Xactly - excellent system if you are willing to make the investment

Xactly is a top-notch system that can handle all kinds of incentive scenarios. However, it also requires a lot of maintenance to keep running effectively post-implementation. I would not recommend this system for a company that is looking to achieve cost savings through automation and the reduction of compensation specialist headcount. In all likelihood, you will need to increase your staffing on the HR side to effectively maintain the system. However, Xactly can provide cost savings in terms of its ability to accurately calculate commissions for a large organization. Cost savings can be achieved through the reduction of calculation errors, miscommunication of results to employees, etc.

Xactly Incent is a challenging product to implement, but is an essential part of our organization's infrastructure. The investment into the system and the ongoing maintenance of it are simply part of growing a large, fast-moving organization. Xactly provides excellent support of the product and continues to update it frequently.

I would recommend taking more time than suggested for Xactly implementation. Particularly after the system is implemented. It would be easier to continue running your legacy systems in parallel with Xactly for 3-4 pay cycles at a minimum to ensure you find all errors and issues before rolling out to the sales force.

3 full days of training, before having ever used the system, was not particularly beneficial. It is difficult to absorb that much information. Much better to break up the training and take it before during and after the testing and implementation process. I learned much more going back and re-taking the certification exams after implementation.

Online training is very useful - the training is broken into small modules, with plenty of notes and exercises that can be downloaded. I particularly appreciate the certification exams. It helps to be able to show that you have attained a certain level of proficiency on various aspects of Xactly.

One of the most impressive aspects of Xactly Incent is its capabilities to process such a wide variety of incentives and crediting situations. It truly is capable of handling almost any kind of sales incentive. As a compensation professional who has 15 years experience in sales compensation, I am impressed with just how flexible the system is in this regards.

Xactly provides much better support for Incent than you will find from a typical software company. I truly feel that the team at Xactly wants me to be successful as a compensation professional and they understand the dynamics that shape my role and my priorities in serving the sales force.

Incent is a wonderful system to operate, once you have learned how to use it. There is definitely a steep learning curve to understand how the system operates. Xactly does offer intensive training, but it really takes 1-2 years of using it to truly master. However, I believe as a compensation professional this is the direction in which our field is heading so it is worth the investment.

One of the great advantages of Xactly Incent is its scalability. We deployed it for over 5,000 employees and it worked extremely well for this size of user base.

As a compensation professional, I also appreciate that you can use Xactly as a reason to avoid unecessarily complex incentives, or multiple customized plans, which managers sometimes enjoy creating. It is much easier to keep your incentive architecture in place with Xactly than when you are doing everything in Excel.

Xactly Incent is always available, they have planned monthly maintenance on Friday nights but are very proactive to communicate it. Monthly maintenance is useful as they address any bugs and also are constantly upgrading the user interface to make it easier to use.

Xactly Incent performs extremely well. I have not experienced it "slowing down" when usage is heavy. This is particularly true when it comes to the regular recalculation of credits and commissions. It is not uncommon for Xactly to be dealing with hundreds of thousands of orders/credits in a pay period, but the system handles it well. Xactly recently changed their calculation engine and the speed for regular refreshes increased significantly.

Xactly will handle most of the difficult aspects of the integration for you. You only need to provide them with the specifications.

Xactly has a smooth process for selling its products.

One of the great strengths of Xactly is the team. I have enjoyed working with every individual in Xactly, and find them all to be knowledgable about compensation and available to assist whenever it is needed. The Technical Account Manager role is especially excellent in this regards.