Oracle On Demand Update

CRM Software as a Service for Any Business
By John Papageorge

Rob Reid, Oracle vice president of Siebel's award-winning CRM software-as-a-service offering, says it's a challenge convincing customers that they can get a robust software solution for only $70 a month. "If you went to buy a fully loaded BMW listed for $10,000, you'd expect it to be low-end," suggests Reid. "When customers see the value and choice of our on-demand CRM solution and learn how quickly they can receive a significant return on their investment with Oracle, they really can't believe it."

Reid has discovered that those customers range from small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) to large enterprise companies. "We've got everyone from Fortune 100s to people who sell baseball cards," says Reid. "The full spectrum of the economy is using these solutions."

The service, accessible at crmondemand.com, was built by Siebel, "the company that created CRM in the first place," notes Reid. He points to Siebel's 12 years of experience and 4 million users as testament to the company's expertise in the area of CRM. Their experience has even led to vertical packaged solutions that efficiently meet the demands of specific customers and eliminate expensive customization.

In addition, customers will find a variety of solutions at crmondemand.com, ranging from vertical packages for specific industries to highly tailored solutions for private environments. Reid expects demand to grow considerably, referencing statistics showing that software as a service is growing at over 105 percent a year.

"We've found that the on-demand model is very advantageous to SMBs with limited cash flow, but it's also appealing to Fortune 500s that want to adapt solutions more rapidly to their changing business," says Reid. "We offer a wide range of businesses more flexibility than they have had in the past."

Long-Term Relationship with Customers
Reid doesn't hesitate to express his opinion about competitors, such as Salesforce.com. According to Reid, there's a big difference between the companies: Oracle wants to provide business impact to establish a long-term relationship with customers, whereas Salesforce.com just wants to acquire customers.

"Salesforce spends 56 percent of revenue on sales and marketing and only 6 percent on R&D," says Reid. "We've invested over $2 billion in our technologies. Salesforce has been good at getting people to understand software as a service, but they are investing in the short term, going for customers instead of developing their solution and growing for the long haul."

Security and Ease of Use
Aside from the price, customers have also found a high level of security.. "Security updates are added instantaneously to our on-demand CRM solution," Reid says. "And the On Demand group spends a lot of time working with Oracle's security team to refine security solutions."

Reid also believes that customers appreciate how easy it is to use the online application. He notes that the point-and-click user interface is as simple as configuring Outlook or a Web browser—and time saved means money saved. "For every dollar spent on an on-premise CRM application, two dollars go into configuring it," he says. "With Oracle's On Demand software, for every dollar you spend on it, you usually spend less than 10 cents configuring it."

For $70 a month, customers get new releases and subsequent increases in functionality added without added costs. In addition, Reid emphasizes that the service can be configured to perfectly align with the way customers interact with their end-users. "The main thing is that this solution is flexible, low-risk, and has an immediate impact," says Reid. "Customers see a return on investment in just the first or second quarter they use it."

To find out more, go to crmondemand.com or call 1.866.906.7878.

John Papageorge is an independent business and technology writer.

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