Imports opportunity-level data from a CRM to produce a renewals forecast

Description

This process extracts detailed sales opportunities data such as client information, deal status, and renewal dates, and integrates it into the CPM system for enhanced forecasting capabilities.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A technology company uses a CRM system to manage its sales activities, including tracking current opportunities, contract expiry dates and expected renewal deals. The company wants to leverage this granular data for more accurate revenue prediction through its CPM software.

Solution: The CPM system imports opportunity-level data from the CRM, including key variables like deal sizes, renewal dates, and probabilities of closure. It uses this data to generate a more detailed and accurate renewals forecast, providing valuable inputs for strategic business planning and decision making.

Considerations

This data can be used to calculate common SaaS metrics like MRR, ARR, CLV, churn rate, ARPA and so on. A good CPM system will be able to calculate those metrics as a part of a SaaS revenue model package, which is the easiest to find on the market, as the vendors themselves use the models.

When looking at the demo of this, ask the vendor how they themselves use the technology. Do they calculate all these metrics? They'll know the limitations better than you and can assist with best practice guidance. The best vendors will offer an introduction to their FP&A team to prove the technology's value.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Integration Compatibility: Can your CPM software integrate with our existing CRM system to import opportunity-level data? If so, does it do it natively?
• Renewal Data: How does the system differentiate between renewal opportunities and net new business?
• Metric Calculations: Can the software automatically calculate the SaaS metrics we need once it receives the renewal opportunity data from the CRM?