IDM Software Releases Telescope for Strategic Planning

IDM Software, which provides predictive modeling products and services designed for sales and marketing departments, has just released Telescope, a sales and marketing strategic planning application. The software enables CRM application developers, consultants, and end users to assess the current state of their industries, products, internal organizational structure, and buyers' organizational structures.

Telescope is a planning tool that employs human corporate intelligence and allows a user to take advantage of a cumulative 600 years of sales and marketing experience from more than 30 experts. Based on this knowledge, this intuitive tool quantifies corporate thinking and has built the information into a standardized methodology for users. Telescope can be used as a standalone application on a desktop, incorporated into a corporate Intranet, or embedded in other applications, such as CRM systems.

"Sales and marketing do not need additional methods of gathering data and information," contends John Leggett, president and CEO of IDM. "Instead they need more effective means of receiving business knowledge and intelligence through their data. Many of the analytic products on the market are reporting tools that do not offer true analysis. IDM offers strategic analysis and operates on the premise that strategic planning can be formalized."

When companies discuss optimizing their marketing programs, Leggett says, they often mean that they are optimizing one marketing program and its individual responses. "IDM concentrates on the aggregated marketing program -- the optimum mix and sequence of all marketing projects that will meet overall objectives. This is marketing strategy aimed at a higher, and ultimately more effective, level."

Telescope queries users with issues based on attributes that impact the marketing and selling of a product. These cover "factual" attributes, such as size of market and "emotional" attributes such as buyers' receptiveness to the products. Queries are similar to those that a consultant would initiate during a needs assessment. Based on the answers, Telescope provides a numeric and graphic depiction of where the user's organization is positioned. This depiction enables users to perceive a realistic picture of where the organization and/or its products currently stand and helps pinpoint areas that need attention.

Telescope provides increased levels of interaction among various departments that impact the strategic planning process. "This can bring together people who normally might not assemble for strategic sessions of this type," explains Leggett. "Telescope makes it possible for them to examine areas they may never have explored-and encourages them to either arrive at a consensus or rethink a program altogether. Conducting these audits on an ongoing basis enables corporate planners to track their efforts and determine the impact, if any, of sales and marketing efforts."

Telescope is the first in a suite of four Marketing LookingGlass products that will be released throughout the year. Each product feeds information into the next, allowing marketers to analyze their situations and then build dynamic and powerful marketing plans from a realistic standpoint with a higher likelihood of achieving desired results. Telescope sells for $499.00, with custom pricing for multiple users, installs, and OEM agreements.

IDM Software provides predictive modeling services and knowledge-based analytic software for sales and marketing departments. The company serves Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Force Automation (SFA), and Marketing Automation (MA) markets with its Marketing LookingGlass Suite that consists of four products: Telescope and Prism-query and analysis tools and Kaleidoscope and Microscope-number crunching tools that use the answers and information gained from the first two products to devise tactical solutions to design and optimize an annual marketing plan. IDM Software is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and can be reached toll free at 877-431-5588 or through its Web site at www.idmsoftware.com.

Contact Tracey Boies of IDM, 603-427-1058.