Totalgaz Standardizes on Siebel eBusiness Applications

Business Wire, Jan 10, 2001

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2001

Leading French Gas Supplies Company Uses Integrated eBusiness

Solution to Enhance Customer Service and Satisfaction

Siebel Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SEBL), the world's leading supplier of eBusiness applications software, today announced that Totalgaz, France's leading supplier of LPG products and services, will standardize on Siebel eBusiness Applications. By creating a single, comprehensive customer information management system, Siebel eBusiness Applications will enable Totalgaz call center agents and marketing professionals to stay informed of customers' needs and respond efficiently and effectively, to ensure consistently superior service and long-term customer satisfaction.

Totalgaz is a wholly owned subsidiary of TotalFina Elf Group, one of the world's five largest oil companies. Totalgaz operates and provides LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas), propane and butane gas, bottled and bulk gas products, to domestic, industrial and agricultural companies. The company has more than 200,000 customers for bulk gas in France, and 21 percent market share of the country's fast-growing LPG market.

Prior to standardizing on Siebel eBusiness Applications, Totalgaz conducted customer sales and service via telephone. Call center agents qualified prospects and faxed leads to sales representatives, encouraging creation and maintenance of customer records on paper or in different local systems. Customers then were assigned a single point of contact for re-orders. To complete the responsibilities of the assigned representative, call center professionals relied on frequent telephone and fax communication with each another to respond to customer queries. Without a central repository for customer information, marketing teams were challenged to understand customers' purchasing histories and product usage, and to develop targeted promotional campaigns. Finally, variables including weather, seasonal gas and service demands -- prompting up to 1,800 calls per day to call centers in winter -- in an increasingly competitive environment threatened the stability of Totalgaz's customer base and its long-term competitiveness.

To address these issues, Totalgaz has standardized its customer-facing professionals on Siebel eBusiness Applications, in regional call centers throughout France. From the moment a prospect signs a contract, Totalgaz representatives can now initiate customer histories and capture subsequent interaction across multiple channels -- whether phone, email, Web or fax. With access to a single, comprehensive view of each customer, any service representative now can respond to a customer query, reducing referrals to supervisors and accelerating problem resolution. In addition, Totalgaz has integrated its back office systems and Siebel eBusiness Applications, so that call center representatives are able to report order status proactively, and sales teams can anticipate re-orders. Marketing teams develop accurate customer profiles and respond quickly to changing market conditions with targeted promotions. Using Siebel Systems' solution to create its customer information management system, Totalgaz has improved both service and customer satisfaction.

"Rising oil prices and the increased presence of gas suppliers prompted Totalgaz to strengthen our ties with customers and protect our competitive edge. Siebel Systems' worldwide reputation for 100 percent customer satisfaction persuaded us to standardize on Siebel eBusiness Applications," said Jean-Marie Quemin, Project & IT Director, Totalgaz. "Since deploying Siebel eBusiness Applications, Totalgaz has been able to identify call center best practices and improve both training programs and responsiveness to customers.

"In addition to giving Totalgaz greater insight into customers' needs, Siebel eBusiness Applications provide a robust, scalable platform that gives us the flexibility to add new services, as the market changes," said Quemin.

About Siebel Systems

Siebel Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SEBL) is the world's leading provider of eBusiness applications software. Siebel Systems provides an integrated family of eBusiness applications software enabling multichannel sales, marketing and customer service systems to be deployed over the Web, call centers, field, reseller channels, retail and dealer networks. Siebel Systems' sales and service facilities are located in more than 28 countries. For more information, please visit Siebel Systems' Web site at www.Siebel.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risk or uncertainties. Future operating results of Siebel Systems may differ from the results discussed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to factors that include, but are not limited to, risks associated with customer relations, such as the availability of Siebel Systems' products and services, customer implementation of products and services, relationships with third-party vendors and systems integrators, concentration of revenues in a relatively small number of customers, existence of errors or defects in products, ability to successfully manage growth, significant current and expected additional competition and the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Siebel Systems are included in Siebel Systems' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.