Las Vegas April 30, 2002 e-Business solution provider PeopleSoft this week went vertical, offering new industry-tailored versions of its customer relationship management (CRM) solution.
In addition to existing solutions for financial services and communications, PeopleSoft rolled out CRM solutions for government, energy, high technology and insurance, all due out later this year.
The move by PeopleSoft, announced at the provider's user conference in Las Vegas, follows the trend in the market, according to Steve Bonadio, senior program director at technology research company META Group.
"As the CRM market continues to mature, sophisticated vertical solutions have emerged to support the unique needs of organizations within different industries," said Bonadio. "Given that business processes and rules differ dramatically across industries, organizations should look to CRM solutions that provide out-of-box, industry-specific functionality, in addition to flexible underlying technologies and data models to support their unique business requirements."
PeopleSoft said its CRM for Government solution is made to give public sector organizations the ability to provide fast, effective service through multiple channels. For example, state and local governments will have the capability to manage non-emergency communication between government organizations and their constituents, automatically assigning constituent inquiries to the right department, graphically displaying the location of reported problems and work crews, and reducing administration costs by providing self-service access to online support services.
The energy solution, designed for energy retailers and distributors, provides such functionality as premise management support to administer service points and assets; service management support for move and transfer of service transactions; tracking and resolution of power outages, gas leaks and other emergency and non-emergency services; account billing and management functionality; and loyalty and retention analysis for up-selling and cross-selling products and services.
CRM for High Technology will provide functionality for manufacturers and distributors of hardware, software and other technology products, including self-service product registration, contract and entitlement management, real-time tracking of availability for materials and spare parts across multiple locations and up-sell and cross-sell of products and services, such as extended warranties and professional services.
Finally, the insurance solution will deliver functionality to manage all lines of insurance, including property and casualty, life and health, according to the solution provider. The application will model insurance policy relationships, providing a view of a customer's insurance portfolio from claim to billing to payment. Self-service capabilities will give customers online access to product information, policy quick quotes and the ability to file claims in real time.
