PeopleSoft extends CRM software suite

PeopleSoft Inc. made several announcements at its Leadership Summit in Las Vegas on Tuesday, most notably what the company is calling a major update of its customer resource management (CRM) software.

According to the Pleasanton, Calif.-based software vendor, the new release of PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM 8.9 isn't a major shift in technology; rather it includes "significant" enhancements over version 8.8 and addresses industry-specific issues.

In a keynote, PeopleSoft president and CEO Craig Conway expounded on the company's open integration software strategy which allows users to develop and use applications on a Web-based architecture, and pointed to the inroads its total ownership experience (TOE) initiative has made.

After a year, the TOE program -- which centers on improving implementations, operations, upgrades, and usability of enterprise applications -- has made solid progress, Conway said. CRM 8.9 is designed to allow users "gain more intelligence from the entire business process" and function in real-time, according to Conway.

Ram Gupta, executive vice-president for products and technology at the company, said PeopleSoft has five new releases that are TOE-enabled, including Oracle Corp. and SAP AG software "out-of-the-box" integration packs.

In total, CRM 8.9 offers 15 new products, three new industry solutions, and more than 700 new features. According to George Ahn, group vice-president and general manager of PeopleSoft CRM, CRM 8.9 represents the "largest development effort in CRM that PeopleSoft has ever done."

The new release features new functionality in prescriptive analytics, which Ahn described as a "avoidance system" which prescribes specific actions based on predicted enterprise behavior and outcomes.

The suite also includes new Customer Portfolio Management and Partner Relationship Management modules, and several new industry-specific solutions. Specifically, PeopleSoft Customer Portfolio Management enables companies to determine the value of each customer, develop customer segments based on that value, create differentiated plans for each segment, and act on them, PeopleSoft said.

PeopleSoft claims the new CRM suite offers 38 percent improvement in usability, 30 percent faster performance and 46 percent reduction in clicks needed to complete enterprise tasks.

Also announced and slated for a June release are new Demand-Driven Manufacturing products, results of combined technologies from the recently acquired JD Edwards. Andy Aicklen, vice-president and managing director for Toronto-based PeopleSoft Canada Co., said the modules are ideally suited for Canadian manufacturing and distribution enterprises, particularly those who were using JD Edwards solutions.

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