Siebel CEO: No Slowing Down
BOSTON — Siebel Systems' days as a standalone company
may be numbered, but its days as a customer relationship management
innovator are not.
That was the message CEO George T. Shaheen delivered to 4,000 attendees of
Siebel CustomerWorld, the first major user meeting since Oracle's $5.85 billion takeover offer last month.
“Both Siebel and Oracle have been pioneers in innovating on behalf
of customers,” Shaheen said. “We have a common gene pool set and the
combined company will create more technology leadership.”
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who has been on an acquisition tear in the CRM and
analytics space, echoed Shaheen's remarks in a videotaped message.
“[Siebel's] applications will be the foundation for Oracle CRM going
forward,” Ellison said. “We're very excited about what they have done with
SOA
Siebel customers will see some new things today, such as the release of the
Siebel Component Assembly for Microsoft's .NET
The offering provides integration with Microsoft Office and uses Visual
Studio 2005 Windows Forms to speed CRM application development and
deployment, the companies said.
Also, San Mateo, Calif.-based Siebel introduced Real-Time Decisions (RTD),
an addition to its Business Analytics Business family. RTD products help
identify customer needs in real-time and respond with the most relevant
offers and messages.
Bruce Cleveland, a Siebel senior vice president, also unfolded a roadmap.
Coming enhancements include: greater interoperability between CRM and
on-demand; a more unified user interface among product lines; and the
increased use of embedded analytics.
As Siebel executives were trying to inspire customers with confidence about
the Oracle merger, its CRM competitors were looking to sew doubt.
SAP today said it is extending a program for Siebel
customers to switch to its platform. The “safe passage” program helps
Siebel customers who are “grappling with the uncertainties arising from
Siebel's pending acquisition by Oracle.”
Salesforce.com has also been trying to entice Siebel
customers to switch before the Oracle merger.
