Oracle’s Siebel CRM continues to deliver innovative new solutions to customers—including six major releases and a newly published product roadmap highlighting planned annual innovation packs through 2015. We asked Oracle's Aaron Shidler, vice president of CRM product strategy and management, to provide insight into Oracle's ongoing innovations and commitment to Oracle's Siebel CRM.
Q. Please give us a big-picture look into Oracle's commitment to its Siebel solutions.
A. Since the acquisition, Oracle's Siebel team has delivered six major releases, containing 39 new products and more than 525 enhancements across 21 industry-specific solutions. Such a commitment makes sense when you have thousands of customers and millions of users—including many very large companies relying on Oracle’s Siebel products for their CRM needs.
Q. What does Oracle's Siebel team have planned for 2013 and beyond?
A. We've made a clear commitment to Oracle's Siebel customers via our product roadmap and statement of direction to deliver new and innovative solutions on a regular basis. We are currently planning to introduce these solutions in our annual innovation packs and fix packs.
Q. Everyone is talking about customer experience (CX) these days. How is Oracle's Siebel team addressing the CX imperative?
A. Oracle's Siebel is innovating in several areas to drive excellent customer experiences: usability, cross-channel enablement, and mobile. The main driver for creating a great customer experience is usability—enabling simplicity and productivity for all types of users—on any browser or device, leveraging the latest, greatest UI controls. With our latest release, Siebel delivers on all this with a user interface that is:
- Contemporary. Siebel runs in all browsers and all browser-capable devices using the latest Web technology standards, such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML 5, while providing a native application user experience.
- Productive. Siebel is designed for a user experience that reduces clutter and user keystrokes.
- User-sensitive. The user experience enables Siebel to adapt to the needs of users—their preferences, their devices, and their desire to complete processes efficiently and effectively.
For cross-channel enablement, Siebel supports a complete set of buy-and-own processes that span multiple channels and leverage multiple Oracle assets. Siebel has lowered the total cost of ownership for customers by providing more than a dozen integrations, including:
- Oracle Commerce Solution (formerly ATG) for cross-channel Web commerce
- Oracle Knowledge Management (formerly InQuira) for integrated contextual knowledge used for contact center and self-service capabilities
- Oracle’s Social Relationship Marketing tools for social campaigns and lead generation
For mobile platforms, Siebel’s open UI supports a full range of browsers and devices, including support for device integration, location services, and phone, URL, and contact integration. The same solution customers enjoy in a variety of channels today can be delivered on mobile devices by leveraging out-of-the-box templates or creating your own look and feel. We plan to add disconnected mobile operations in 2013. Read more here.