Oracle takes CRM into SMB

Off the back of its February acquisition of Siebel, US software giant Oracle wants local resellers to take Siebel’s customer relationship management software products to the SMB market.

Will Bosma (pictured), vice president of CRM sales Asia Pacific at Oracle, said in the past, Siebel’s activities in the Asia Pacific region were restricted to the enterprise sector.

“The channel is coming to us and asking if they can take the [Siebel's] applications to market. We are in negotiations with existing Oracle partners to take the CRM products under their portfolio,” he said.

Current Oracle partners are also being recruited to implement Siebel's CRM Professional Edition On Premise and Siebel CRM On Demand for their own business, Bosma said.

New Siebel resellers would be required to go through a screening process to prove commercial stability, a solid sales track record, customer satisfaction, technical and marketing capabilities.

“Once approved they have to pay a small fee and they will be able to get access to Oracle systems and collateral to help get the business seeded. There are also different certification levels,” he said.

Resellers of the Siebel CRM products will be split by territory, industry and vertical, said Bosma.