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Customer Relationship Management (CRM): What is it? Why should you and your company care?
Part Two
By Jim Zimmermann, Editor
From the January 25, 1999 Issue

Last week we discussed why you and your company should care about CRM and we looked at the features common across most CRM systems. We also took a look at the major CRM-specific vendors.

This week we're focusing on what the major ERP vendors are doing in the CRM market space and what their plans are. We also provide a vendor-by-vendor breakdown of current offerings, alliances, acquisitions, and recent announcements.

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Exactly what are the ERP vendors planning for CRM offerings? Here' s a rundown:

Baan - Baan has chosen the acquisition route to establish a CRM presence. They acquired Aurum in 1998. They now market CRM products under the BaanFrontOffice name. BaanFrontOffice is an integrated web-based application suite designed to encompass all aspects of customer relationship management. BaanFrontOffice provides customer interaction and contact tracking; forecasting; sales pipeline and opportunity management; telemarketing and telesales campaign management; customer problem and resolution tracking; product configuration; and management analysis tools. BaanFrontOffice is comprised of BaanSales, BaanCallCenter, and BaanConfiguration.
http://baanfos.baan.com/

JD Edwards - JD Edwards made an equity investment in CrossWorlds Software in 1998. CrossWorlds will support J.D. Edwards' OneWorld(tm) ERP application suite with CrossWorlds' Processware solutions, which will enable J. D. Edwards' customers to integrate OneWorld with front-office applications such as Clarify, Scopus, Trilogy and Vantive. (CrossWorlds also does the same kind of integration for Baan, PeopleSoft and SAP). JD Edwards also offers their own Customer Service Management System (CSMS) which consists of Installed-Base Management, Call Center Management, Service Contract Management, and Service Order Management modules and it integrates with OneWorld.
CrossWorlds relationship: http://www.jdedwards.com/newsroom/archive/crossworlds.asp
CSMS: http://www.jdedwards.com/products/csms.asp

Oracle - According to the Meta Group, Oracle has over 800 developers working on CRM applications. Oracle offers Front Office solutions for sales, marketing, service, call centers, Internet business applications, and business intelligence. Oracle's Front Office solution supports complete customer life cycle management, from demand generation, lead and opportunity management, order management, contracts, and ongoing customer service management. Oracle's offerings include Field Sales Online, Mobile Sales & Marketing, Sales Compensation, Sales & Marketing, Marketing, Services, Contracts, Call Center & Telephony, MRO, and Web Customers.
http://www.oracle.com/applications/html/foa.html

PeopleSoft - Rather than develop their own CRM solutions, PeopleSoft has embarked on a partnering strategy to supply CRM functionality for their customers. They have partnered with both Siebel Systems and Vantive. For more information on these relationships, click on the appropriate links below.

Siebel Relationship: http://checkers.peoplesoft.com/acpcp.nsf/61a9fb75d5378731882566a5005b24f1/6ed1ac567c3326d18825668d005b216f?OpenDocument

Vantive Relationship: http://checkers.peoplesoft.com/acpcp.nsf/61a9fb75d5378731882566a5005b24f1/5fddc55e31ccf1ea8825668a00006813?OpenDocument

SAP - SAP's first foray into CRM was the acquisition of a small German sales automation software vendor. They later decided to scrap that company's products. SAP then decided to develop their own solutions. According to the Meta Group, SAP also has over 800 developers working on their CRM solutions. In September 1998, SAP announced their Sales, Marketing and Service components. Originally scheduled for shipment the end of 1998, they recently announced that they will deliver their Mobile Sales Solution and their Mobile Service Solution in Q1 1999 with general availability in Q2 1999. Components due in the second quarter include Sales Force Automation, TeleSales, Customer Interaction Call Center and Return Material Authorization. In the fourth quarter of 1999, SAP Marketing, SAP Sales and SAP Service 1.2 will be released.
http://www.sap.com/sapfocus/focusover.htm

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OTHER CRM COMPANIES TO WATCH

IBM / CorePoint Technologies - In August 1998, IBM spun off a separate company to address the CRM market. This company is called Corepoint Technologies (we particularly like Corepoint's tag line: "Turning customer satisfaction into customer loyalty".) In November 1998, Corepoint announced their CRM product suite which is made up of six product lines - Sales & Marketing, Service & Support, Relationship Management, Universal Access, Enterprise Connection and Foundation Products. The Corepoint suite includes existing products from Tivoli Systems' Software Artistry suite for managing the customer-relationship life cycle; technologies and products from Early, Cloud & Co., a call-center company IBM acquired three years ago; and IBM's Callpath and DirectTalk computer telephony products. So far, Corepoint has been receiving positive reviews from industry analysts and the trade press.
http://www.corepoint.com/

Octane Software - Founded in 1997 by a team of front office industry experts including several VPs from Scopus. This is a "watch this space" company. They don't have any products on the market yet but they appear to have a seasoned executive team and they are well funded by several well-know venture firms including Lucent's venture arm. You can visit their site but you won't find much beyond a mission statement and the bios of their executive team. http://www.octaneinc.com/

Onyx Software - ONYX Software Corporation is a leading provider of customer management software for Microsoft(r) BackOffice(tm) and they are the company that pioneered the concept of "Total Customer Management(tm)". ONYX is a rapidly growing company that is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington (the founders used to work for Microsoft where they designed customer management systems for Microsoft's internal use). Their flagship product is ONYX Customer Center which was developed exclusively for Microsoft NT and SQL Server. Onyx Customer Center marketing, sales, service, and support modules are available in an integrated solution. http://www.onyx.com/

Pivotal Software Inc. - Pivotal is a mid-market CRM vendor that is growing very quickly. When they announced their 1998 first fiscal quarter results in November 1998, they reported a 185% revenue growth compared to the same quarter in 1997--its fourth quarter of triple-digit growth. Pivotal Software also received the "1998 Microsoft Industry Solutions Award for Best Overall Customer Management Solution". Their flagship product, Pivotal Relationship, is one of the leading CRM software applications for mid-enterprise businesses that have standardized on the Microsoft(r) BackOffice platform. They claim over 25,000 users licensed worldwide. In November 1998, they announced the February 1999 launch of a new application suite called Pivotal eRelationship which will reportedly enable companies to develop "Internet Relationship Hubs" for collaborating with business partners and customers on Web sites. http://www.pivotal.com/

USinternetworking - This is a company that we covered in an earlier feature story on Application Service Providers. For the CRM market, Usinternetworking has partnered with Siebel to provide the Siebel CRM suite on a hosted or rental basis. This URL will take you directly to the Usinternetworking/Siebel pages: http://www.usinternetworking.com/products/erm/index.html

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