To: Mike Buckley who wrote (2929 ) 7/9/1999 1:13:00 AM From: mauser96 Respond to
I'll happily take either forecast. Whatever it turns out to be, it will be a lot bigger than it is today. Huge growth rates should allow even the most mediocre management to shine and will participating vendors to compete on something other than price.This space is just begging to be filled. All that data, more every day and it all comes to a halt before it reaches those people who are absolutely critical, the customer.Just on the sales force automation a little imagination shows how it could help. Before a salesman calls he knows the buyers favorite teams and the highlights of the most recent game. He knows the customer's birthday is next week, He knows that the buyer concentrates big orders around the 20 th of the month,and that it's nearly time time buy replacement parts for the machine he purchased last year. He knows what the customers competitors are doing. He has a new product with a sales pitch tailored for the customer. He knows exactly how many of each of his sales items are in the warehouse,he knows the minimum price all calculated on factors he can type in on the spot.etc,etc. A lot of items will eventually be sold the way airline tikets are - those who want them most pay the most. A couple thousand salesmen across the country can simultaneously conduct a giant on line auction. Furthermore he doesn't have to be a 10 year employee to know this, he was hired 3 weeks ago. This and the other things that can be done soon with front office software will make it a compelling purchase. A tornado and leap over the gap is as predictable as anything in the tech business. I'm a lot less sure who the big winner will be since the space is quite fragmented. I've got SEBL, and may buy ORCL and Clarify.
