Siebel touts web CRM at Comdex

LAS VEGAS: Siebel Systems Inc., a vendor of sales, marketing and customer service software, told the annual Comdex computer trade show on Tuesday that it expected more customers to sign up for its Web-based customer management software.

Siebel CRM OnDemand, which the company launched with International Business Machines Corp. last month, is Siebel Systems' answer to a Salesforce.com's web-based customer relationship management service, which has been popular among units within large companies as well as with small and medium-sized businesses.

Siebel Systems Founder and Chief Executive Tom Siebel spent much of his keynote presentation at Comdex, which has shrunk to 50,000 attendees, a quarter of its peak during the Internet's heyday, demonstrating the capabilities of CRM OnDemand.

"Our strategy going forward is to deliver systems that enable seamless CRM," Siebel said, adding that the OnDemand product was a key part of that strategy.

Instead of having software shipped on CDs and installed on computers, OnDemand and Salesforce.com aim to deliver the software services that can be used and accessed via the Internet.

San Mateo, California-based Siebel Systems launched an online hosted software service in 1999 but shut it down in mid-2001, saying that such a business had little chance of survival.

Since then, many large suppliers of business automation software have been selling hosted services, including Siebel Systems' key rivals Oracle Corp. , PeopleSoft Inc. and SAP AG , the sector's biggest company.

At the same time, Siebel Systems -- once the lone player in its market -- has come under under intense competitive pressure from that trio of companies and from smaller shops like UpShot Corp., which Siebel Systems bought earlier this month to bolster its hosted offerings.

On other fronts, U.S. Securities regulators last week recommended that top officials at Siebel Systems be held accountable for making allegedly, selective disclosure of financial information during an analyst dinner in April -- in violation of Regulation Fair Disclosure, which requires companies release sensitive financial information to the public rather than to select individuals.

In August, the formerly fast-growing company settled an investor lawsuit that challenged its executive pay and disclosure practices.

And, late last year, Siebel Systems paid $250,000 to settle a separate Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action, after regulators charged that it released sensitive financial information to analysts and not to the public. Siebel Systems, the first company to pay such a fine, agreed not to make selective disclosures in the future and admitted no wrongdoing.

(Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in San Francisco)

Reuters