Callidus Software has acquired LeadFormix, a B2B cloud-based lead intelligence service provider. LeadFormix provides social tools that help enterprises convert anonymous website visitors into qualified leads by identifying potential customers and reporting their intent.

LeadFormix’s 200 SaaS customers will join the ranks of Callidus current customer-base, which includes, AETNA, Nokia, Citrix, and JPMorgan Chase and will now total 1100 customers, 2.5 million users.

The combined company and services push Callidus further towards leading the sales effectiveness space. LeadFormix data will assist Callidus users to make the right value propositions when negotiating with prospects.

InsideView, a service that mashes up social data for enterprises to increase sales productivity has raised $11.5 million in Series B financing led by current investors Emergence Capital Partners, Rembrandt Venture Partners and Greenhouse Capital Partners. This brings the company’s total funding to $25 million.

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SaaS Sales Automation CRM does much more to your small business than you have ever dreamed. In the event you get a hold of a really nice application, the sky's the limit for the benefits your organization can see through this specific program.

Sales or marketing software applications are merely one of the numerous resources that sales automation SaaS applications can help you. You are able to make a quick move to transform your revenue performance with sales applications. CRM sales automation software is often a technique that will acquire and return info promptly with a click of a button. As an alternative to browsing endlessly for key info, with sales force automation saas you could find the data almost effortlessly.

Meeting a growing demand from companies of all sizes for software-as-a-service (SaaS) business intelligence (BI) tools that are easy to use, SAP AG  today announced the SAP® BusinessObjects™ BI OnDemand solution. Targeted at casual BI users currently underserved by products on the market, the solution will deliver a complete BI toolset in one flexible offering. Its ease-of-use also will allow them to be up and running with no prior experience or training. With SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, business users will be able to access and visually navigate data from any source using SAP® BusinessObjects™ Explorer software. Even casual users can then combine that data in just a few clicks, and follow a guided path that walks them through reporting and analysis. The solution will have scalable pricing models based on business need, allowing companies to easily and cost-effectively scale as required.

Marketo, the revenue-focused marketing automation company has  announced that it has surpassed the 400 customer milestone mark, less than two years after launching in March 2008. Angel.com, a subsidiary of MicroStrategy (NASD: MSTR), and leading provider of on-demand IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and call center solutions, was named the 400th customer to select Marketo’s award-winning automated demand generation solutions. This achievement cements Marketo’s position as the industry’s fastest growing marketing automation company and demonstrates the high market demand for automated demand generation solutions worldwide.

"Marketo continues to set the bar for the marketing automation industry,” said Phil Fernandez, President and CEO of Marketo. “The close of our 400th customer is a powerful indication that marketing automation has reached a key inflection point – moving from 'nice to have' to 'must have' – as companies worldwide realize its potential to impact both the top and bottom lines of an organization. 2010 will be a year of explosive growth for the category and for Marketo in particular."

Genius.com Incorporated®,a leading on-demand provider of B2B marketing automation, sales lead management, and email marketing solutions for sales and marketing professionals, has announced that Genius Enterprise has won salesforce.com's AppExchange Best of '09 Awards for marketing automation. In receiving this customers' choice award, Genius.com joined all the winners in receiving recognition for their ability to take customer success to new levels in satisfaction and application excellence.

"We are honored to be recognized by salesforce.com's customers as the preferred marketing automation cloud computing solution," said David Thompson, CEO and co-founder, Genius.com. "The feedback and reviews posted to the AppExchange reflect our commitment to customer success. We look forward to making 2010 an even bigger year for our customers - helping them realize sales rewards with our social marketing automation solutions.”

As we all are familiar that, Customer acquisition is one of the important phases in the business process. There are certain best practices to increase the customer acquisition rate and reduce churn. Streamlining customer acquisition process will boost the sales of any cloud service provider.

1. Trial Sign-up Process:

Cloud computing enabled users or end customers with Try & Buy model which gives an option to sign up for a Trial period, evaluate and go for commercial contract. Cloud service provider should have a system in place which allows them to define a trial plan and activate their access. The system should automate the life-cycle of a Trial User such as trial plan activation, providing limited/controlled access to the service, deactivation of the trial services based on the trail period expiration.

By: David Johnston, President, Surgesoft

The concept of Sales 2.0 being the future of selling is fraught with a number of unresolved issues and tenets that while not nullifying its influence, certainly add caveats to the claim. To quote Selling Power magazine, Sales 2.0 will bring "productivity-enhancing technologies that transform selling from an art to a science". In no way do I deny the positive impact that customer-focused technologies will have on the selling process, I do believe that their adoption and ability to influence buying decisions will take time and require structural changes in the relationships between buyers and sellers.

In particular, the current "gate-keeping" accountability of many procurement departments are limiting the potential for Sales 2.0 to accelerate, collaborate or align the buying/selling processes. While it might reduce time to respond to requests or produce quotes, the rendering of even small to medium corporate purchases into the RFP process will reduce the efficiency of the sales effort and continue to increase the sales cycle.

Technology is, and will continue to have, a dramatic impact on the sales environment. It must however be an enabler for performing salespeople with good sales management and strong customer relationships. Providing only a software solution without the infrastructure support of the selling organization, willing and engaged customers and sales processes that facilitate the use of the technology will not result in sustained performance improvement. I welcome your thoughts.

Jigsaw, a leader in data as a service (DaaS) today was honored with one of salesforce.com's AppExchange Best of '09 Awards. In receiving this customer choice award for sales intelligence, Jigsaw joined all the winners in receiving recognition for their ability to take customer success to new levels in satisfaction and application excellence.

Jigsaw received the Best of AppExchange award for Jigsaw Prospector, its unique sales intelligence solution that provides salespeople with the tools they need for effective and efficient sales prospecting and marketing efforts. With Jigsaw Prospector, customers have access to more than 19 million accurate and up-to-date business contacts within minutes.

"We are honored to be recognized by salesforce.com customers as the best sales intelligence application," said Jim Fowler, CEO, Jigsaw. "At Jigsaw, we are committed to providing sales and marketing teams with the most cutting edge tools for facilitating business transactions and generating high-quality leads."