The job of any sales department is pretty simple: close more sales. That’s what keeps the business growing, and few companies think twice about investing in technology to keep the pipeline flowing.

But too often those investments are made blindly, writes Forbes contributor Tom Taulli. He cites a new survey from Adobe and Apttus, a revenue management provider, that suggests companies’ biggest sales problem is insufficient sales automation technology.

Sure, Apttus stands to win business from companies that upgrade sales automation systems, but the survey is a reminder that sales teams need all possible data, consolidated in one place, to close more (and larger) deals.

But there’s one untapped source of sales information not mentioned in the survey, and it doesn’t come from sales at all: technicians in the field. Smart companies are connecting the dots between service and sales to identify new opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed, no matter how modern the company’s automation system.

(via Forbes)

Must Reads:

‘Wearable’ Label Misses the Mark: The “wearable” adjective may be accurate, but Peter Coffee, vice president of strategic research at Salesforce.com, warns business leaders not to think of these technologies as cute toys. They are powerful business tools that will improve productivity for many employees, service technicians included. Underestimate wearable technologies, and it might be too late to catch up. (via Re/code).

No Productivity Without Mobile Security: Mobile is hugely important for field service, of course. But the communications between those devices must be secure, especially for service organizations in heavily regulated industries like energy and healthcare. One security strategy, according to BizTech magazine, is to use virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to secure the devices and the data those devices transmit. (via BizTech)

Stop Undermining Your Own Productivity: To work today is to work distracted. We juggle multiple devices and must contend with an endless stream of email and physical distractions in the office, to name just a few. But we’re often our own worst enemy by trying to achieve an unattainable goal of hyper-productivity, says Chris Mooney, host of the “Inquiring Minds” podcast. Below is Mooney’s full interview with psychologist Maria Konnikova about how people can free their minds and work better, whether their office is a corner suite or a service van. (via Medium)

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