Oracle holds off internal rollout.

Oracle has postponed the implementation of its customer relationship management (CRM) software at its own offices in the UK, raising doubts about the progress of chief executive Larry Ellison's grand ebusiness plan.

Oracle has postponed the implementation of its customer relationship management (CRM) software at its own offices in the UK, raising doubts about the progress of chief executive Larry Ellison's grand ebusiness plan. The rollout of Oracle's home-grown CRM package is part of Oracle's global move towards ebusiness, which Ellison expects to save the company $1 billion (£625m).

A spokeswoman for Oracle said this week, however, that there is no such project in progress in the UK, although Oracle Germany is running a CRM pilot.

In September, then Oracle UK chief Phil Crawford told Computing that the company was in the process of implementing its CRM software internally in the UK. 'It should be up and live by November or December,' Crawford said in September. 'Although, I would have preferred to go live in June, like Germany.'

The company claims it plans to start implementing some CRM modules early next year. The stalled implementation is also a setback to Oracle's chances of gaining a hold in the emerging CRM market. Its CRM rival, Siebel Systems, has long bragged that Oracle UK doesn't use its own software internally.

Paul Wahl, chief operating officer at Siebel, crowed: 'What sort of example is not using your own software?'