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PeopleSoft Inc. announced Monday version 8.8 of its PeopleSoft CRM suite, billed as the most significant release of its CRM software since it embraced a Web-based architecture last year.
The second major iteration of PeopleSoft CRM since the groundbreaking browser-based version 8, PeopleSoft 8.8 CRM includes six new products and more than 150 new features, said PeopleSoft officials, in Pleasanton, Calif.
This release also includes three new industry-specific suites for insurance, energy and high tech, joining existing industry-specific versions for financial services, communications and government.
Chief among the features in PeopleSoft 8.8 is an e-mail and chat client pervasive and integrated across all applications in the suite, allowing for multi-level customer interactions, company officials said.
Reports and alerts can also be pushed out to users via chat and e-mail.
There is also a new application called Advisor, an extension of technology PeopleSoft acquired from Calico Commerce earlier this year, which is a guided selling technology in PeopleSoft Sales that captures customer preferences through interactions and dialogue.
PeopleSoft Sales also features mobile order capture, including price, discount, order and quote, all through a mobile device, and sales incentive management.
Theres a new pricing module in PeopleSoft Sales that can take up to 200 business rules into account and provide customer-specific pricing.
PeopleSoft 8.8 CRM also includes a human resources specific help desk application for employee relationship management.
New features of PeopleSoft Marketing include: personalized dialogs; improved management of multi-channel and multi-wave campaigns; and advanced customer profile management for improved audience segmentation.
PeopleSoft Service enhancements include: improved agent navigation; Quick Code field pre-population; and new browser-based push capabilities that drive events to users in real time without requiring code on the client, PeopleSoft officials said.
Lastly, said officials, PeopleSoft 8.8 is easier to configure, featuring a graphical configuration tool, 20 new pre-built integration points, and pre-integrated business processes.
PeopleSoft 8.8 CRM is expected to ship Dec. 26. Pricing is based on customer revenue and number of employees.