CRM for large enterprises is a game for megavendors, to judge by a new report from Forrester Research. “The Forrester Wave: Enterprise CRM Suites, Q3 ‘08” is ruled by Oracle’s Siebel CRM and by SAP CRM; SAP’s suite ranks better in terms of future strategy, but Oracle rates with the strongest current offering and market presence. Not to be outdone, Microsoft Dynamics CRM makes a respectable showing due to the strength of Microsoft’s strategic vision, though its market share and current capabilities still lag the other two powerhouses.

Many of the names appearing in the Enterprise Wave are the same as were cited in the recent Midmarket CRM report (covered by destinationCRM here). That report noted that midmarket customers have considerable breadth of choice, and the same is true at the large enterprise level.

Oracle’s market presence is not limited to its Siebel property, either. Three other Oracle-owned options made the Forrester Wave as well:

• Oracle CRM On Demand;
• Oracle E-Business Suite CRM; and
• Oracle PeopleSoft CRM.

“Oracle is intent on sustaining Siebel’s leadership position in the CRM market,” writes William Band, principal analyst and report author. “Oracle’s Siebel vision is to provide robust capabilities that empower users to better address customer needs, enable businesses to be more responsive to growth, and create a superior ownership experience for the enterprise. The Siebel product for enterprise-class customers has achieved best-of-breed status for most CRM functionalities, with the exception of e-commerce.”

Other competitors in the top right corner of the Wave -- where current offering and strategic vision are greatest -- include Oracle CRM On Demand, RightNow Technologies, and Salesforce.com.

Occupying the next band behind the Leaders are the Strong Performers. This year’s crop includes:

• Consona’s Onyx CRM;
• Infor CRM Epiphany;
• Oracle E-Business Suite CRM;
• Oracle PeopleSoft CRM;
• Pegasystems; and
• Sword ciboodle.

Formerly known as Graham Technology, “upstart” Sword ciboodle “has pushed into the CRM market with [its] focus on the intersection of business process modeling, customer service, and customer interaction management,” Band writes. Built upon the ciboodle Process Platform, he adds, the CRM offering “provides strong support for customer service but generally weaker support for other functional areas of CRM such as sales, marketing field service, analytics, and customer data management.” Band also notes that ciboodle lacks a software-as-a-service (SaaS) option, something that has become more popular with enterprise CRM in recent years as evidenced by the successes of RightNow, Salesforce.com, and others.

In fact, the Forrester report says that every product in the Leaders section except for the top two (SAP and the on-premises Siebel CRM) either are delivered exclusively through the SaaS model or at least offer a SaaS option. (Oracle may be looking to reduce that list of exceptions from two to one, with its recent move to offer integration between its on-demand and on-premises offerings.) “The top two vendors are being chased by a pack of strong players, who have now proven their ability to serve enterprise-class organizations,” Band writes. “RightNow and Salesforce.com, which are SaaS solutions, are much faster to deploy, and easier to change, than traditional on-premise offerings; Microsoft recently launched its own SaaS solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online; and Oracle CRM On Demand is gaining traction in the market as a SaaS companion to Oracle’s Siebel.”

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