Abstract
The scalability of sales automation is dependent on a company’s capacity to create and operate use cases. For businesses not systematically scaling up data utilization and automation, increasing levels of “digitalization” may negatively impact financial performance. Successful companies focus on building a revenue engine to achieve a scaled impact and a flat or even declining cost base. To scale, companies need to stop structuring their digital transformation initiatives via the platforms they are implementing and start using a use-case-centric lens. In a use-case-centric logic, business priorities and applications are the starting point. Use cases leverage the available data through automation and employ digital platforms as supporting tools to drive specified business objectives. In most companies, existent practices need to be challenged, and the methodology and process will require leadership skills. Managers need to understand the effort required to reach the target automation level, and to keep the engine running, marketing and sales need to improve their data literacy.