IBM Selects Siebel eBusiness Applications Globally - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 14, 2000

Siebel Systems, Inc. a leading supplier of eBusiness application software, Thursday announced that IBM has selected Siebel eBusiness Applications on a global basis.

IBM will deploy Siebel eBusiness Applications across its multi channel, customer-facing infrastructure uniting field sales and service, marketing and call center professionals, Web sites and business partners into a comprehensive customer information system. Expected to serve more than 55,000 internal IBM users, 30,000 business partners, and millions of customers directly over the Web, this transaction will be one of the broadest deployments of sales, marketing and customer service software in history and the most extensive use of Siebel eBusiness Applications within a single organization to date.

IBM is one of the only technology companies today that can deliver a complete information technology solution to its customers, seamlessly integrating its hardware, software and global services. This is a powerful differentiator for IBM, where maintaining a single view of the customer across these rapidly growing and diverse lines of business is a requirement. IBM sells to, markets to and services its customers through numerous integrated channels, allowing customers to communicate with IBM any way they prefer, including field sales, field service, call centers, service centers, business partners and the Web. Siebel eBusiness applications will be powerful tools to support IBM's strong commitment to providing the industry's highest levels of customer satisfaction across all of its lines of business and channels.

"Customer Relationship Management is critical to us. We conducted a very thorough review and concluded that Siebel Systems was best able to meet our needs. They have the applications, the track record, the vision and the leadership that we were looking for," said Bill Etherington, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Sales & Distribution.

"We selected Siebel Systems based on the breadth and depth of their applications," said Steve Ward, vice president, Business Transformation and CIO, IBM. "The implementation of these applications will enable IBM to work more aggressively with our customers than ever before, to anticipate their needs and to simplify their relationship with IBM around the world."

IBM will rely on Siebel eBusiness Applications -- including Siebel Sales, Siebel Marketing, Siebel Service, Siebel Field Service, and the Siebel.COM family of products, including Siebel eService, Siebel eMarketing and Siebel eChannel -- to help manage relationships with their customers and partners around the world.

"We are enormously gratified in being selected to provide the eBusiness application software solutions for IBM," said Thomas M. Siebel, chairman and CEO, Siebel Systems, Inc. "Over the past year, we have developed a global strategic alliance with IBM to bring comprehensive, integrated eBusiness solutions to market together. With Thursday's announcement, IBM represents both our most strategic partner and our largest customer. We eagerly look forward to partnering with IBM to ensure that they are 100 percent satisfied with their Siebel eBusiness Application deployment."

Siebel Systems, Inc. is the world's leading provider of eBusiness applications software. Siebel Systems provides an integrated family of eBusiness application software enabling multi-channel 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 deployed locally in more than 26 countries. FMI: www.Siebel.com.