Field.First expands beyond the traditional notion of sales-force automation, which primarily helps salespeople track opportunities in a sales pipeline. The suite contains two initial applications: Presentation Builder lets salespeople enter parameters, such as client, vertical industry, competitors, and products, to create customized sales presentations based on reports and marketing literature published by others in the company; and Literature Cabinet helps salespeople retrieve sales information in response to customer requests.

Businesses have tried to use company intranets to help salespeople, but Conjoin users say they haven't helped much. "The sales professional is unfortunately beginning to spend more time in front of the browser than in front of the customer," says Joe Batista, director of enterprise and Internet initiatives at Compaq. Compaq is including Field.First as part of a "cyber toolkit" for thousands of mobile sales personnel. Batista says because Presentation Builder indexes all presentations in the Field.First system, Compaq can tailor presentations to play up salespeople's individual strengths. Field.First also keeps information fresh and relevant by giving materials expiration dates, letting salespeople rate effectiveness of materials, and removing materials that aren't being used.

Analysts say Conjoin's products have the potential to help sales forces decrease sales-cycle times, as well as to ensure sales reps are giving customers the right information.

One word of caution: Customers likely will be required to integrate Field.First with existing customer-relationship management packages, meaning some programming expertise is needed. Presentation Builder and Literature Cabinet, which will be followed by other unnamed sales applications, are available now. Field.First starts at just under $100,000.