Tech Vendors Find Success--Together

Siebel Systems has made several strong technology partnerships with other software companies, most notably IBM. After Big Blue ditched its applications business in 1999 and decided instead to partner with market-leading ISVs, one of the first alliances formed was with CRM software leader Siebel. IBM integrated its middleware products with Siebel's e-business applications, which resulted in one of the most successful partnerships for both vendors. Siebel has dozens of alliances with software vendors, such as Citrix Systems, webMethods and BMC Software.

Siebel has also been matching up with small software players that complement its CRM suite. DataDistilleries, an analytical CRM software company based in The Netherlands, teamed up with Siebel to provide its real-time analytical solutions to Siebel's e-business software suite. The two software makers expanded their alliance last spring as DataDistilleries integrated its predictive modeling and real-time marketing software with Siebel Marketing. DataDistilleries is now supporting Siebel 7, the latest version of Siebel's marketing leading e-business software suite.

"We've got a large customer base with Siebel," says Marcel Holsheimer, president and founder of DataDistilleries. "We're looking at a huge market in the United States for CRM analytics, and software partners are going to be a big part of our strategy."