Office applications Toolkit

Siebel aims for ease of use

Tags:
Business Management,
Ease Of Use,
Customer Relationship Management,
Crm

Alorie Gilbert CNET News

Published: 08 Oct 2003 14:20 BST

Siebel Systems is working on a slew of new features for its set of business-management applications and plans to release them in new versions of the programs next year.

The software company discussed the product updates on Tuesday during its annual User Week conference in San Diego.

The thrust of the updates and developments -- part of what Siebel is calling its "CRM for Everyone" initiative -- appeared aimed at quieting Siebel critics who say the company's software is difficult to set up and use. Siebel specialises in CRM, or customer relationship management, software. Such software is designed to automate corporate sales, marketing and customer service tasks, but it has gotten a bad rap recently, with companies reporting disappointment in the programs.

Siebel is promising to revamp the user interface of its software, allowing people to customise it based on a given job. So a salesperson, for example, would have a different view of the system than a call centre agent. Siebel said the new software will also be easier to install, configure, test and upgrade than previous versions.

Many of the new features will become available with the next release of the company's software, Siebel 7.7, expected to ship by July, the company said.

In the meantime, Siebel plans to release an updated version of its data analysis software by the end of the year. Siebel Analytics 7.7 incorporates new data mining capabilities and data presentation formats, the company said. Siebel also recently released an updated version of its software compatibility tools, called Universal Application Network 3.0. The product is supposed to make it easier for customers to link Siebel software to other business systems, a task that many customers say can be a costly undertaking.

The CRM for Everyone message also incorporates Siebel's recent announcement that it's working with IBM to introduce a slimmed-down version of its applications for small and medium-sized businesses. The Siebel OnDemand software, scheduled for release by year's end, will be available for a monthly per-user fee, the companies said. IBM plans to host the software at its data centres, allowing customers to access it like they would a Web site.