How does content get loaded into StreetSmarts?
There are many ways that content can get loaded into StreetSmarts.
- StreetSmarts can scan current repositories and websites and load appropriate material or point to appropriate material.
- Relevant questions are generated from within StreetSmarts and sent to the appropriate specialists to answer. These questions are answered in email, similar to what is done today, and that answer automatically becomes content within StreetSmarts.
- Within email or any Office product, StreetSmarts has a button for users to easily add an email, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and more.
- The question and answer feature within StreetSmarts is one of the most popular ways for content to continuously get loaded into StreetSmarts. By simply answering questions in email- much like users do today, relevant content is loaded.
- Users can directly add content from menus within StreetSmarts.
- Involve Technology will help you to uncover and capture best practices within your company through our best practices service offering.
What resources are required to manage StreetSmarts, who manages it and how long does it take?
Minimal resources are required to manage StreetSmarts but the full extent of these resources depends on how tightly you want to manage the product. StreetSmarts has a self-managing backend that prompts users to review content and make decisions. A typical administrator might spend 15 minutes every other day for central management of the application (this is very dependent on how each customer has setup the system).
Other resources required to manage the product are dependent on things such as content approval and can be dispersed throughout the organization as they are today. For instance, product managers can become content owners for their product lines, taking responsibility to review and add content within that specific category.
As you can tell, managing StreetSmarts does not take an entire resource. Often the resources that manage StreetSmarts are from sales, sales operations or marketing. It really depends on how your organization is structured.
How long does it take to do the implementation?
StreetSmarts can be up and running within 30 days.
Can StreetSmarts control who has access to what information?
Yes, StreetSmarts controls who can see what information within the system. We have customers that have channel partners, customers, product management, professional services and more all within one StreetSmarts site but who safely see only what they are supposed to see.
How do I monitor or control what information gets put into StreetSmarts?
You can easily monitor and control the information that gets put into StreetSmarts. StreetSmarts flexible approval rules let you approve content coming from certain groups or certain individuals and not others. These rules allow you to be as flexible as you need to fit within your corporate culture.
Is there any limit to the number of users StreetSmarts can handle?
No, StreetSmarts has no limit to the number of users. StreetSmarts has been built from the ground up to be a enterprise application capable of scaling from small to very large to accommodate our customer base. The number of users that can log on is based on the number that you purchase with Involve Technology. You can upgrade that number at any time.
How do you train the users?
Training needs are minimal as StreetSmarts is a very intuitive system. Most typically, we help to conduct a Webinar for the users and take them through a quick ½ hour overview of the site- why they care and how to use it. Most users are off and running at that point. As well, StreetSmarts contains a tutorial and snippets of video along the way should a user get stuck and need some help.
How much does this cost?
The StreetSmarts software is priced by the number of users. Volume discounting is available - please talk to your sales rep for a specific quote for your company.
How is this different than my CRM application?
StreetSmarts does NOT perform the functions that your SFA/CRM application performs. CRM products allow sales people to track accounts, contacts, leads and opportunities. This allows sales management to forecast and get a view into the pipeline. StreetSmarts complements CRM applications in helping the rep to get the tips, techniques, know-how and best practices of others to help move the prospect along to close more business.
How is this different than my Sales Portal or Intranet?
StreetSmarts complements existing sales portals and Intranets. Where sales portals and Intranets provide a repository of documents, collateral, and other static material, StreetSmarts provides the real-time unstructured information that sales reps often need to close business. Sales reps need a place to ask questions of peers and subject matter experts. Sales reps need to understand what's been working in the field and not. Sales reps need to use the mechanisms they do today in email and on mobile devices. StreetSmarts provide these additive features and can "hook" into a portal so there is only one place for a sales person to go for answers- whether its know-how or materials.
Can StreetSmarts support my channel partners?
Just as StreetSmarts can support your direct sales reps, it can effectively support channel partners. With StreetSmarts flexible security, certain channel partners can see specific content based on your needs. StreetSmarts does a great job pushing out information to channel partners to better support your products and process.
Whose search engine are you using?
StreetSmarts uses Involve Technology's proprietary search engine which has been specifically tuned to searching know-how and best practices as well as structured information such as PDFs, word documents and more. The search engine continues to get enhanced to maximize the user's experience. StreetSmarts must return the appropriate information to the user exactly when they asked for it. We have architected the product from the ground up with that in mind.
Can StreetSmarts be configured to look like our existing sales portal or web site?
Yes, StreetSmarts can easily be configured to look like your existing sales/partner portal, Intranet or website. You can private brand StreetSmarts and use your corporate colors. This can all be done without help from IT through easy to use menus.
Will sales people use it?
Yes, sales people do use StreetSmarts now! StreetSmarts was designed from the ground up to appeal to sales people. It's integrated into their daily life (email and mobile devices), it allows them to find and ask questions the way they think and it incentivizes them to use the system. All of these factors have helped make StreetSmarts a system that is currently being used by thousands of sales people throughout the world.
How do I keep the information current and fresh?
StreetSmarts self-managing backend helps you to keep content current and fresh. StreetSmarts has a number of self-running routines that will present the appropriate administrator with content that needs to be renewed. This can be based on age, quality, use, and events such as a product release. The administrator(s) can simply reply in email, online or on a mobile device as to what they would like to do with the know-how in question.
What type of security is available through StreetSmarts?
StreetSmarts provides many layers of security. Starting with user ids and passwords, each user is authenticated before entering the site. StreetSmarts is hosted at Savvis, a Tier 1 hosting facility, and provides a significant amount of security to protect your content from the facility down to the database, everything is secured. As well, you can choose to have your content encrypted through https.
How can I tell what people are accessing or doing in StreetSmarts?
StreetSmarts provides a number of out-of-the box reports to understand everything that users are doing in the system as well as how the content is being used. For those with access, StreetSmarts provides a number of reports to show everything from when a user has logged in, to what they are viewing, rating and asking. Reports can be viewed by functional groups down to the individual. It's easy to track how long users are in the system, what content they find most valuable, what areas they are asking the most questions on and much more.
How will StreetSmarts help improve my business?
StreetSmarts can improve your business in many ways. Existing customers have improved their competitive awareness, their product knowledge, their ability to ramp new reps, their overall sales effectiveness, their channel effectiveness and much more. Check out the customer success stories on the website for more specifics.
How quickly will I see a return on my investment?
Since StreetSmarts is easily implemented within 30 days and is a low cost subscription. It's easy to see how a company can get a quick ROI. Typical ROIs tend to run 90 days, but every company is different. Contact an Involve Technology sales rep, and they can help you calculate your specific ROI.
What budget does StreetSmarts come from?
It depends. Since StreetSmarts can help with so many sales and marketing initiatives the StreetSmarts' budget comes from many different places. StreetSmarts has come from marketing budgets, sales operations budgets, sales training budgets, sales program budgets (realigning territories), sales process reinforcement and more.
Who provides your hosting services?
SAVVIS provides our hosting. SAVVIS (formerly Cable & Wireless) is a tier 1 hosting facility employing state of the art performance and security technologies. The database and associated services are protected through IPSec, allowing only specific IP addresses to access code database functionality. At the application layer, IS and passwords are required to access any area of the system, other than the login page. For more information about our hosting service, please check the website under support/services.
What kind of backup procedures are in place?
All back-ups of customer data are maintained in a secure location during the period that customer is receiving services. Hourly incremental backups and every other day full data backups are done without requiring system downtime. Emergency recovery plans are in place should they be necessary. A full SLA is available for review.
How does it integrate into my existing CRM app?
There are two primary ways that StreetSmarts can integrate with your existing CRM application. StreetSmarts know-how can be displayed within an opportunity, lead, account - any record where it makes sense. A salesperson can be within an opportunity and need some help- some know-how and best practices for moving this opportunity forward. Relevant information from StreetSmarts can be displayed within the opportunity screen based on the specific attributes of that opportunity such as a step in the sales cycle, competitor, and product.
The second way StreetSmarts can integrate with a CRM system is programmatically. StreetSmarts XML based web services enable a company to drive StreetSmarts based on an event in your CRM system. For example, assume a sales person has just closed a deal and won. StreetSmarts can be notified and send the rep an email congratulating them on the win and asking for them to tell others how they made it happen. By answering the email (which they receive points for), they are automatically creating content within StreetSmarts.
What is StreetSmarts written in?
StreetSmarts is written using a Java J2EE and JSP/servlet architecture. This helps to ensure that StreetSmarts is platform independent. It's built on a standard 3-tier Java development platform that provides for both flexibility and scalability to support any customer.
