Cloud9 Analytics, an on-demand sales forecasting and pipeline management services company, has named Jim Burleigh CEO, the company said March 15. He replaced Swayne Hill, who will become SVP of global field operations and report directly to Burleigh.
Burleigh’s responsibilities include expanding Cloud9’s sales forecasting capabilities and growing the company’s personnel and customer base.
“People are not aware enough of our capabilities yet,” said Burleigh. “In general, sales forecasting today is a black art. If you look at the stats on forecasting, they’re horrible, with 40% to 50% accuracy. That’s not what the CEO and CFOs want…We’ve got to let them know that technology is available to help them.”
Hill was replaced because “we now need to accelerate things, and the board wanted to bring someone in with CEO and software-as-a-service experience,” said Burleigh. “Hill was originally the company’s VP of sales. As the company got started, he was grabbed as CEO.”
In his new role, Hill will be responsible for “bringing the customer through the sales process to ensuring the customer becomes a happy sales reference,” said Burleigh. “He will continue to be a core part of the company.” Hill had served as CEO since January 2007.
Burleigh most recently served as CEO of SmartTurn, a SaaS warehouse and inventory management company that he founded in 2004. SmartTurn was sold last year to RedPrairie, where Jim served as SVP of the on-demand group. He has also worked at Salesforce.com, Remedy, BayStone Software and Oracle.
Burleigh will oversee a staff of 43, though he said he expects that number to increase to more than 50 by the end of the year. The marketing team, which includes four members, will add one or two positions by the end of 2011, he said.
