Many Salesforce.com competitors cite Xactly and other third part applications as proof that Salesforce does not offer the depth of CRM packages like those from an SAP or Siebel, thus forcing users to seek out third party AppExchange providers.

However, Laurie McCabe, vice president of SMB Insights and Business Solutions at AMR-Partners has a different point of view.

McCabe says getting back to keeping things simple may be the way to go, citing the complexity of packages like Microsoft Word where users only understand about 10 percent of its features,.

"It might be better to offer a customer the basics and then let them pick and choose what they really need," McCabe said.

A second feature in Xactly version 3 is simply called Draw. This service tracks advance payments made to sales people starting up at a company. Accessible online by managers and new hires this feature tracks the amount of money owed and paid back to the company.