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In-Depth Information
customer-driven growth and to differentiate themselves in the market by providing a superior
customer experience.
Since its latest release in December 2007, SAP has evolved CRM beyond traditional task auto-
mation to a flexible, user-driven, and end-to-end business process execution platform. SAP CRM
is architected to help companies achieve a complete 360-degree view of customers, which is one of
the most critical factors in enabling a successful CRM strategy.
4.5.3.2 Oracle Siebel CRM
Siebel remains the key market shareholder in technology-enabled selling and is a leader in large
enterprise customer service and support, making it the only front office suite vendor with a domi-
nant position in two of the three front office domains. Siebel also provides solutions tailored to the
following verticals—Automotive, Public Sector, Communications, Consumer Goods, Apparel
and Footwear, Energy, Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Pharma, and Retail.
In addition to Oracle Siebel CRM for enterprise customers, the product family also includes
Oracle's Siebel On Demand and Oracle's Siebel Professional Edition for the mid-market. The
Siebel product for enterprise-class customers has achieved best-of-breed status for most CRM
functionalities, with the exception of customer service and e-commerce. It also boasts good indus-
try vertical adaptations. However, it faces the challenges arising out of application complexity,
high cost, and lengthy implementation. The product is best suited for buyers who value advanced
functionality tailored for specific industries, customer insight through strong analytics and cus-
tomer data management, and the ability to support global organizations. For instance, Siebel
CRM's superior analytics enable closed-loop analysis delivering marketing management metrics
that can optimize the customer's marketing strategy.
4.5.3.3 Salesforce
This company is growing quickly by making CRM solutions available through the Software as
a Service (SaaS deployment model. As with other SaaS vendors, the value proposition has found
success in the SMB market, which values quick time-to-value, usability, and lower upfront
costs compared with traditional on-premise solutions. Enterprise-class customers seeking these
benefits are increasingly turning to salesforce.com to understand whether SaaS deployment
can meet their more complex CRM requirements. As indicated by its name, it is very strong in
supporting SFA requirements and recently moved to expand its partner channel management
offerings.
4.5.4 Small and Mid-Market Enterprises
Mid-size enterprises are defined as those with annual revenues between
$
200 million and
$
1 bil-
lion, and an overall staff strength of fewer than 1000. CRM vendors in this group also offer a
breadth of CRM functionalities, but these often have more limited capabilities in specific areas
and are simpler to use than solutions built for the enterprise market. These vendors are less suit-
able for large-scale global deployments. Vendors in this group also offer a variety of deployment
options, including on-premise license, hosted, and SaaS. Some vendors in this category have
upgraded their solutions to be more suitable to enterprise-class buyers and are gaining acceptance
in that segment as well. The typical cost of a front office application from a vendor targeting the
mid-size enterprise is $600 to $1700 per user.
