Siebel Systems and IBM today announced plans to make available Siebel CRM OnDemand, a new hosted customer relationship management (CRM) software service for the local market.
The service enables organisations to access CRM technologies through the Internet at an affordable price, without committing any capital expenditure. The offering extends Siebel's reach to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and could expand its presence among large Siebel customers.
For a monthly subscription fee of less than R1 000 per user per month, Siebel and IBM will host a CRM solution that offers seamless integration and automated migration to on-premises Siebel CRM application. Siebel CRM OnDemand can be used stand-alone to run a business or integrated with on-site deployments of Siebel enterprise applications.
"We are seeing a lot of organisations struggling with resources and technical configurations of software applications. The lack of resources and technical restraints often impact on the benefits organisations can reap from software programmes. Siebel CRM OnDemand is designed to take all of these issues out of the equation," says Peter Mbelengwa from Siebel Systems in SA.
"With Siebel CRM OnDemand we offer the flexibility that utility computing provides. We are bringing proven CRM to a new user segment in a faster, easier, and more affordable way," says Mbelengwa.
Siebel CRM OnDemand is designed to assist organisations to improve the management of sales leads as well as to improve sales forecasting and shorten sales cycles. The service features the amenities of Siebel traditional CRM applications, including built-in analytics. The functionality of CRM analytics enables sales, marketing and service professionals to act immediately on relevant business, customer and market events.
Application hosting services such as Siebel CRM OnDemand aim to remove the hassle and start-up costs of purchasing software, handling installation, maintenance, support and upgrades. IT research firm BMI-TechKnowledge predicts that growth in hosted CRM revenue will outpace traditionally licensed CRM revenue over the next four years. However, hosted revenue will remain a fraction of the total CRM software market.
"We expect a high uptake of Siebel CRM OnDemand because of the attractive pricing positioning, rich functionality and business benefits offered," says Dave Botha, country marketing executive for IBM South Africa.
"Siebel's entry into the on demand era is truly an important development for our industry. IBM and Siebel share a vision that on-demand is the new source of competitive advantage and differentiation. Siebel's CRM leadership combined with IBM's strength in delivering business processes via the Internet makes for a powerful combination customers can rely on," says Botha.
Siebel CRM OnDemand incorporates a user interface (UI) designed to maximise user success and adoption without extensive training. Customer support includes Siebel immediate online assistance and telephone support.
Adds Divisional Head - IT Services from BMI-TechKnowledge South Africa, Roy Blume: "Fundamentally, the concept of a hosted CRM platform can deliver huge benefits to organisations. As with any IT investment several factors - including application best fit, growth and migration, IT maturity and constraints and cost of ownership - must be explored prior to making a deployment decision.
"Before embarking on any CRM initiative hosted or traditional, organisations must ensure that they are fully committed to change. CRM is 20% technology and 80% business process reengineering and change," says Blume.
Siebel CRM OnDemand will be fully available in the first quarter of 2004. The service will marketed and sold through IBM's local sales force dedicated to the small and medium-sized markets as well as Siebel's field sales organisation.
The announcement is the latest in a series of strategic alliances between Siebel and IBM.
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Siebel Systems, Inc is a leading provider of e-business applications software, enabling corporations to sell to, market to, and serve customers across multiple channels and lines of business. With more than 3 500 customer deployments worldwide, Siebel Systems provides organisations with a proven set of industry-specific best practices, CRM applications, and business processes, empowering them to consistently deliver superior customer experiences and establish more profitable customer relationships. Siebel Systems' sales and service facilities are located in more than 28 countries.
IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with more than 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key business partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of e-business in an on-demand world.
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