Incentive System a Hit at First Tennessee Kevin Kenyon

First Tennessee Bank is counting on a new incentive compensation system to align employee performance with corporate goals, and to hike revenues by more closely managing employee compensation.

The Memphis, Tenn.-based institution has installed Motiva 8 Enterprise Incentive Management (EIM), a product of Motiva, Pleasanton, Calif., across its central and regional banking divisions.

Motiva 8 will be used to centralize, standardize and control incentive and variable compensation for over 2,000 employees, including customer service representatives, bank tellers, and metro managers.

The bank is convinced of the product's motivational power. "The advanced functionality, flexibility, and analytic capabilities will help us become more competitive by enabling us to energize and motivate our people," according to Randall Carrier, senior vice president, financial center applications at First Tennessee.

Motiva 8 includes powerful modeling and decision-support simulation tools, which enable users to design effective sales plans, monitor sales execution, and adapt plans to corporate objectives. Organizations can simulate multiple scenarios using historical, current or projected data. Based on the results of various "what if" scenarios, management can make changes to sales territories, account assignments, commission structures, or participant groups, in order to more closely align sales performance with corporate goals.

The system supports multiple incentive plans, performance metrics, and payout types across multiple organizations. Users can define sales territories and eligibility rules for crediting transactions, as well as all of the splits and roll-ups required for individual, team, and management compensation.

Integrated analytics and reporting deliver a clear, unified picture of incentive plan performance for both management and participants. Role-based dashboards present relevant information for executives, managers, administrators, and participants.

Benefits are split evenly between revenue enhancements and cost savings, according to Motiva. Aligning performance with goals allows companies to better drive revenue and profitability. Sales productivity is improved through the elimination of "shadow accounting" by sales and other personnel. Motiva 8 also reduces errors and overpayments due to faulty accounting.

Installation takes between three and six months, depending on the size and scope of the implementation.

Since it's a pure Internet application, Motiva 8 can be installed at a central location and accessed by managers, administrators, and incentive plan participants via Web browsers. And with no code to be installed on the client, total cost of ownership is lowered, officials say.