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Oracle is referring to its still-to-come Fusion software as a blend of the best features that are currently offered by various HR software applications. Oracle’s chief detractor, SAP, is of the opinion that this vision of Oracle will either not materialize and if it does, it is going to be an expensive one for customers. The first round of Fusion products is not due till 2007.

Oracle’s ambitious project, which intends to integrate the softwares of PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Oracle, could well determine the future of the HR softwares in the time to follow. According to the research firm IDC, the market for human capital management and payroll processing software is set to increase from $ 5.2 billion this year to $ 6.8 billion in 2009. Oracle stands to gain a lot if it can successfully introduce product lines that offer cheap, function-rich, and easy-to-use HR applications. bpm-today.com says:

According to Chhabra, that product line makes the most use of so-called "open standards," which are slated to be a centerpiece of Fusion. Open standards refers to technologies such as the Java coding language designed to make it simpler for customers to modify their software systems.

Go to: Fusing Human Resources Technology at Oracle

Companies are working on integrating their data present on different platforms on to a single centralized platform in order to try an achieve a holistic view of customer behavior and also so that all departments in an enterprise are on the same wavelength as far as customer data is concerned.

Nikon is working on a solution that will merge its databases from five different European countries on to a central platform. The company hopes to achieve a better understanding of the buying behavior of its customers.

Customer data collected from various channels from customers who interact with a company at a number of touchpoints is distributed across several databases; moreover, the same information is recorded in more than one way which often leads to excessive communication with the customers. A merged database enables marketing to come with cross-selling and upselling plans in a better manner.

A detailed and integrated record of customer preferences in front of a customer-facing executive can allow him to customize his pitch to suit the customer’s tastes. It is important to have a single database with information on the lifestyle variables in order to select customers that are most likely to offer a high return on investment. The consolidated database used by Nikon has been developed by Alchemetrics and has helped the company to improve its cross-selling and upselling figures. Nikon has also been able to reactivate dormant customers and is using the information at its disposal to drive its R&D.

Multiple databases that are not connected by a central database can also result in the company lapsing on compliance issues regarding data protection and customer privacy. However, a technology-driven CRM exercise may fail to bring the desired results; it is important that companies implement CRM keeping in mind their business objectives.

There are several things that companies focusing on building customer relationships should pay particular attention to. These include paying attention to basic issues like spelling the customer’s name correctly and updating databases promptly in case of a name/address change. This is so that the database holds the correct name and the right address.

The segmentation/classification of service levels should be broken to an inquiring customer in the most discreet way possible. The behavior and non-verbal gestures of the customer-facing staff should inspire a feeling of confidence in customers and not come across as faux friendliness. Subscriptions to offers and upgrades should be at the customer’s discretion and companies should avoid foisting new services and the concomitant charges on unsuspecting consumers.

On January 31, 2006, shareholders of Siebel Systems Inc. will vote for approving the company’s acquisition by Oracle Corp. In September 2005, Oracle and Siebel agreed to the transfer for a sum of $ 5.85 billion. The deal, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2006, has been approved by the U.S Department of Justice and the European Commission. Oracle has set a target of a 20% increase in profitability; this could result in layoffs for the 5000-strong employee force of Siebel Systems.

InStranet, Inc., a global provider of multi-channel knowledge applications, announced that the integration between its Contact Centers In-Line(TM) (CCIL) application and Siebel customer facing solutions version 7 has been successfully validated by Siebel Systems Inc. The combination of CCIL and Siebel customer-facing solutions offers a one-point reference source to customers for information on CRM, products, and service.

Customers become more self-reliant and are able to reduce their dependence on call agents by making use of the CCIL Web self-service capabilities. InStranet is based on J2EEE and needs a Web application server as well as a relational database. Requests made from the Siebel application to the InStranet are managed by the InStranet Siebel Request Connector.

ProClarity Corporation has launched ProClarity 6.1 which is the latest version of ProClarity(R) Analytics 6. The application enables users to make full use of the enhanced BI capabilities of the Microsoft SQL Server 2005. These capabilities include Analysis-, Reporting-, and Notification-services. The tool enables organizations to analyze data in a variety of ways; thereby enabling them to gain insightful information. crmtoday.com says:

"Microsoft and ProClarity continue to complement and enhance their products to provide an end-to-end business intelligence solution," said Alex Payne, senior product manager of the Office Business Applications Group at Microsoft Corp.

Go to: Newest Release of ProClarity Analytics 6

Ness Technologies, which has been partnering SAP for the past 11 years in Israel, will continue to offer its product and professional services till 2010. Ness Technologies has worked toward building SAP’s position as a leading provider of ERP and CRM solutions in Israel. crmtoday.com says:

There are 196 mySAP installations at Israel’s leading companies and organizations with more than 100,000 end-users.

Go to: SAP and Ness Technologies Extend the Distribution Agreement for Israel

Unilever will be outsourcing a major portion of its financial transactional services in more than 20 countries in Europe to IBM. The move is a part of the One Unilever program that intends to make the organization more competitive by streamlining the processes.

Financial services offered by IBM will include Purchase to Pay, General Accounting and Bill to Cash. These will be made available from IBM centers in Portugal, Poland, and India. The seven-year deal is expected to offer significant savings that will contribute to the target of €700 million savings per year for the One Unilever program. crmtoday says:

"This relationship is a strong example of the new on-demand business IBM is targeting in the marketplace for Business Performance Transformation Services."

Go to: Unilever Signs 7 Year Contract with IBM

Oracle has announced the availability of the Oracle(r) Identity and Access Management Suite, which offers an elaborate and integrated range of products for the protection of applications, critical systems, and data.

The Oracle Identity and Access Management Suite includes web access control, identity administration, user provisioning, federated identity management, directory services, etc. Customers can implement the entire suite or deploy selected components that best meet their requirements.

The Oracle Identity and Access Management Suite consists of the Oracle COREid Access and Identity which facilitates web single sign-on, policy based authentication, password administration, etc; the Oracle Xellerate Identity Provisioning for the automatic management of access privileges by means of a state-aware workflow engine; the Oracle COREid Federation, which is an identity federation server for the provision of cross-domain single sign-on, enables organizations to connect their business partners to the company portals in a secure manner and at the same time it allows companies to keep up with the compliance and privacy regulations; the Oracle Virtual Directory enables LDAP transformation, and facilitates the deployment of applications by enabling proxy and routing capabilities that allow data access without having to move the data from its native location; the Oracle Internet Directory is a standards-based LDAP directory fur use in a heterogeneous environment, it makes the process of user administration in an Oracle environment a simple process.

According to research by the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum and Avaya, the increase in the number of remote and mobile employees is making it difficult of IT departments to support them. This is leading to problems related to business continuity and individual performance. Industry analysts at IDC state that the number of mobile workers around the world will be around 878 million by 2009. crmtoday.com says:

The two studies shed new light on business and IT challenges affecting the performance of mobile workers and their companies, and the steps they are taking to improve productivity and connectivity.

Go to: Remote and Mobile Workforce Boom