According to Rapp, Calamusa, and Bachrach (2014), the technology tools, systems (e.g., CRM), and applications are used to: (1) accomplish a wide range of core strategic purposes for organizations today and expands to a comprehensive modern selling apparatus; (2) create a system that effectively integrates support for sales, marketing, and service across all channels and all products; (3) create a single snapshot of the customer and augment the skills and core competencies of the sales force at different levels; (4) facilitate the collection and maintenance of the most current information and data on markets, customers, products and competitors; (5) decrease sales costs as it increases efficiency of sales operations; (6) improve communications among the company, its employees (including salesforce), and its customers (as shown in the services marketing triangle in the prior paragraph); (7) improve forecasts through sophisticated analytics software and data mining; (8) improve management effectiveness by enabling more accurate and detailed data enabled performance evaluation and deployment of self-paced training modules; (9) improve sales effectiveness by offering salespeople real-time, in-depth customer analysis that can be leveraged prior to and during sales calls; (10) facilitate team selling by creating data-rich ties among members of the sales team.
By reading over the prior two paragraphs, please provide your insight into the role of technology in the services marketing triangle and in enhancing productivity and efficiency in sales operations and provide real-life examples to support your discussion.