HP Goes For CRM, In A Big Way

Siebel Systems Inc. announced today what it believes to be the largest implementation of customer-relationship management software ever. Its eBusiness Applications have been chosen as the core platform technology for a customer-relationship management consolidation initiative by Hewlett-Packard, the company says.

The effort could involve as many 40,000 seats. HP had been using a number of different CRM applications across its business channels, but by using Siebel CRM it will be able to create a unified system that will lead to reduced operational costs, said Mike Overly, vice president of customer operations for HP Global Operations, in a statement.

"We estimate that the Siebel deployment will return IT savings in the range of tens of millions of dollars," Overly said.

The effort will consolidate HP's direct and indirect sales channels, which include thousands of direct-sales representatives, marketing professionals, contact-center representatives, and hundreds of thousands of partner resellers, he said.