Oracle plots integration and support for Siebel

Oracle has pledged to continue support for Siebel applications following its acquisition

Phillips: integration has begun

Oracle gained control of Siebel Systems last week and enlarged on its plans to integrate functionality and target specific industry processes while continuing to support the needs of users.

In an open letter, Oracle president Charles Phillips wrote, “We plan to provide end-to-end integrated business processes by combining the leading front-office, back-office, and industry solutions from Oracle and Siebel. Integration work has begun with a focus on developing and enhancing business processes for over two dozen industries.”

Phillips added that Oracle intends to combine Siebel CRM analytics, Oracle ERP analytics, and industry-specific content to provide a holistic view of enterprise performance. The company also plans to continue to offer Siebel programs on both a piecemeal and integrated basis.

In a separate FAQ, Oracle said it would continue support for current programmes and would maintain current phone numbers and web links. Support for IBM and Microsoft databases will remain.

Oracle’s promises are lent weight by the experience of PeopleSoft customers, the vast majority of whom have stayed with Oracle and given approval to progress so far, despite rivals’ earlier suggestions that the database giant would take a ruthless approach to the acquired business.

“My feeling is positive that the Siebel product is going to go forward,” said Nigel Montgomery of analyst firm AMR Research. “Before Oracle, Siebel was dropping and the challenge was how to get to a service-oriented architecture. They now have the heft to do that.”

David Bradshaw of analyst company Ovum added, “The detail of the planning is very impressive but, as always, execution on these plans will be the key.”

Separately, CRM hosting pioneer Salesforce.com continues to suffer from outages. The latest came last Monday, though the company disputed claims that it lasted for over two hours, saying its service was only knocked out for 30 minutes.