The Week in Review: January 30, 2004

In the news... Siebel Systems announced this week that it is offering its hosted CRM applications at no charge on a 90-day trial basis. The intention behind the offer is to allow prospects with no experience with hosted CRM to test-drive Siebel CRM OnDemand, a company spokesman says. Under the terms of the trial customers will receive free gold-level support, including 24x7 help desk access. After 90 days customers may opt out of the service at no cost, or commence with payments for the nine remaining months of service under a one-year agreement. PeopleSoft posted record license revenue of $185 million, in addition to record total revenue of $685 million in its fourth quarter, ended December 31. Revenues climbed to $2.26 billion for the year, from $1.94 billion in 2002. "We started the year in an economic downturn and ended the year the second largest enterprise software company in the world," Craig Conway, PeopleSoft president and CEO, said in a statement. Comergent has acquired Profile Systems, a developer of product information management (PIM) and automated replenishment solutions. The deal expands the Comergent solution with PIM and automated replenishment, and increases Comergent's industry expertise and penetration in automotive, CPG, electrical, and government, according to the company. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed. EPartners has opened a new office in London to bring its MS CRM consultancy to customers in the United Kingdom. With revenues just above $27 million for the fourth quarter, ended December 31, E.piphany has announced it has achieved profitability. Although its ownership and leadership has changed over the years, ACCPAC as a technology brand turns 25 this month. Deals of the week... SeeBeyond announced it has been awarded a seven-year contract, worth approximately $28 million, by British Telecommunications as part of the National Program for IT within the United Kingdom's National Health Service. Cognos has announced that Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Health have both selected Cognos Business Intelligence for their data analysis needs. CUETS (CU Electronic Transaction Services), a Canadian MasterCard service provider and credit-card call center-outsourcing provider, has chosen NICE Systems to deliver recording and quality assurance solutions for its contact centers in Winnipeg and Regina. Executive changes... The CRM Association of Canada announced the appointment of Robert Gillelan as its new president. Gillelan is the CRM practice manager for Krplink. NetByTel announced that John Amein, a former Dialogic executive, has joined the company as its new president and CEO. Accenture has named Neil Canter as the new North American lead for its marketing analytics offering. Canter previously served as president and general manager for the analytic insights group at Information Resources. Current Analysis announced that Ian Jacobs is joining the company as principal analyst for its CRM service. Prior to joining Current Analysis, Jacobs spent three years as an industry analyst for The 451 Group.