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

To: Mike Buckley who wrote (5873)	5/13/2002 4:33:28 PM
From: Lee L.	Respond to of 6974

Did Cowen add that Siebel receives no revenue when its customers upgrade? For the most part, this is true. Unless Siebel has changed its business practices recently, they would gain incremental software revenue from many installed customers. My experience (somewhat dated) was that many new features that were in high demand were bundled into new modules, so they were not covered in existing maintenance agreements. To get some of the new features, additional a-la-carte module purchases per named user were required. Although all software vendors do this to a degree, I have not experienced this as much with SAP and Peoplesoft. I found Siebel's approach to upgrades to be very frustrating in that they would communicate the new features leaving the customer to assume that it was included in the core products. Only once released did one learn of the additional software charges.

To: Mike Buckley who wrote (5873)	5/13/2002 5:50:03 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 6974

Enterprise Software Goes Small Mon May 13, 2:06 PM ET Lisa Gill, www.NewsFactor.com Until now it has been difficult, if not impossible, for small businesses to choose among the billing, customer relationship management (CRM) and back-office software applications they needed to run their enterprises smoothly. Now, however, business owners and managers have new options that offer more flexibility, better control over business functions and greater cost savings than older standalone programs -- and that do not require soul- and budget-searing choices. According to analysts, a great deal of integration has occurred at the small-business level among enterprise resource planning (ERP), CRM and accounting software. As a result, Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR - news) business applications and services analyst Jennifer Chew told NewsFactor, "What we're starting to see with the move down-market by J.D. Edwards (Nasdaq: JDEC - news), SAP (NYSE: SAP - news) [and] Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL - news) -- and now with Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) acquisition of Great Plains and Navision -- is that companies don't have to choose anymore between those different pieces of the operations puzzle." Low-End Market Explosion Erin Kinikin, vice president and research leader at Giga Information Group, also noted that ERP vendors at the low end are acquiring and bundling CRM products in an effort to entice small businesses. "Not only do they compete on ease of use and the fit of their ERP software, but they're starting to compete on how well you can put [sales orders] into the order management system," Kinikin told NewsFactor. "Small businesses are a more important market to most of the enterprise software vendors, especially in ERP," Kinikin added, explaining that the major players' focus on small business has come about to a large degree because of high-end enterprise market saturation. Integration Bonanza Both analysts pointed to Microsoft's acquisitions of Great Plains and Danish software vendor Navision as evidence of a shift in how small businesses will view their application infrastructure. Kinikin noted that Microsoft is pushing for "the idea that ERP almost becomes the next operating system, or basic platform, that people use to run their business." Describing Great Plains' software offerings, Chew said the company provides "large applications targeted at very small businesses." She cited the Solomon set of ERP and CRM offerings, which can be combined using various modules to service firms with between 25 and 2,500 employees. Solid Software Kinikin pointed to Best Software's SalesLogix product as one example of a solid software package that integrates a CRM solution with front-office, back-office, financial/ERP and Web office activities. Kinikin also singled out small-business application provider Epicor's eFrontOffice CRM package and eBackOffice, which provides financial management distribution, warehouse management, manufacturing and human resources management. In addition, Kinikin said, J.D. Edwards had more success selling its own CRM products for small businesses in two quarters than it had selling Siebel's (Nasdaq: SEBL - news) CRM product over the course of two years. Future for Enterprise Apps Kinikin said she foresees that in the near future, small businesses will seek to place more CRM applications online and increase customers' self-service opportunities via company Web sites. "I think we'll see some interesting innovation by companies in working with their customers electronically," she said. "In some ways, these companies will look bigger than they are through having a great Web site, full automation, and by offering 24/7 support without having to staff people around the clock."