Changes at the Top

Continuing a trend THAT started last year, the results of this year's CGT Best of Breed survey on the customer relationship management (CRM) market once again shows that consumer goods firms are far from unanimous in their choice of the top provider. Last year's top five included Oracle (www.oracle.com), SAP America (www.sap.com), PeopleSoft (www.peoplesoft.com), Siebel Systems (www.siebel.com) and J.D. Edwards (www.jde.com). However, Siebel Systems replaced Oracle in the top spot this year, while Microsoft Great Plains (www.microsoft.com) replaced PeopleSoft in the number three slot. Dropping out of the top five was J.D. Edwards, which placed sixth, while SAP America dropped to fourth from second last year.

Gaining A Leadership Position

The majority of the year's top five still dominate the market in many different technology areas. However, when it comes to CRM, PeopleSoft -- as evidenced by its fifth place showing this year -- needs to expend a greater effort to gain a leadership position.

Joanie Rufo, an analyst with AMR Research (www.amrresearch.com), recently noted that PeopleSoft's newly released CRM 8.8 product is solidly implemented, but the company still has a way to go if it is going to gain significant market share.

"The real measure of CRM success comes not in the form of features or functions, but in the form of live customers that can show history with the product, quantifiable return on investment or success with multiple modules," Rufo says. "The PeopleSoft customers we have spoken to tend to be satisfied with the product quality and implementation, yet few companies can speak to the measures of success described above."

Rufo notes that while adding new features to applications will help a company gain new customers, in order to gain a leadership position in the market the company has to have a track record of successful installations and satisfied customers who can tout its advantages to prospective buyers.

"While this newest release provides buyers in multiple categories with a new option for CRM, buyers should be able to speak to multiple companies that have similar CRM requirements and have seen success so that they can ensure their own," Rufo explains.

CRM used to be categorized by sales force automation software. Then marketing campaign management features were added, followed by customer-service convergence. CRM vendors now are making inroads into back-end operations such as transaction processing, procurement, finance, budgeting and human resources.

Siebel Systems was one the first companies to expand into these new areas and now offers employee relationship management (ERM) software.

Quickly Up to Speed

Microsoft Great Plains made headlines earlier this year by jumping into the CRM market. In February, Microsoft announced its first major CRM release since acquiring Great Plains Software. It was also the first Microsoft application offered to be built on the company's .NET platform.

Microsoft says its CRM products are aimed at smaller businesses. But analysts think the company will have its hands full in that market because it is underserved by the bigger players. Still, the company does not plan to abandon large enterprises altogether. In May, Microsoft acquired Navision in a $1.3 billion deal -- its second-largest acquisition ever. Some analysts speculate the deal is the beginning of Microsoft's attempt to dominate the CRM market for years to come.

Two of this year's top 10 companies joined forces to address the needs of CPG companies. Thinque Systems (www.thinque.com), which placed seventh this year -- unchanged from last year's ranking -- hooked up with J.D. Edwards to address the needs of direct store delivery (DSD) manufacturers. The relationship is providing a closed-loop process for DSD companies and addresses the so-called "last mile" needs of manufacturers.

Kodak (www.kodak.com), Kellogg's (www.kellogg.com), Kraft (www.kraft .com), Mott's (www.motts.com), Procter & Gamble (www.pg.com) and Sara Lee (www.saralee.com) are clients of Canada-based MEI (www.meicpg .com). MEI once again lands in eighth position, leading this year's newcomers Astute Software (www.astutesoftware.com) and CAS Americas (www.casamericas.com). In the past year, MEI has continued its emphasis on global solutions. MEI believes CPGs must provide sales teams with instant access to real-time information on prospects, customers, products and market trends to stay competitive.

CAS Americas client Miller Brewing Co. (www.millerbrewing.com) was recognized in October of last year by the editorial staff and editorial board of Consumer Goods Technology for its use of CRM solutions to support and extend its go-to-market strategy.