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Contact:
Michael Landry
FollowUp.Net
203.226.5853 x 119
MLandry@FollowUp.Net

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Enterprise Technology Vendors 2004 Annual Review:

• Industry Verticals Focus Up 22%
• Partner Sales Alignment Only 36%
• Annual Sales Coverage Turnover 42%

AllianceTrakker’s Annual Survey analyzes year to year trends in the enterprise technology vendor marketplace

Westport, CT (March 15, 2005) – FollowUp Networks’ announces the results of its annual review of habits and relationships between strategic, enterprise technology partners. Highlights include:

• Enterprise technology companies increased their focus on vertical markets in 2004 by adding more dedicated professionals to support vertical sales initiatives. The AllianceTrakker network counted a 22% increase in dedicated managers within a vendor’s industry vertical teams relative to their sales reps
• The problem of poor “sales coverage alignment” between strategic partners in terms of account coverage focus grew from 2004 from 2003. Our statistics show that in 2004, only 36% of accounts between partners could be considered as covered equally. In 2003 that figure was 41%. (pls. refer to statistical explanation)
• Sales rep “coverage turnover” remains high at 42% in 2004 vs. 44% in 2003. Sales rep turnover is calculated from the number of client accounts who had a new primary sales rep assigned to them during the year, per vendor. That means that almost half of the 15,000 clients in the AllianceTrakker network, had all their sales coverage from all their vendors change in 2004.
• Enterprise technology vendors also increased focus on global accounts in 2004. The number of accounts considered “global” rose 25% as companies worked to leverage sales penetration from one business location to another.
• Clients of enterprise technology vendors report that their greatest frustration in being serviced by strategic partners is a lack of coordination between partners at the start of the sales cycle. They feel that joint sales too often end up with the second and third solutions providers being brought in at the last minute, without having contributed to the design of the solution at the outset where they can be the most effective.

“Our position as a 3rd party working with enterprise technology vendors, to increase their sales ability across partners and across internal teams, provides us with a very clear window into how tech companies approach the marketplace, and how they work with each other,” explains Chris Woods, CEO of AllinaceTrakker's parent company, FollowUp Networks. “This is our third year of analyzing the broad trends and as our AllianceTrakker network now spans a broad range of vendors, geographies and industries, we can draw some very interesting conclusions. How companies structure themselves to sell their products, and who and how they work with in the process is often different from the press announcements and generally held assumptions. Our annual review shows what is really happening and gives a very clear perspective on the way vendors – and their customers - are reacting to the marketplace and the business climate.”

About FollowUp Networks

FollowUp Network’s AllianceTrakker is an enterprise-level service that maps and aligns sales teams across partners or business units, enabling them to locate and communicate with other salespeople who cover their same accounts and who can drive new business. AllianceTrakker is not a CRM or PRM tool, which are useful once a sales cycle is started. Instead AllianceTrakker ensures that salespeople find new business partners and opportunities, while enabling managers to see the blind spots in their relationships.