Skip the navigation
)

Siebel looks to custom-built apps to boost bottom line

It's changing its business model to drive new growth

By Marc L. Songini
October 4, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - LOS ANGELES -- Customer relationship management software maker Siebel Systems Inc. is moving to reinvent itself in a bid to revive its flagging fortunes and drive new growth.
During its 10-year history, the company focused primarily on making and selling prebuilt and prepackaged software, newly installed CEO Mike Lawrie said during a keynote address today at the company's annual Siebel User Week event here. However, that sort of business model is inadequate to penetrate the largest segments of the CRM market.
To expand the company's opportunities, Lawrie unveiled a number of initiatives, dubbed "Chapter 2", under which the company plans to create customized software packages designed to reach the 75% of the CRM market now unavailable to it.
During the speech, he talked about CRM and the thinking behind the company's initiative. "It's not a product or an event, but a strategy," Lawrie said, adding that it's also about processes and people, not just technology. So in addition to offering its existing packaged applications and its hosted OnDemand offerings, Siebel plans to craft custom-built software for customers whose requirements remain unmet.
Lawrie said the initiative was made possible by the fact that enterprise applications are increasingly being broken down into smaller components.
Siebel's own service organization plans to work closely with key partners to implement the changes, he said, and the company will focus more on selling to specific industries rather than to geographical entities.
As for the future development of Siebel applications, the company intends to continue to enhance its technology, but "it will be balanced with the end-to-end capabilities to drive results," he said.
Siebel also announced that it would continue to build and acquire front-office software, in particular to beef up its order management and incentive management capabilities. Moreover, it's adding 20 new analytical applications to its business intelligence portfolio. Those offerings will include a customer analytics application that will deliver prebuilt industry-specific functions that span call center, sales and marketing analytics operations. There will also be a financial analytics application to manage and optimize corporate assets, a supply chain tool to help evaluate suppliers, and another tool to help companies measure employee performance.
The company also announced today in a preliminary financial report that it expects revenues for the third quarter to be as high as $317 million, beating analysts' expectations and representing a 5% increase over the second quarter. License revenues, a good indicator of a company's health, will be as high $105 million -- a 10% increase from the prior quarter this year.

Read more about CRM in Computerworld's CRM Topic Center.



What is Tech Briefcase?
TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more
Bookmark content
Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.
Search and Store
Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.
View Anywhere
Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.
Don't have an account yet?
Additional Resources
Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

CRM White Papers
Practice Management: Double Billing Rate and Improve Patient Services
Would you like to double your billing rate and achieve faster payment for services?

Download this customer success story to see how One Health...
Mission Critical Data Explosion and Customer Case Study
Would you like to double your tier 1 storage capacity while simultaneously reducing your storage footprint?

Download this customer success story to see how...
Protecting Against Database Attacks and Insider Threats: Top 5 Scenarios
Read this new eBook to learn the top five scenarios and essential best practices for preventing database attacks and insider threats.
Database Activity Monitoring Is Evolving
Read the analyst report and learn how you can leverage the core capabilities of a DAP solution for better database security.
Establishing a Strategy for Database Security is No Longer Optional
The options for securing increasingly valuable databases are very broad and deep, and can be confusing. This research provides an overview of three...
All CRM White Papers
CRM Webcasts
Distributed Database Security with Real-time Monitoring
View this demo and learn how IBM InfoSphere Guardium database activity monitoring can help protect your sensitive data in distributed DBMS environments with...
InfoSphere Warehouse Packs Demo
These flash modules make warehousing more tangible and relevant to business users through detailed explanations of the InfoSphere Warehouse Packs.
Delivery Management -- Extending Lifecycle Management
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT

Siloed organizations continue doing the wrong things and doing things wrong, leading to increased costs,...
Leverage automation today to reduce IT complexity
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 2:00 PM EDT

Whether your B2B complexity is caused by multiple technologies due to M&A, business or application specific...
Redefine Expectations in the Data Center
Need to do more with less? Watch this video to learn how HP ProLiant Gen8 servers can help your business deploy servers three...
All CRM Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs