Siebel hitting the market with new CRM software

Siebel customers are poised for the imminent release of the application set now named Siebel 7.

With more than 1.8 million hours under its belt, Siebel 7 is designed to include:

* a new Internet-based architecture, entitled Siebel Smart Web;

* enhanced features across all applications, including all industry-specific versions;

* the formal launch of Siebel Employee Relationship Management, a portal application designed to manage employees;

* a more formalized enterprise integration strategy, the Application Network Framework, which also includes new or enhanced packaged connectors for Oracle, PeopleSoft, Avaya, SAP, Great Plains, and J.D. Edwards.

"Although this upgrade was necessary for Siebel and provides a respectable Internet framework, it has missed some first-mover opportunities from an architectural perspective. And in the meantime, others are catching up from a functional perspective," comments Joanie Rufo of technology market analyst AMR Research.