An upgrade to PeopleSoft Inc.s CRM suite includes six new modules and more than 150 new features, as well as three new industry-specific modules for insurance, energy and high tech.
Chief among the features in PeopleSoft 8.8 Customer Relationship Management, due to ship next week, is an e-mail and chat client that is pervasive and integrated across all applications in the suite, allowing for multilevel customer interactions. Reports and alerts can also be pushed out to users via chat and e-mail in Version 8.8, said officials at PeopleSoft, in Pleasanton, Calif.
A new application called Advisor, an extension of technology PeopleSoft acquired from Calico Commerce Inc. earlier this year, is a guided selling technology in the PeopleSoft Sales module that captures customer preferences through interactions and dialog. PeopleSoft Sales also features mobile order capture, including price, discount, order and quote—all through a mobile device—and sales incentive management. PeopleSoft Sales new pricing module can take up to 200 business rules into account and provide customer-specific pricing, officials said.
The upgrade also includes a human-resources-specific help desk application for employee relationship management.
New features of the PeopleSoft Marketing module include personalized dialogs, enhanced management of multichannel and multiwave campaigns, and advanced customer profile management for improved audience segmentation. PeopleSoft Service module enhancements include enhanced 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, a graphical configuration tool, 20 new pre-built integration points and pre-integrated business processes make PeopleSoft 8.8 CRM easier to configure, officials said.