Profits Still Elude CRM Vendors

Profits Still Elude CRM Vendors

Oct 18, 2002
2 minute read
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In a quarter when market-leading Siebel Systems Inc. posted a rare loss, few other CRM software vendors fared much better.

PeopleSoft Inc., which had been largely unscathed by the economic downturn, saw revenues drop year-to-year from $520.7 million to $471.2 million. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company relies largely on services revenues, which actually went up by almost $5 million in the quarter, but license revenues, for all of the companys front and back office business applications, tumbled from $151.8 million to $121.6 million.

PeopleSofts net income dropped as well, from $50.3 million to $44.6 million.

E.piphany Inc. continued its slide, as total revenues fell from $29.2 million to $19.8 million year-to-year. License revenues accounted for all of the drop-off, falling from $16.2 million to $6.8 million.

At least the San Mateo, Calif., companys losses were a bit more manageable. After the companys infamous $2 billion loss in the third quarter last year, E.piphany lost just $13.6 million this year.

Kana Software Inc. fell short of profitability as well, reporting a net loss of $6.8 million, down from $96.1 million in the same year-ago period. But the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company did show some life on the license revenue front, surging from $2.9 million in last years third quarter to $8.8 million this year.

Total revenues for the quarter were flat, however, coming at just over $18 million, as Kanas professional services revenues fell off sharply year-to-year.

SAP AG also claimed a 19 percent year-over-year increase in license revenues for its MySAP CRM product line, up to $90.4 million. Total license revenues fell at SAP though, from $434.4 million to $422.7 million. Total revenues climbed from $1.6 billion to $1.65 billion. Net income climbed from $36 million to $196.3 million.

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