CRM Weblog

CRM Is Still Alive

With the recent announcement that Oracle is taking over Siebel, many are wondering if this is the end of CRM.

However, there are many levels of CRM such as call center systems, sales force automation, and help desk applications. Siebel has been well known for these “front office” components, and pioneered the way along with Amdocs. However, next emerged the companies like SAP and Oracle dedicated to the “back office” components such as supply chain management, e-business, and finance.

With the acquisition of Siebel’s “front office” components, and Oracle’s “back office” components, then the total CRM product has been created. “It is quite attractive to have one database and a common set of end-user tools...”.  Having these two components will  work in the companies' favor on large scale deployments.

Oracle to Buy Siebel for $5.85 Billion

Oracle's long rumored interest in Siebel is no longer a rumor. Oracle announced they are going to scoop up Siebel for 5.85 billion. Siebel has been losing market share to upstarts like Salesforce.com.

Salesforce has been trending sharply upward in recent trading. Frustrating investors Siebel has been stagnant at best. Mark Benoit, Salesforce CEO holds no punches when speaking about the recent deal:

Oracle put Siebel investors out of their misery today. We have been doing that for Siebel customers for years. Client/Server software is being consolidated by Oracle just as mainframe software was consolidated by Computer Associates. Oracle's strategy is simple. Instead of innovating, buy as much installed software as possible, call it all Oracle Fusion, and make sure it all uses Oracle's database. Now, the same thing that happened to PeopleSoft will happen to Siebel, it will die.

Read what other CRM competitors had to say about the recent transaction.