PeopleSoft To Tweak CRM With 'Process-Aware' Integration

The process integration software linking PeopleSoft CRM to back office systems will expedite order management, request materials authorization (RMA) and field fulfillment, said Brad Wilson vice president of marketing for PeopleSoft, Pleasanton, Calif.

The PeopleSoft-labeled integration packs will provide single-vendor accountability. "Unlike [Siebel Systems] UAN where WebMethods or Tibco does a lot of the work, we are the vendor accountable here for the connection between PeopleSoft and these back office systems," Wilson said. Siebel's Universal Application Network is a multi-vendor effort to provide a standard framework for application connectors. The goal is to eliminate multiple point-to-point connections that are ungainly and expensive.

"Most CRM customers are implementing CRM to be a front-end or conduit to all those various disparate back-end systems...They're putting CRM on the front end and we help them with the integration. Having something pre-packaged for key ERP vendors gives system integrators a head start on that," said Pete Koltis, managing director of BearingPoint's PeopleSoft CRM practice. The next step is to add more integration to the more specialized vertical applications, he added.

Meta Group Analyst Steve Bonadio said the new software is a hybrid: "It's a bit more than a point release but less than a major release," he noted.

"One of the big things here is the integration. It's fairly basic in Version 1 but is something they can build on...in response to Siebel UAN and SAP XApps [integration strategies]," Bonadio added. "It's significant in that they can take their first step into business process integration and business process management but it will take some time for them to expand their strategy."

Also new will be server-side synchronization with IBM/Domino Domino and Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail systems. If a customer changes his or her e-mail address in the call center application, the change will propagate to the email system automatically. PeopleSoft offered only client-side mail synchronization in the past.

Additionally, the update will help users more easily comply with the FTC's new "Do Not Call" rules. The system can now suppress communication across any of the channels to ensure customers do a good job with opt in/opt out registries, Wilson said.

PeopleSoft could not provide representative pricing for this new functionality other than to say pricing depends on the size of the customer company and its plumbing.