CIOTechOutlook >> Magazine >> December - 2015 issue

Apttus: Accomplishing SaaS Based Services on Salesforce to Redefine ‘Quote-to-Cash’

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Like many technology trends, ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) has entered into the realm of buzzwords that can be confusing sometimes. Whereas, historically, companies were required to buy, build, and maintain their IT infrastructures despite exponential costs; SaaS gives companies an alternative as now they can plug in and subscribe to services built on shared infrastructure via the Internet. Therefore, with the rise of Salesforce, cloud-based systems have started replacing many existing processes and companies have to appropriately respond to this change by addressing the glaring gap between the CRM and the ERP. Effectively bridging the gap and streamlining the entire process from where Salesforce leaves off to where the ERP system picks back up is Apttus; based in San Mateo, California, with additional offices in Atlanta, Bozeman, Chicago, Japan, London, Sydney and India; that effectively paves the way for a smooth process from beginning to end.

Established in 2006, Apttus is recognized as a Unicorn in the Silicon Valley; a private company valued at over $1B, with $186M raised over 3 rounds of funding. “Operating in the Quote-to-Cash market that’s sized to have an opportunity of $31B, all these numbers are testament to Apttus’ growth potential.” says Jesal Mehta, GM- India Operations of Apttus. Being built 100 percent inside Salesforce, Apttus is capable of leveraging the most advanced cloud platform in the world to ensure the most vigorous security to its customers and ensure easy collaboration amongst all cross-functional teams through the use of Chatter, Community and Support Groups.

As a notable SaaS provider, Apttus regards customer satisfaction as its priority and thus, possesses a dedicated Professional Services team to ensure successful implementation of solutions and a Customer Success team that supports internal adoption of the new tool, ensuring it is easy-to-use and brings value to the customer.

Leveraging Salesforce to deploy Applications
Being one of the first organizations to deliver services on the Salesforce App Cloud; with one point-and-click administration to ensure uncompromised security; Apttus is capable of handling businesses of all sizes and complexity, offering turnkey implementations coupled with deep capability. Besides company renders complete automation of sales revenue operations from beginning to end and have successfully transformed business processes for hundreds of organizations.

Having initially begun to tap into Quote-to-Cash market to explore its uncapped potential; Apttus today specializes in driving the vital business process between the buyer’s interest in a purchase and the realization of revenue and thus, caters a number of Applications like Quote-to-Cash Intelligence (Analytics), E-Commerce, Configure Price Quote (CPQ), Renewals, Contract Management and Revenue Management. Besides, Apttus’ patent pending X-Author technology enables Microsoft Office to be a user-interface with full interaction and control between Salesforce and Microsoft Office.

With exquisite Quote-to-Cash application, Apttus accomplishes comprehensive footprint giving decision makers the control and visibility they crave for all upcoming deals and revenue operations at any stage of the sales cycle. Besides, Configure-Price-Quote; designed to boost sales effectiveness by guiding users to quickly configure products, determine accurate pricing, and generate quotes; provides the best proposals and products to the customers. With robust capabilities like product configuration, pricing options, price adjustments, and eSignature; Apttus CPQ enables sales teams to sell more, sell bigger, and sell anywhere, which in turn fuels revenue growth.

Adding to the list of exquisite products is Contract Management that helps companies automate and gain visibility and control over their contracts. Through its partnership with DocuSign and EchoSign; eSignatures is another key functionality that Apttus gained to aid streamlining the complex contracts process so that the customer can sign on the go. Being deployed on Salesforce, Apttus makes it extremely easy to collaborate amongst teams and can be available for use anywhere at any time on any mobile device.

Future Docket
With a consistently growing customer base since its inception in 2006, having 6 new customers in the first Q1 and 7th customer being a $1M deal; Apttus proved its ability in a short span of time. Initially consisting of only Contract Management; the product grew to the full Quote-to-Cash footprint over the years. Now, with over 350 customers like GE, HP, Verizon, Salesforce, Forbes, Linkedin, Adobe, Citrix, Moody’s from different industries of Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Financial Services, to Telecommunications; Apttus has transformed businesses to effectively streamline the Quote-to-Cash process.

Having spent more than 14 years in Silicon Valley and then settling back in his home country and gaining wide experience in Presales, development, sales and operations; and currently spearheading operations in Ahmedabad and Bangalore in India; Jesal further aims at expanding Apttus’ operations to other cities in India and explore IT talent in India. Moreover, driven by the New Front Office philosophy of delivering B2B customer service at B2C speed through modernization of revenue operation, speed, and efficiency in the cloud; Apttus proposes to continue its growth with the ultimate goal of transforming customers’ businesses and bring value to them.

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