Oracle’s Siebel CRM Makes Gartner’s Magic Quadrant

On Tuesday (3/28/06) Oracle announced that its Siebel CRM applications have been selected for positioning as a leader in Gartner’s CRM Customer Service Contact Center Magic Quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is published annually by Gartner as a tool for organizations that are considering new Customer Service and Support solutions.

The Magic Quadrant is a ranked listing of solution providers by market segment and by expertise. The leaders in each category are the select few who, Gartner feels, have demonstrated their strengths and have the ability to affect positive change in their sectors. In the Oracle announcement, Mike Betzer, Oracle’s Vice President of Service Products said, "We believe Siebel’s placement as a leader in this Gartner Magic Quadrant is recognition that Oracle offers the most comprehensive service suite in the market, and delivers proven capabilities for contact center and service organizations. Now that Siebel CRM is part of the Oracle CRM product family, we are committed to protect Siebel customer investments and extend a superior ownership experience through new offerings, such as our industry-leading Lifetime Support Policy." It is far from easy to make it into a Gartner Leadership Position.

To be selected, a company must not only have a vision but must also have, in Gartner’s opinion, the ability to effectively execute that vision. Other aspects of Gartner’s criteria in the area of customer service and support includes: having at least 15 customer references and at least five new customers in the past four quarters who have generated at least $10 million in revenue for CSS in that period. The selected company must also have the existing capability to fulfill all present and projected customer demand during the next six months and must be financially secure enough to operate at their current level for the next year. Other requirements are: having existing operations that support customers on at least two continents; having existing technology that supports cross-channel customer service; and having a reputation as a leader in the industry.