Siebel's re-entry into the hosted customer relationship
management market should benefit businesses that have been put off
large-scale roll-outs of CRM software by the high implementation
and running costs.
The idea of running hosted applications is not new. During the
dotcom boom, application service providers (ASPs) promised users
large savings if they had their applications hosted and managed
remotely by a third party. Many such services no longer exist, but
the success of Salesforce.com, which provides hosted CRM, has
revitalised the ASP industry.
This prompted CRM market-leader Siebel to launch its own hosted CRM
service, in partnership with IBM, called CRM OnDemand.
CRM has always been considered expensive to implement. Hosted CRM
services offer smaller organisations, or departments within larger
companies, access to some of the functionality traditionally found
in large, complex CRM applications, without the implementation
hassles and high prices associated with best-of-breed
packages.
The basic idea is to provide users with access to enterprise
software over a network connection. IT departments do not have to
install any additional server hardware or software as users access
the application via their web browser. The whole application is
managed remotely.
Siebel's CRM OnDemand is a browser-based service, giving end-users
access to basic CRM for a fixed price of $70 (£42) per month from a
web browser connection. The service runs on Java 2 Enterprise
Edition and IBM Websphere technology.
Analyst firm Gartner said the introduction of the Siebel service
further validates a model pioneered by Salesforce.com, whose
customers include AOL, Avis and Mitsubishi.
Gartner advised small and medium-sized enterprises to assess the
Siebel service. And larger businesses that already run Siebel
should consider using it when they need to extend the package to
new areas.
Michael Maoz, an analyst at Gartner, said, "Siebel's large
customers should re-examine the feasibility of extending Siebel to
parts of the organisation previously left out for budgetary
reasons."
Siebel was an early player in the hosted CRM market, launching
Sales.com in 1999 to offer browser-based tools. Two unprofitable
years later, the service was scrapped.
The OnDemand service, which is due to launch before the end of the
year, has a number of improved features. According to Maoz, the
most prominent of these are the simplicity of the interface, the
reliability of the hosting partner, rich functions and workflow,
embedded real-time analytics and built-in connections to
back-office applications.
