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

To: Mike Buckley who wrote (2133)	10/13/1998 4:34:00 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6974

more difficult for the ERP vendors to roll front office product into their product line. True but not for the reasons you mention. SCM is tightly integrated into ERP so to buy a best of breed solution is has to justify the cost and complexity of integration with your ERP. So the ERPs have an edge as suppliers. Not so with front office, a totally different beast. There is no reason at all to buy front office from Sap. Also, back office is hurting and Im not sure front office is. ttf doesnt agree with me but I think its not all y2k diversion that is affecting back office - I think discretionary spending is being shelved in anticipation of a slowing economy. Its either that or some kind of saturation in backoffice products, staffing issues at customer sites etc. Whatever it is, business is slowing in back office more than front office I think. I still like Siebel but software may not come back in a big way until mid-1999 when the y2k scare is over. MH

To: Mike Buckley who wrote (2133)	10/14/1998 10:30:00 AM
From: Amsterdam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6974

It's true that front office is far more different from ERP than is SCM for the reasons Michelle described. However, it's a natural evolution that the erp vendors will extend further into the enterprise as back office becomes saturated and as a way to get additional revenue from their install base. In addition, I think there is more integration between front and back office than many people realize. A company that has SAP installed today will be very much inclined to stay with SAP for a front office system even if it isn't the best system on the market. Seibel will continue to stress the best of breed approach, but over time they will have a very difficult time competing where an erp vendor is installed. I don't think Seibel is selling many systems into companies that have Baan installed because Baan owns Aurum. Once SAP delivers a front office product it will be just as difficult for Seibel to sell into an SAP account as it is now for them to sell into a Baan account. On the bright side for sebl, I don't think the erp vendors will stray too far from their roots and there is a whole world of industries outside the sweet spot for erp vendors, such as financial services, and for many of these companies sebl will continue to be a great solution.