New Product Spotlight: December 3, 2003

Siebel Systems has added a customer support module to Siebel CRM OnDemand, called Siebel CRM OnDemand--UpShot Edition. The launch of additional features for tracking service and support interactions aims at providing users with a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the customer, beginning with marketing and sales interactions and continuing through the service and support cycle, according to Siebel. In addition, Siebel CRM OnDemand--UpShot Edition now offers functionality to support customer requests, issue resolution, and other postsales activities, and all these additions are available at no additional cost. SAP AG has announced utility-specific functionality with the latest version of mySAP CRM to meet the unique demands of utility companies. MySAP CRM uses the capabilities found in the SAP for Utilities portfolio of solutions to align with the customer engagement lifecycle for efficient customer support. Enhanced features of the solution include closed-loop sales processes for commercial and industrial customers, sales management for residential customers, campaign management, and an account manager portal. The new interaction center capabilities in mySAP CRM offer expanded communications channels, including computer telephony integration, email, text chat, and Web communication, to support expanded marketing activities through various channels and to improve customer service and collaboration between service providers. Artisoft and Cynergy Software have announced an integrated solution that enables Artisoft's TeleVantage customers who are connected to Cynergy's Web-based help desk application to receive screen pops for inbound customer service calls, IVR connectivity for call routing, and outbound desktop dialing for customer service call backs and CRM flexibility. In addition, Cynergy delivers Web-based support for the remote technician onsite, as well as a vehicle to track issues and inform customers of up to date changes in the issue or ticket. Infra Corporation has released comprehensive support for PDAs that will increase the efficiency of field technicians by allowing them to access incident and problem job tickets and configuration data while on the move. The PDA module leverages the Web-based architecture of Infra's service management application, infraEnterprise, to provide data screens specifically adapted for BlackBerry and iPAQ PDAs. Spoke Software, a provider of professional relationship applications, has introduced Spoke InTouch, a new solution that enables users to privately and automatically update and maintain accurate Outlook contact information. Through an intuitive wizard interface, InTouch guides users through the process of updating contact information and provides customizable messages for contact update requests. In addition, registered Spoke members can use more than eight million relationships indexed in the Spoke Network to find and reestablish connections to people whose contact details are outdated.