The research project was organized as an R&D collaboration between the Researchers and VoiceTech with support from the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). In December 2005, GRA, VoiceTech, and the Researchers conducted a workshop in which the need for the proposed collaboration was discussed and an initial project plan developed. The collaboration team reported to the CMO and executive vice president of sales. All parties agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) summarizing the research collaboration. The project was jointly funded by GRA, VoiceTech, and CEPRIN. Mathiassen argued that
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a main concern in such collaborations is to “establish well functioning relations between research and practice” (2002, p. 329). Thus, numerous agency relationships exist in long-term collaborations like the one at VoiceTech.
5.4.1 Agency at VoiceTech
The overall organization of the project is illustrated in Figure 5.3 as five interconnected stakeholder groups that participated in the collaboration: “The Users,” “The Champions,” “The Innovators,” “The Technologists,” and “The Researchers.” These groups had varying levels of interaction with each other and within the collaboration. The solid arrows in Figure 5.3 indicate frequent and direct interactions, while the dotted arrows indicate more irregular interactions.
The Researchers included the three full professors and the doctoral student. This group collaborated directly and on a regular basis with the Innovators in workshops and throughout the intervention into sales process innovation. The Researchers also interacted directly, but less frequently, with the Champions and the Technologists. These interactions were mainly through interviews and occasional workshop discussions.
The Champions included the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and the Director of Marketing and Sales Operations. The Director of Marketing and Sales Operations reported to the CMO and was responsible for executing the CMO’s strategic vision of how the marketing and sales operation should advance. The Director of Marketing and Sales Operations was also the bridge from the Champions to the Innovators and, as a result, participated in several workshops and all presentations. In the context of this collaboration, the Champions interacted with the Innovators on a daily basis while their interactions with the User-Reps and User-Managers and the Researchers were less frequent.
The Innovators included the Director of Sales Operations and a young, but experienced, Marketing Analyst. The Director of Sales Operations reported to the Director of Marketing and Sales Operations while the Marketing Analyst reported to the Director of Sales Operations, who became the primary point of contact during the collaboration and was responsible for implementing the SFA in sales operations. The Marketing Analyst had been with VoiceTech since its beginnings and had established good relationships throughout the company. He was charged with coordinating, planning, and monitoring the implementation across the various markets and on occasion conducting SFA training sessions for the users. In the context of this collaboration, the Innovators interacted directly with all groups. In this way the Innovators were situated as the primary go-betweens from the sales process innovation to the intervention side of the collaboration.
The Technologists included the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), the Director of IT Planning, and the IT Business Analyst. The CTO was ultimately responsible for ensuring the successful development and implementation of the SFA. He was also responsible for human resources at VoiceTech. The Director of IT Planning was responsible for directing technology adaptations to the SFA. The IT Business Analyst reported to the Director of IT Planning and was responsible for understanding and developing SFA user requirements. In the context of this collaboration, the Technologists interacted directly with the Innovators but less frequently with the User-Reps and User-Managers and the Researchers.
The User-Managers included the vice presidents, sales office managers, and sales directors. The User- Reps included sales team managers, sales leaders, and sales representatives (sales reps) located in each
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city. Sales reps and team managers were the ultimate users of the SFA on a day-to-day basis. The directors and vice presidents use the SFA to manage their teams. Sales reps are in the field throughout the day while the others usually are monitoring and managing sales from the office. Sales reps are responsible for entering and updating data related to their sales funnel. Team managers and directors are responsible for managing and monitoring the sales teams and their regions. Vice presidents tend to focus less on the day-to-day sales activities and more on weekly and monthly planning. In the context of this collaboration, the users interacted directly with the Innovators but less frequently with the Champions and the Technologists.
Figure 5.3 Agency in the VoiceTech Collaboration
5.4.2 The Collaboration
A timeline of significant collaboration events during the 30 months-long study is shown in Figure 5.4. The first contact between the Researchers and VoiceTech was made by one of the Researchers with VoiceTech’s executive vice president of sales. After multiple discussions between VoiceTech senior managers and the Researchers, an initial workshop was held whereby the collaboration team agreed on a phased approach using VoiceTech’s decision to implement an SFA system as the basis for moving sales process innovation forward. The collaboration team consisted of the Researchers and the VoiceTech task force. The task force had been assembled by VoiceTech prior to the collaboration to address issues related to IT support of sales and marketing. The VoiceTech task force included representatives from sales operations, IT, and senior managers from those departments.
Beginning February 2006, the first in a series of five workshops and two summary presentations were conducted on site at VoiceTech involving the Innovators, the Technologists, and the Researchers. These workshops gave the Researchers insight into the problem situation as perceived by VoiceTech stakeholders. Actions were discussed, planned, and evaluated by the VoiceTech stakeholders and the
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Researchers during these workshops and presentations. Agreed upon actions were taken by the stakeholders between workshops and presentations. (Chapter 6 discusses the specific actions taken and evaluations of those actions). The Innovators and the Technologists were members of the collaboration team as part of their normal work duties at VoiceTech. They provided the context and direction needed for the VoiceTech collaboration and were supported by the Champions. The workshops were voice-recorded and detailed notes were also taken to record questions needing further explanation and any decisions made by the collaboration team.
The Researchers conducted observations of sales representatives as they used their sales systems and observed managers meeting with their sales teams and conducting training sessions. We also observed the work areas of the sales managers and representatives, made notes, and took pictures of these workspaces for future discussions regarding the sales process and sales management practices. Field study notes were made on these observations. The final workshop was conducted in April 2008.
The Researchers adhered to the Principles of Canonical Research (Davison, et al., 2004) and contentions for quality action research (Eden & Huxham, 1996). The research will therefore eventually be evaluated against these guidelines, as discussed in the following section. The research cycle (McKay & Marshall, 2001) and the approach to data collection and analysis are discussed in Chapter 6.
Figure 5.4 Timeline of VoiceTech Collaboration