Xerox Announces SMART Portal for Sales Partners

Xerox kicked off 2014 on the 9th January, announcing their SMART Centre mobile-friendly sales tool portal aimed at the indirect channel. SMART is an acronym for Xerox Sales, Marketing, Analysis, Research and Training. This cloud based directory contains a host of sales enabling tools which automatically check the location of the Xerox sales partner and offer sales information relevant to that person’s regional location and/or language. Localised content is available in 22 different languages and is aimed for any of Xerox’s global partners. Content includes up-to-date Xerox hardware and software specifications and Feature Advantage Benefits(FAB) catalogues and a proposal generator. Hardware competitive information is driven from the BLi database. The comparison of software is driven by a combination of 3rd party tools and a guided sales application for Xerox branded solutions.

The proposal generator, is probably the most useful to simplify the sales process. As Xerox explained, their sales partners currently create 150,000 proposals per year. The generator comprises a number of dynamic templates which includes formatting for a pricing area where the sales partner can slot in their own pricing. The aim is that sales partners spend less time in the office, researching the best solutions and more time with clients doing business. The tool will be free of charge to all Xerox dealers and replaces 100s of local tools across the globe.

InfoTrends Opinion

This is an excellent example of how business processes can be automated. Xerox is well known for the breadth of its product and solutions portfolio and this tool will certainly help sales partners to compile a competitive offer in the shortest time. Although these types of tools are not new to the industry, the uniqueness in this case is that it’s almost global as it will be available worldwide with the exception of APAC and delivers almost global consistency. This will not replace the localization process but will certainly streamline the delivery to partners.