Aria Planning Solutions

Case Questions

1. What are the organizational and operational issues that underlie the problems facing BPS?

* Baria Planning Solutions (BPS) is a publicly traded firm that helped its customers reduce costs through a combination of software, data analysis, project management, and consulting. BPS which initially served the U.S. energy sector exclusively, had survived by expanding its industry coverage and capabilities through the acquisition of other narrowly focused industry-niche providers. In 2007, BPS acquired a firm that primarily served the government sector, including federal and state agencies and some large municipalities and nonprofit organizations. In 2008 BPS acquired two more firms, one serving a range of manufacturing companies and another that primarily served the retail sector.

* While BPS initially allowed the acquired firms to continue operating semi-autonomously, the company had since worked hard to integrate parts of each operation where synergies could be achieved. While all four firms provided solutions that addressed the same types of customer needs, the similarities ended there. In addition to serving different industries, the firms had entirely different technology platforms, service delivery processes, and even different fiscal year end dates. Most of the pressing integration work was complete by the end of 2009, although some technology migration projects were still in the works. By 2010, BPS commanded a respectable 18% share of the market, but in a highly competitive market BPS could not afford to lose any momentum in sales growth.

* Although BPS served customers on a global scale, its direct sales force focused on companies in North America. As a result the North American Sales organization was focused on driving new sales and renewing existing contracts in North America. The North American Sales organization was structured into the following three groups:

i. Sales

ii. Sales Operations

iii. Sales Support

* The Sales group, led by Chuck Dee, has four units organized by the four major industry sectors that BPS serves:

iv. Energy

v. Government

vi. Manufacturing

vii. Retail and Other

* The Sales Operations group, led by Jane Albright, was responsible for the following areas:

viii. Competitive Intelligence

ix. Win-Loss Analysis

x. Sales Training

xi. Staffing

xii. Managing the sales force compensation plan

* Albright and Dee were sometimes at odds over how the sales force should be structured. Dee felt that all of the teams in the Sales Support group should be aligned by industry sector. Albright believed that such a structure would require a large increase in staff.

As a result Albright had successfully lobbied for the current hybrid organization of the Sales Support Group.

* Albright helped streamline the Sales Support group, consolidating some sales support functions into teams that served all industries and leaving one function, Proposal Support, with staff dedicated to each industry. The current Sales Support group structure is as follows:

xiii. Data Engineering

xiv. Data Analysis

xv. Proposal Support

xvi. Pricing

* This type of structure did appear to be unique in the market, thus allowing BPS to distinguish itself from other mid-sized competitors through a deeper understanding of industry-centric issues, and put the firm in parity with small single-industry and large diversified competitors.

2. What factors contributed to the company's decision to organize the sales team by industry? What factors contributed to the company's decision to organize the sales support group in a hybrid structure? What aspects of the sales process are most valued by customers?

* In Brandon Ali's email to Christy Connor he felt they had serious problems with their win-loss rate for the 2010 calendar year. Of the 217 qualified new sales opportunities that arose in 2010 the win rate is projected to be at around 15.5% with the goal being 17.5%. Another thing he noted was how they has consistently achieved a renewal rate of between 91% and 92% in years past, but in 2010 they were at 84%. He also noted that sales group directors were complaining that sales people don't get the timely assistance they need because they are only partly organized along the same industry. This has led to the sales people missing proposal deadlines for several opportunities causing customers to have a diluted impression of the company's abilities.

* After BPS completed its string of the acquisitions the firm was under

tremendous pressure to get costs under control. Yet, at the same time they knew it was imperative that they maintain an industry-centric, consultative sales process. Sales support staff should be aligned by industry sector to effective provide dedicated support for the sales group. They needed to stream line the sales support staff into industry specific expertise divisions. Effectively balance staffing constraints against the requirements for the industry.

* Customers placed the most value on the accuracy and response times involved in the sales process. With the unprecedented growth in the business solutions market competition, customers began demanding greater assurance that any solution provided would be ascertainable. The customer was also extremely specific when it can to a solution deadline. They needed the proposal when they needed it without delay. If the team could not meet the strict deadline they needed to drop out of the running instead of wasting time.

3. What alternatives are available for dealing with problems in the sales support group? How did you evaluate the alternatives? What actions should Christy Conner propose to Brandon Ali?

* Based on the data for the 2010 performance of the Sales Support Group, the win-loss ration dropped to 15.5% based on the 271 qualified new sales opportunities. This is a significant drop from the 17.5% that was forecast for