Siebel Systems Inc. announced a new point release focused on performance improvements at its European User Week conference in Cannes, France, Wednesday, one day after announcing the acquisition of e-mail marketing software company BoldFish Inc.
The new release, Siebel 7.5.3, features reductions in installation, operation and upgrade costs, and improvements in performance and scalability thanks to improvements in the Siebel Smart Web Architecture that reduce both memory and CPU consumption, according to Siebel officials.
Upgrade time is reduced in this version because of enhancements in the Web Client Migration Wizard and new upgrade utilities for navigating and analyzing upgrade log files and scripts.
The Smart Web Client in this release also includes new ease-of-use features, such as fixed-position list columns, allowing users to search and browse through groups of related records, and attachment management, which allows users to modify file attachments and subsequently save their changes back on the server.
Siebel also announced that the next version of its software, Siebel 7.7, will include new functionality and enhancements to Siebel Industry Applications; expanded business process support; continued advancements in usability, performance and scalability; and significant improvements to ensure the lowest cost of ownership. Siebel 7.7 is planned for release in spring 2004.
Also at the user conference this week, Siebel announced the acquisition of BoldFish. The high-volume permission-based e-mail marketing software will be integrated with the latest release of Siebel E-mail Marketing, which will be available as an optional module within the Siebel Marketing product suite this summer.
BoldFishs e-mail marketing software is integrated with Siebels analytics and campaign management software to add to Siebels cross-channel marketing capabilities, company officials said.
Siebel E-mail Marketing will also include a bounced-message handler that categorizes and differentiates types of bounces and processes bounced messages based on configurable rules as well as response tracking that allows organizations to track key metrics such as message open rates, opt-in and opt-out rates, and unique click-throughs for embedded links within e-mail messages.
A new set of services from Siebel Global Services rounded out Siebels announcements at European User Week.
The first, the Siebel Rapid Deployment Offering, sets project plan and scope to improve on-time project assurance and lower total cost of ownership.
Siebel MultiChannel Effectiveness Services, meanwhile, is focused on the rapid implementation of practical, repeatable sales processes.
And the Siebel Business Process Solution Sets are based on best practices captured from more than 3,500 Siebel deployments, designed to help customers understand how to best apply Siebel software to solve their business challenges, company officials said.
