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Technology Stocks : Siebel Systems (SEBL) - strong buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: eRM Solutions who wrote (3196)	1/17/2000 9:51:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Respond to of 6974

ok, the following tidbit isn't as worthy as the Yahoo! release, and i wouldn't touch AKAMikaze with a ten-foot Pole -- much less an 11-foot Armenian -- but you may like the inside perspective just the same. ----- New Direction: Looks to front office first -- Akamai Turns To Polaris For CRM Implementation Jennifer Hagendorf 01/17/2000 Computer Reseller News Page 45 Boston -- Long before its successful initial public offering last fall, Akamai Technologies Inc. already was thinking like an enterprise. It turned to integrator Polaris Solutions to help it act like one. Polaris, a Boston-based systems integrator specializing in Siebel Systems Inc. solutions, recently completed the first phase of a customer relationship management (CRM) implementation based on Siebel Enterprise 99 for Akamai. "Akamai is very unique and I think very forward-looking in the fact that the first business system they implemented was the CRM system. They didn't have a financial system, they didn't have a [human-resources] system, they had nothing," said Seth Henry, vice president of consulting services at Polaris. "They literally had a Web site and their engineering code management systems and nothing else," he said. Akamai's strategy was to grow its customer base and to build systems to support the customer acquisition process, said Irwin Weiss, chief information officer at Akamai, Cambridge, Mass. "We chose to start with the front office rather than the back office. We felt Polaris was willing and interested in looking at alternate approaches," Weiss said. Polaris began working on Akamai's CRM implementation in the spring of 1999 when Akamai employed 40 to 50 people. Now Akamai has grown to about 400 employees with an additional office in San Mateo, Calif. "It's not just that many more bodies to support, but the pace of change in that company is something I've never seen before," said Henry. "We worked within an aggressive time frame, yet we planned for the growth, and I think that's exactly what they were looking for." Akamai specializes in high-speed Internet content-delivery services that cut down congestion on Web sites. Its technology, called FreeFlow, was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The company took Wall Street by storm last year when its Oct. 29 IPO opened at $26 and closed at $145.19, a 458 percent gain. Since then it has compiled an impressive list of clients, including CNN Interactive, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Yahoo Inc. To meet Akamai's rapidly growing needs on a short delivery cycle, Polaris set up a phased deployment schedule and put two teams on-site, rolling out the technology in staggered six-week phases. The teams also provide training and support to Akamai employees, said Henry. "Every three weeks we've released new functionality," Henry said. "We started with sales; the second release covered the deployment group that actually deployed the infrastructure to the field; and the third release covered the customer-service people. That being said, we're also doing some enhancements for the sales group in subsequent releases," he said. The rollout is currently on its eighth release, with the project now moving past initial implementation into Web enablement. Akamai is using its CRM system in conjunction with its Web site to share leads with resellers and to log and route service issues. The final phase of the project will be the transition of system support and maintenance to Akamai's in-house IT staff, Henry said. Akamai will continue to evolve its CRM system, concentrating on improving work flow and communications between departments, as well as preparing the system to handle the nuances of a more robust product line, Weiss said.

To: eRM Solutions who wrote (3196)	1/17/2000 10:25:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6974

looks like someone else was working over the holiday weekend too. <vbg> ----- Monday January 17, 1:15 pm Eastern Time Microsoft Chooses Clarify for Global, Web-based Customer Support Clarify eFrontOffice Enabling Consistent, Integrated and Web-based Support For Microsoft Customers Worldwide SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarify Inc. (Nasdaq: CLFY), the leading provider of e-business solutions for the front office, today announced that Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has selected Clarify eFrontOffice as the backbone for Microsoft's global, web-based customer support. The world's largest software company intends to use Clarify to enable consistent, integrated customer support, as well as to create new, web-based support initiatives that ensure customers receive the highest quality service regardless of the method they use to contact the company. Whether customers contact Microsoft support via email, web or the telephone, Clarify eFrontOffice ensures that Microsoft and its subcontractors maintain consistent support practices worldwide. Microsoft also plans to use Clarify to enable extensive self-help capabilities through the Internet, including customized web portals to suit individual customers. biz.yahoo.com