Siebel launches latest CRM artillery

Siebel Systems has fired another salvo in its war to stay ahead in the customer relationship management (CRM) market with the release of Siebel eBusiness 2000 suite.

The launch follows an admission from arch rival Oracle last month that its CRM package has been delayed until the end of the year.

Siebel has added 28 applications to eBusiness 2000 and these include: Personalisation, for content and products customisation; ePricer, which ensures that orders processed over the web are priced correctly; eMail Response, which automates and manages incoming emails from customers; and eTraining, for new users.

Already, a number of business and IT consulting firms, including Ernst & Young and Arthur Anderson, and application service providers, including Polaris and Corio, have pledged support for the latest release.

"As an active participant in the beta testing of Siebel eBusiness 2000, Arthur Andersen anticipate that Siebel eBusiness 2000 will have a significant impact on the ebusiness community," said Joseph O'Leary, a partner at Arthur Andersen.

The latest version also offers improved application integration capabilities to software from SAP, Great Plains and JD Edwards, as well as new links to Lawson and Oracle packages.

Oracle's CRM product has been fraught with delays. Last month officials admitted it would be delayed until the end of the year, several months later than the vendor had promised customers.

The suite was originally scheduled for release last September but this was moved to May 2000. However, last month the company revealed that two key components, Oracle Telesales and Oracle Web Sales, would not be ready by then.