Laura Ramos, Forrester

Vtrenz has been crowned the top lead automation solution by technology analyst Jupiter Research, ahead of arguably better-known competitors Eloqua and Marketo.

The Silverpop-owned solution received the accolade in a report by Jupiter (which was acquired by Forrester last year) entitled ‘Managing leads through automation: Demand generation buyers guide', authored by analyst Sonal Gandhi and published in December. It states that Vtrenz offers both the highest overall business value and highest market suitability.

The report also incorporated the findings of a survey of companies using demand generation applications that demonstrated that ‘usability' was the number one criteria that users had assessed when selecting a solution, identified by 64 per cent of respondents. ‘Price' was the second most popular (51 per cent) followed by ‘integration with other systems' (49 per cent).

The report appraised eight demand generation solutions: ActiveConversion, Eloqua, LeadGenesys, Manticore Technology, Market2Lead, Marketbright, Marketo, Pardot and Vtrenz.

Laura Ramos, principal analyst  at Forrester, who was not involved in the report but is the analyst's expert on marketing automation and lead management, says 2009 could be a make or break year for so-called ‘demand generation' vendors solutions such as Eloqua, Marketo and Vtrenz, with marketers under pressure to demonstrate value, but at the same time budgets being reigned in. "This sector is wide open, but it is still small and emerging. There is a lot of interest, but some vendors are trying to compete on price rather than educate [marketers about their solutions]. The economy will make education increasingly difficult."

She suggests that lead management or demand generation technology should arguably be seen as part of the wider marketing automation agenda, and that its development may hinge on whether Salesforce.com decides to continue with its partnership strategy, build its own application or buy lead management functionality by acquisition. "I don't think even Salesforce themselves know what they will do right now," she adds.

The report highlighted Vtrenz's strengths as its comprehensive functionality, ability to integrate with Salesforce.com and Peoplesoft, as well as its long tenure. Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop, describes the news the findings of the report as "terrific". He continues, "Vtrenz provides B2B marketers with important insights that allow them to engage with customers and prospects in very personalized and precise ways, delivering a truly solid return on investment."

 

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