The Week in Review: October 24, 2003

In the news... State and local government IT outsourcing could grow from approximately $10 billion in 2003 to over $23 billion by 2008, according to a report released by INPUT, a market researcher specializing in the public sector. Continuing fiscal pressure and the aging government workforce are significant factors driving this outsourcing initiative, according to the firm. The hosted-CRM players have done their job saving customers money, but now have to turn a profit themselves to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive marketplace, according to a new report by research firm the Probe Group. "Price and performance are now as important as ever to the hosting customer. With data centers still showing low occupancy, hosting providers need to offer incentives to win new customers," Liz McPhillips, research director for Probe Group, said in a statement. CRM earnings review... PeopleSoft announced its results for the third quarter 2003, ended September 30. Total revenue for the quarter was a record $624 million, but the company saw a $7 million net loss due to the J.D. Edwards acquisition. "Our financial results really speak for themselves," Craig A. Conway, PeopleSoft president and CEO, said in a statement. "What you see in our financial performance is just the beginning of the benefits of the combination of PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards." Pivotal saw a 9 percent jump in revenues to $13.3 million in its first quarter of fiscal 2004, ended September 30, as well as a reduction of its net loss to $3 million. The company told CRM magazine it was on track to break even next month prior to its merger with Talisma. Business Objects reported revenues for the third quarter, ended September 30 of $129.1 million, an increase of 18 percent over the previous third quarter. The big story is the company's huge jump in profits, a 122 percent increase from $4.9 million to $10.8 million for the quarter. Dendrite also reported substantial gains in its third quarter ended September 30. Revenues jumped 73 percent to $93 million, while earnings increased 67 percent to $8.3 million. Deals of the week... PeopleSoft announced this week that Inmarsat Limited, a global satellite communications provider, has selected PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM for its new Broadband Global Area Network. StayinFront announced that Inspire Pharmaceuticals has selected its CRM solution, as well as its Visual Elk solution. Strategic Investment Group has selected SatuitCRM as its CRM system. Executive changes... Peter Callaghan, a former senior vice president at Pivotal, has just joined Maximizer as its new vice president of sales and marketing, the company announced this week. Kanisa, a provider of customer service applications, has announced that David Averill has joined Kanisa as vice president of Services and Jim Kelly has joined as vice president of worldwide sales. Averill previously held several positions at PeopleSoft, while Kelly held several positions at Teradata. Lightspeed Venture Partners announced the addition of John Luongo to its team as a venture partner. Luongo was president, CEO, and chairman of Vantive Corp. before it was sold to PeopleSoft.