Siebel Systems is plunging deeper into the hosted
applications market with a set of vertically focused customer
relationship management offerings to be delivered via
subscription.
The Siebel CRM OnDemand-Industry Editions package will offer
out-of-the-box marketing, sales and service capabilities for eight
industries. Siebel recently made a foray into the hosted market,
following in the footsteps of rivals such as Salesforce.com.
"Organisations of all sizes can now rapidly solve
industry-specific business problems in a cost-effective manner,"
claimed Mike Betzer, general manager of Siebel's OnDemand
division.
The first products, to be released this summer, will cater to
the insurance, high-tech, automotive, and communications and media
industries. in the autumn, Siebel will offer packages geared to the
financial services, life sciences, manufacturing and consumer goods
markets.
To do this, Siebel will port over vertical technology it has
developed for its in-house CRM applications, which have been
enhanced to service 23 different industries. The hosted
applications can be run in standalone mode or integrated with
on-site Siebel CRM software.
The move will allow channel partners and field sales or service
organisations to tie into existing Siebel software installations to
support, for instance, processes such as policy quoting and renewal
management for the insurance industry.
Analyst Sheryl Kingstone at The Yankee Group said the hosted
offerings have been tweaked on all levels, from user interfaces to
templates to custom fields and tabs, to service each industry.
Siebel will also deliver industry-specific data models and objects
that aid in business performance analysis.
As an example of the new offering, the hosted Siebel automotive
package will allow better management of car owner data.
Manufacturers will be able to implement it in independent
dealerships to share marketing campaign, sales and other customer
information.
Siebel added that the Insurance Edition will do things such as
allow independent brokers to access a common CRM system and boost
service efficiency.
Siebel CRM OnDemand--Industry Edition costs $100 per user per
month.
Marc L Songini writes for
Computerworld