PeopleSoft positioned as top challenger in META Group CRM market evaluation

Activ8, a member of the JSE-listed ERP.com Group, and the Southern African distributor for PeopleSoft, today announced that PeopleSoft has been ranked as the lead challenger in META Group`s most recent METAspectrum for customer relationship management (CRM).

The METAspectrum evaluation provides an objective assessment of companies providing CRM application suites. After a rigorous review process, PeopleSoft was positioned as the leading challenger in the evaluation based on an analysis of more than forty critical vendor presence and performance criteria.

PeopleSoft offers a comprehensive suite of CRM applications that provides real-time integration, analytics and access for customers, employees, suppliers and partners across the extended enterprise. As a result, organisations can tie together customer relationship management processes and data, analyse customer behaviour in real-time, and provide seamless access to customer information anytime, anywhere - all through a standard Web browser. These capabilities enable organisations to implement CRM as an enterprise strategy, turning every customer interaction into an opportunity for improved service or incremental revenue.

CRM technology and business strategy has evolved significantly during the past two years," said Steve Bonadio, senior program director, META Group, Inc and author of METAspectrum for CRM Application Suites.

"Through 2002/03, organisations will accelerate CRM suite investments to broaden CRM technology exposure across multiple business functions and lines of business, improve customer information/data management, and minimize risks associated with managing multiple vendor relationships and disparate customer systems and databases. Today`s CRM leaders exhibit excellence in several key areas: customer lifecycle management vision, ecosystem investment strategy, execution, feature/function depth, mind share, technology and architecture, value management, vertical coverage and viability."

PeopleSoft continues to take market share away from the competition, said Paul Mather, MD of activ8. "PeopleSoft`s focus on CRM as an enterprise strategy and its ability to deliver functionally rich solutions with comprehensive integration across business processes gives PeopleSoft a unique advantage in the market."

METAspectrum is a structured methodology that enables clients to accelerate their understanding of IT product and service markets by leveraging evaluation criteria and sub-criteria that are tailored and weighted to the unique characteristics of the CRM market. METAspectrum charts and tables are based on a thorough review of market, vendor, and competitive dynamics, enabling clients to visualise the relative positioning of IT vendors and target specific areas of discussion in synergy with their evaluation processes, thus ultimately driving better purchase decisions. The METAspectrum methodology incorporates several simple, dynamic themes to optimise META Group`s ability to offer market and vendor evaluations.