HP, Deliotte Team on CRM Services

Two industry giants are joining forces to deliver customer relationship management services to enterprise users. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Deloitte Consulting Thursday shared details of an alliance to design, build and integrate the key services needed to implement CRM solutions, as well as the outsourcing services to manage these offerings. The market for CRM services is expected to grow 15 percent this year, according to a study from Dataquest. The CRM services market totaled $22 billion in 2001, up 10.6 percent from 2000. That figure is expected to grow to $25.3 billion this year and reach $47 billion by 2006, according to Dataquest. Under the terms of the alliance, Deloitte Consulting will provide the system integration, process design and configuration, while HP Services will focus on implementing the IT infrastructure, as well as managing the client's system administration and data conversion from legacy systems. Benny Lorenzo, general partner at Aspira Capital LLC in Fort Lee, N.J. says it is a good move for HP to and Deliotte to have teamed up. "Trying to build up the service infrastructure is strategic for the both of them," Lorenzo says. "Expanding into verticals like CRM, PRM or ERP through relationships with other service providers in areas and countries where each of them is stronger is a great move and will ultimately benefit customers." The two companies say this alliance means that enterprise users will benefit from significant cost savings and flexibility in managing and extending the IT infrastructures that support their businesses. To help with that cost barrier, HP and Deloitte Consulting will offer flexible pricing. Using performance-based fee agreements allows the two companies to share in the rewards and risks of aligning customer's costs and deployment. The two companies have already signed its first customer. Although, they declined to disclose the name of the customer, it is described as a leading global technology company. The contract, valued at more than $90 million, involves a project to improve service and support capabilities by reducing costs, improving efficiency and enhancing the total experience for the client's customers. That project, which is expected to take six to nine months and use more than 300 consultants from HP Services and Deliotte Consulting, is a roll out of Siebel Systems Inc.'s Siebel 7 CRM modules. It will be rolled out in the client company's customer service, call centers, sales force and support organizations and will result in the move from disparate systems to a single unified, cost-effective system, company executives say.