A Comparative Analysis of Functionalities of Salesforce.com, mySAP.com, and SiebelCRM

Introduction

Contemporary globalism has ushered in an era in which the words Business and Technology are inseparable. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Technology offers the business world a host of solutions for process and revenue optimisation. Functionally, CRM applications can be categorised into three main segments: Sales Applications (Sales Force Automation Solutions), Marketing Applications (Campaign Management), and Customer Service and Support (CSS) Applications. Availability of a diverse range of software applications helps to streamline enterprise functions and save invaluable time and resources for organisations. Issues under consideration at the time of CRM tool selection include Functionalities, Legacy System Integration, Technologies used in the tool, performance under critical solutions, security issues, and scalability. Decisions have been made easier in the era of the Cloud. As business applications are moving to the Cloud, the shift from traditional software models to the Internet has steadily gained ground. With the advent of Cloud computing, companies pay for what they need, as the shared infrastructure implies usage of the services like a utility, wherein companies pay only for what they need with options for scalability and automatic upgrades.

Each CRM solution should essentially have three main components: Operational CRM involves process management technologies; Analytical CRM involves business performance management technologies; and Collaborative CRM involves business collaboration management technologies. This chapter evaluates significant functions which any CRM Software needs to perform for an organisation, and further proceeds to conduct detailed studies of three well-established CRM Tools for Organisations: Salesforce.com, mySAPCRM and Siebel CRM, and subsequently compares the tools.