What’s the problem?
GTL is the corrections industry’s trusted, one-stop source for integrated technology solutions. They provide services including inmate telephone systems for correctional institutions in all 50 US states. They serve approximately 2,300 facilities and 1.8 million inmates in 50 states.
With nothing but a manual Microsoft Excel system in place for commissions, GTL had multiple challenges. Lack of resource – just one person managing the commission process – meant it could take a month to consolidate all the details of one deal. Errors were frequent and there was no structured reporting.
The existing process couldn’t conclusively tie a sale to delivered goods or services. Nobody knew what they were getting credit for, and the billing system couldn’t feed information back.
How did Lanshore help?
GTL wanted to get the commission process working effectively and roll out audit and reporting features for the sales organization. They selected Callidus Commissions and hired us to implement the software. We used a waterfall implementation approach, to suit the GTL’s size and lack of experience in rolling out SaaS platform projects.
We provided training and change management to the commissions manager and a team of other staff who could provide backfill when necessary.
How are things now?
GTL decided to hand the system over to Lanshore as a managed service, because of a lack of in-house technology resource and experience to handle the ongoing data configuration. We have been running GTL’s commissions system ever since. We’ve built our knowledge of the customer’s business and recommended enhancements and optimization to GTL’s sales plans, along with future planning, quota and rate determination. The customer receives detailed and accurate monthly reports.
Tell us about the tech
Initially, we recommended using a SharePoint workflow to connect sales to billing, allowing sales reps to claim specific items as theirs. Management changes meant that we couldn’t proceed with this. We configured and implemented with the expected data sets, intending to hand over to the GTL IT team.
Struggling for resources to configure data, they decided to fully outsource the operation to Lanshore. We utilized data upload mechanisms instead of automation to get data into the system, because of the relatively low transaction volume.