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Businesses ... government ... consumers. Around the world there are more than
80 million customers who count on AT&T for voice and data communications.
As one of the largest, most powerful long-distance networks in the
world AT&T, has also become a leading provider of data, Internet and
hosting services. A key to AT&T's success over the years has been the ability
to attract and reward top sales and service people through one of the
industry's most competitive and sophisticated compensation programs. Managing
the compensation programs, however, could be complex, costly and unproductive.
As recently as 1996, AT&T's Incentive Compensation system was processed by
an assortment of separate computer systems which operated in approximately 40
branches throughout the U.S. Each of these systems used a spreadsheet program,
which required the manual coordination of several thousand sales resources with up
to 40 different title-driven pay plans.
High administrative costs were unavoidable and the system did not provide the
flexibility needed to motivate the achievement of specific sales goals.
To realize its ambitious growth plans for the future, AT&T needed an Incentive
Pay Automation solution that would allow the company compensation team to
be instantly responsive to changing market dynamics.
e•Plan comes on board
For the design and implementation of a unified, centrally administered Incentive
Compensation Solution, AT&T knew it needed a resource with the capability to
handle a complex, multi-tiered assignment quickly and accurately.
Editor's Note: The partner they selected was CDS Solutions Group, a Microsoft Certified Partner and
.NET developer in Pennsylvania. Project Incentives has recently purchased this company, demonstrating
a clear commitment to a comprehensive Enterprise Project Management implementation
solution.
The new system would be among the first in the industry to employ cutting-edge Web-based
technology via a secure AT&T Intranet site.
Highly mobile users would be able to connect to the system, and then record and calculate
commissions. Information from the field could be uploaded instantly with minimal work
on a salesperson's laptop computer and no software to install. End-user
screens would be dynamically generated based on user profiles at log in.
On the back end, AT&T would gain multiple levels of access and security to accommodate a
growing and changing management reporting structure. To avoid overpayments or other
errors, a closed-loop verification component would measure all compensation payouts
against actual AT&T billing data before checks were cut.
Originally, the AT&T compensation team anticipated that the assignment would take nine
months to complete. CDS was ready with a complete ePlan system that automated incentive
pay for 4,500 end users in just three months.
e•Plan Saves AT&T Over $1 Million/Year
To maximize the sales effectiveness of a multi-tiered, multi-location,
multi-product sales force of 4,500+, AT&T knew it would have to find a way to
totally automate a complex, large-scale incentive pay program. It meant covering every
variance, contingency and detail of a wide variety of constantly changing compensation
programs.
The Solution: Use e•Plan as a basis for
constructing a Microsoft based Intranet site that would control and administer sales incentive pay programs.
At the same time, e•Plan would give them the flexibility to adjust or completely
change any program instantly and know the software had the capacity to respond instantly,
with no errors, and no need to go back later and correct an overpayment or
misinterpretation.
The Result: Over $1 Million per year in administrative cost savings alone. In addition,
increased Incentive Pay flexibility has enhanced AT&T's ability to manage goal attainment
through incentive compensation programs, furthering their market leadership in key areas
of the business.
e•Plan Analysis Improves Compensation Plans
AT&T constantly evaluates the sales activity and compensation structure data
generated by the e•Plan system to improve sales and profitability.
Nadim Baker, CEO of Project Incentives adds, "AT&T's planners now spend
their time designing against strategic objectives rather than around
system limitations."
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