solution that JCB implemented allows General Managers (GMs) in local offices to access the system and receive a list of all active accounts in their respective territories, filtered by how they would like to see the accounts - by segment or projected revenue, for example. The General Manager is able to see summarized information across the territory, such as assigned accounts, unassigned accounts, and accounts that have been assigned but not yet approved. The GMs can then use the TM1 web interface to assign accounts within their territories and to set new quotas for salespeople, either one-by-one or in bulk. In addition, the GMs are able to assign accounts to Account Relationship Managers and to Partner Channel Managers.

In addition to the General Managers at local offices, Regional Finance Directors have access to the system. The Regional Finance Directors support the GMs, and have the capability to review account assignments and approve assignments individually or in bulk. They can review all information that is available to the local General Managers, but they have access across their entire region and can quickly assess how well the company is performing at assigning and re-assigning accounts across account managers.

At the Corporate level, Finance Administrators are able to access the system and review the key information described earlier across the entire organization. In addition, this group creates consolidated management reporting both for executive management and for distribution back to the regions and local offices. This group is able to look at performance at a point in time and on an ongoing basis, and leverages an export from TM1 that allows them to analyze the account assignment data in whatever manner they choose.

As a result of this project, our client can now assign accounts to salespeople, account relationship managers, and partner channel managers in an automated and efficient fashion, and feed downstream customer and compensation systems. They expects to reduce customer turn-over as a result of the project, since salespeople now have clear account ownership and quota tied to providing improved customer service.

At JCB, we think strategically, from start to finish, determining the most effective and sustainable way to utilize technology and resources to drive business forward. We start small, helping companies realize results quickly while establishing and embracing a culture of analytics. And we accelerate systematically, continually assessing the larger picture as we apply learnings and progress logically. This is the JCB difference. By working hand-in-hand with our clients employees across Sales, Finance, and Information Technology, JCB was able to deliver a solution that solves the immediate issue around sales account assignment and sets the stage for future performance improvements.