Siebel enhances hosted contact center offering

29.03.2005
Von Marc L.

CRM software vendor Siebel Systems Inc. is boosting its hosted contact center offering to help users create better customer-related workflows and get a better view of their multichannel interactions.

The company Tuesday announced Siebel CRM OnDemand Release 7, which has been integrated with the other hosted applications in the company"s Contact OnDemand package. The bundling with the other OnDemand applications means that companies can easily create complete marketing, sales and service workflows.

Typically, a company must spend about six months of development and US$1 million to install the hardware and software systems needed for a call center, said Bruce Cleveland, senior vice president and general manager for OnDemand and SMB at Siebel. With Version 7, all that"s required is a few days to get the call center capability up, he said during a conference call.

The contact center can be used by companies of all sizes and in all industries and even by governments that might be doing citizen polling. The system supports skills-based routing, ensuring that the best-qualified personnel can respond to a given customer"s needs. It also integrates e-mail and Web channels with telephone-based interactions.

The skills-based routing function has helped Product Partners LLC identify prospective buyers and send them to the appropriate specialists, said John Congdon, president of the Los Angeles-based home fitness and weight-loss solutions provider. Product Partners uses Contact OnDemand to take product orders around the clock, allowing the company to analyze specific types of customers based on how often they call. It can also predict when call volume will peak, allowing the company to more efficiently staff the center.

"It"s a perfect solution for a relatively small company in a fast growth mode," Congdon said.

Pricing for Siebel CRM OnDemand 7 bundled with Siebel Contact OnDemand starts at $150 per user per month; it is available now.