IBM Case Studies Broadcom: Enhancing Sales Performance with Real-Time Compensation Insight

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	Broadcom: Enhancing Sales Performance with Real-Time Compensation Insight IBM

Broadcom: Enhancing Sales Performance with Real-Time Compensation Insight

IBM

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Electronics Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions	Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Inventory Management Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Broadcom, a global leader in semiconductor solutions, faced a significant challenge in managing its sales compensation. The company's compensation plans were becoming increasingly complex, and the lack of real-time visibility into compensation was causing dissatisfaction among its highly skilled sales team. The salespeople, most of whom are qualified engineers, were unable to monitor their performance and predict their compensation, which was affecting their motivation and productivity. The company's compensation reporting processes were manual, labor-intensive, and could only produce reports once per quarter. This lack of timely insight into compensation was affecting the sales team's performance and the company's ability to motivate them effectively. Furthermore, Broadcom needed to make compensation more transparent without significantly increasing the headcount in the compensation team. Read More
About Customer	Broadcom Corporation is a global innovator in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. The company specializes in state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and embedded software solutions. It is estimated that 99.98 percent of internet traffic crosses at least one Broadcom chip. Founded in 1991, the company employs 12,400 people, 77 percent of whom are engineers. In 2013, it generated revenues of USD8.31 billion. Broadcom's products are so technically advanced that most of its salespeople need to be qualified engineers. The company's compensation plans cover payees in 22 countries across 15 different currencies. Read More
Solution	Broadcom implemented IBM® Incentive Compensation Management to provide its sales team with real-time, deal-by-deal insight into their compensation. The solution, part of the IBM Watson™ Foundations portfolio, enabled salespeople to analyze their compensation down to the level of individual deals and use what-if capabilities to predict the rewards available for closing future deals. The system was entirely self-contained and owned by the business, eliminating dependencies on the IT team and allowing the company to focus on developing compensation plans that truly addressed the needs of the business. The solution also provided a built-in 'dispute' button, allowing salespeople to raise queries with the compensation team directly to correct any problems. Furthermore, the solution included a what-if analysis tool, enabling salespeople to model the outcomes of potential deals in their pipeline and understand the effect of closing specific deals on their compensation. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Electronics

Finance & Insurance

Applicable Functions

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Inventory Management

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Broadcom, a global leader in semiconductor solutions, faced a significant challenge in managing its sales compensation. The company's compensation plans were becoming increasingly complex, and the lack of real-time visibility into compensation was causing dissatisfaction among its highly skilled sales team. The salespeople, most of whom are qualified engineers, were unable to monitor their performance and predict their compensation, which was affecting their motivation and productivity. The company's compensation reporting processes were manual, labor-intensive, and could only produce reports once per quarter. This lack of timely insight into compensation was affecting the sales team's performance and the company's ability to motivate them effectively. Furthermore, Broadcom needed to make compensation more transparent without significantly increasing the headcount in the compensation team.

About Customer

Broadcom Corporation is a global innovator in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. The company specializes in state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and embedded software solutions. It is estimated that 99.98 percent of internet traffic crosses at least one Broadcom chip. Founded in 1991, the company employs 12,400 people, 77 percent of whom are engineers. In 2013, it generated revenues of USD8.31 billion. Broadcom's products are so technically advanced that most of its salespeople need to be qualified engineers. The company's compensation plans cover payees in 22 countries across 15 different currencies.

Solution

Broadcom implemented IBM® Incentive Compensation Management to provide its sales team with real-time, deal-by-deal insight into their compensation. The solution, part of the IBM Watson™ Foundations portfolio, enabled salespeople to analyze their compensation down to the level of individual deals and use what-if capabilities to predict the rewards available for closing future deals. The system was entirely self-contained and owned by the business, eliminating dependencies on the IT team and allowing the company to focus on developing compensation plans that truly addressed the needs of the business. The solution also provided a built-in 'dispute' button, allowing salespeople to raise queries with the compensation team directly to correct any problems. Furthermore, the solution included a what-if analysis tool, enabling salespeople to model the outcomes of potential deals in their pipeline and understand the effect of closing specific deals on their compensation.

Impact #1	The implementation of IBM® Incentive Compensation Management has significantly improved Broadcom's compensation management process. The sales team now has real-time insight into their compensation levels, which has boosted their confidence and motivation. They can now raise and resolve issues long before their paycheck comes through, reducing the need for adjustments to correct errors. The solution's reliability has also increased trust in the compensation calculations, further enhancing the sales team's confidence. The what-if tool has made targets and potential rewards more tangible for salespeople, serving as a significant motivator. Despite the growth in the size and complexity of the company's compensation plans, the headcount in the compensation team has not increased, demonstrating the efficiency of the solution.

Impact #1

The implementation of IBM® Incentive Compensation Management has significantly improved Broadcom's compensation management process. The sales team now has real-time insight into their compensation levels, which has boosted their confidence and motivation. They can now raise and resolve issues long before their paycheck comes through, reducing the need for adjustments to correct errors. The solution's reliability has also increased trust in the compensation calculations, further enhancing the sales team's confidence. The what-if tool has made targets and potential rewards more tangible for salespeople, serving as a significant motivator. Despite the growth in the size and complexity of the company's compensation plans, the headcount in the compensation team has not increased, demonstrating the efficiency of the solution.

Benefit #1	Boosted compensation team productivity by 20 percent, avoiding the need to add headcount as plans grow.
Benefit #2	Enabled real-time, deal-by-deal insight into compensation for salespeople.
Benefit #3	Provided a what-if analysis tool for salespeople to predict future compensation.

Benefit #1

Boosted compensation team productivity by 20 percent, avoiding the need to add headcount as plans grow.

Benefit #2

Enabled real-time, deal-by-deal insight into compensation for salespeople.

Benefit #3

Provided a what-if analysis tool for salespeople to predict future compensation.

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Overview

Broadcom: Enhancing Sales Performance with Real-Time Compensation Insight

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit