Industry-leading FiberLight saves time and money by unleashing the power of Xactly for CRM

​Quick Upfront

We spoke with Ed Boling, Senior Business Intelligence Analyst at FiberLight, a fast-growing leader in advanced fiber optic networks, to discuss how Xactly for CRM helped streamline their sales incentive compensation processes, reduce errors, and improve the reliability of their revenue operations data.

Xactly Enables Growth

With more than 20 years of experience and growth, Georgia-based FiberLight manages more than 18,000 miles of fiber optic networks across 30 U.S. metropolitan areas. Sales growth has been led by a dedicated team of more than 55 professionals who serve clients and partners across the company’s operational footprint.

With growth sometimes you get growing pains. For FiberLight, the increasing complexities of managing multi-tiered sales incentive compensation plans, across 12 roles and more than 15 products, the company realized that the existing system wasn’t going to be able to keep up with their growth and the increasing complexities of FiberLight's sales compensation requirements effectively. “It became very complex and difficult. Things that our sales team wanted to do, we found we really couldn't do,” said Ed Boling, Senior Business Intelligence Analyst at FiberLight.

This led to manual workarounds and extensive offline spreadsheet management, resulting in laborious tasks prone to errors and reporting disputes. “We knew we needed a different solution; something that could be much more automated and produce reliable results that we could trust each month.” Just as importantly, they needed a system that would build back the sales team’s confidence that the system is doing what it was supposed to be for their sales and sales plans.

We knew we needed a different solution; something that could be much more automated and produce reliable results that we could trust each month.

Increased automation. Increased reliability.

Looking for an automated and reliable solution – that is also native in Salesforce – led FiberLight to Xactly for CRM. With the sales team already engaged with the platform, an incentive compensation management system that is also Salesforce integrated is essential to seamless workflow, data capture, and reporting accuracy. It not only allows the FiberLight team to create and manage their complex and layered compensation plans directly within Salesforce but also facilitates greater transparency and visibility to the compensation data for the sales team, making them feel more confident about their commissions.

Xactly for CRM enhances the accuracy of sales commission calculations and enables comprehensive controls and reporting, right inside Salesforce. Of particular value to Ed and the management team was the availability of a powerful feature called the Source-Compare tool, which allows the company to take snapshots of sales orders at the time of closure. Should changes occur after closure, Ed can easily find and identify those changes to quickly to accurately determine the correct commission payouts based on the original information.

As Ed explains: "The Source-Compare tool is handy. It lets us identify what fields have changed in Salesforce and understand the original information that drove the commission calculations and what has changed. For example, if the owner of an opportunity was changed, we can ensure that the right commission is credited to the right salesperson based on the original owner at the time of the sale."

Reduced Disputes and Improved Efficiency

FiberLight has seen a remarkable reduction in sales commission disputes and errors since introducing Xactly for CRM. As Ed notes: "With the manual systems gone, we observed a dramatic drop in disputes within the first month of using the platform. The number of disputes decreased from double digits to low single digits. We now spend less time resolving disputes, and the sales team has regained confidence in the accuracy of their commissions."

Strategic Focus and Enhanced Collaboration

Ed is able now to shift his focus towards more strategic and high-level tasks. “We can explore adjustments to commission plans, conduct 'what-if?' analyses, and be more proactive in addressing challenges. It has empowered us to think beyond the limitations of our previous system."

Equally important, Xactly for CRM provides a new level of transparency and accessibility. Accurate and up-to-date data has improved the effectiveness of the analytics team and executives. With reliable information at hand, business leaders can make better-informed decisions and explore new commission plan possibilities without being hindered by system limitations.

Set-up for Success

FiberLight's implementation of Xactly for CRM has revolutionized their sales compensation management and improved overall revenue operations efficiency. The seamless integration of the software within Salesforce has enabled accurate commission calculations and reduced the number of disputes and errors significantly. The enhanced collaboration, data transparency, and accurate reporting empowered FiberLight to make informed decisions, optimize commission plans, and ensure fair and accurate compensation for their sales team, positioning FiberLight for continued success in the telecommunications industry.

The Benefits of Xactly for CRM

Clean Data - Organize all commissionable event data within Salesforce, verify the information, and collaborate with your administrator to resolve any disparities fast

Error-free Payouts - Automate incentive compensation programs to eliminate payout errors and increase payout accuracy up to 99.8%

Quick Time to Value - Build and manage your compensation programs in no time without the need for pricey implementation costs with Xactly for CRM preconfigured for Salesforce

Analytics - Track every deal through each step of the incentive process from closed/won to when payments are finalized, all within Salesforce

Reporting - Streamline use of powerful Salesforce analytical tool and help build intuitive dashboards to measure compensation program effectiveness with pre-built templates

Automated Calculations - Remove the need for offline calculations and enable all incentive data management to occur right within Salesforce

Improved Salesforce Adoption - Help keep tasks and collaboration within Salesforce, where simplified workflows, familiar tools, and applications are readily available

Powerful RevOps Tools - Improve your RevOps management with gated approvals processes, audit tracking, and data discrepancy analytics

On-Demand Visibility - Give reps on-demand visibility into their comp plans and commissions within the platform they already use every day—decreasing disputes and inquiries while motivating them to hit quota