Oracle Takes on Salesforce, Expands Web Offerings

BOSTON (Reuters) – Oracle Corp said on Tuesday it has createdWeb-based software designed to help salespeople win more business, itslatest attempt to overtake its smaller rival that leads in the field,Salesforce.com Inc.

The new programs from the world’s No. 2 publicly held softwarecompany adds browser-based technologies and can be customized to run onResearch in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry communications devices and onpersonalized Google Inc and Yahoo Inc Web pages.

Business users have requested those features because they havegotten comfortable using technology from companies like Google andYahoo to do Web searches, buy goods over the Internet, get drivingdirections and handle myriad personal tasks, analysts said.

Now they want access to the same technology at work. The need fortraditional software makers to embrace the use of Web-deliveredsoftware as a service and make their products look more like snazzyFacebook or Google Web sites was underscored when Salesforce.com wonone of the biggest sales force automation software deals of 2007.

Salesforce.com beat out Oracle to provide software to 30,000employees of Citigroup. Salesforce.com also has 25,000 Merrill Lynch& Co Inc subscribers.

"Certainly when you get into the Merrill Lynches of the world, Oracle wants to be there," said AMR Research analyst Rob Bois.

Other major software makers are also going after Salesforce.com’s sweet spot.

Microsoft Corp, the world’s largest software maker, introduced atrial version of CRM Dynamics Live last year and hopes to have thefinal product ready within a few months.

Germany’s SAP AG, the No. 3 publicly held software maker, says its product will be out this summer.

The product from Oracle is easier to use than a previous version andis designed to run seamlessly with popular Web programs from companiesincluding Google and Yahoo.

Oracle responded to a frequent demand from business users — thatsoftware designed to run on BlackBerry devices and mobile phones bestreamlined so that they don’t have to spend a lot of time thumbingthrough tiny menus to get to useful information, said RebeccaWettemann, an analyst with Nucleus Research.

Some of the features borrow from the approaches that popular Websites MySpace and Facebook use to connect people. In the case ofOracle’s software, they use the features to help salespeople figure outhow to best persuade potential clients to buy their products.

"I have a new lead. Now I can search for my network for people whohave a connection to this person, for an expert who can help,"Wettemann said.

"That was a wake-up call. They have come to a realization that thereis money to be made from delivery of software as a service," said TripChowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research. He was not briefedby Oracle.

Oracle bought No. 1 customer relationship management software maker Siebel two years ago for almost $6 billion.

The new product, based on technology acquired in the deal, will dropthe Siebel name and be called Oracle CRM On Demand. It is Oracle’s 15threlease of sales force automation software in 4-1/2 years.

Analysts have said Siebel software users have complained that theyhave had to enter large amounts of data into the programs, discouragingtheir use.

The new version does a better job of splitting up those tasks, sothat each worker only enters data relevant to his or her job, theanalysts said.

"This is focused on the personal productivity of the user, not the organization as a whole," said one of the analysts.

The social networking features alert workers when colleagues haveties to a sales prospect, or help them identify experts who might beable to help close a deal.

SAP, the world’s biggest maker of business management software andone of Oracle’s biggest rivals, announced similar features in itson-premise customer relationship management package late last year.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle, with additional reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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