First encounter with Siebel..

Let us know the general terms used in siebel and get familiar with the Application UI and know the basic entities with which we will be dealing while configuring the application.

Important terms used in Siebel

• Navigation
• Screens
• Link bar
• Views
• Business Objects
• Business Components
• Applets
• Siebel Tools
• Siebel Web Client
• Siebel Repository File (SRF)

      

 Siebel Login page

  

 Siebel Tools UI

  

Most common entities which a developer works on in Siebel are:

Business Component

• logical entity that associates columns from one or more tables into a single structure
• provide a layer of wrapping over tables
• applets reference business components rather than the underlying tables

Applets

• Gets the data from the Business Component
• Each list or form applet references only one BC

Business Object

• Collection of related Business Component
• Organizes the relationship  between Business Component, referred by different applets so that related data can be displayed in a view

Views

• Collection of multiple applets
• Based on a Business Object

Screen

• Collection of multiple views
• Are Defined in the Application

                                                                                      

Illustration of the relation between different entities.

Why is CRM important in today's business environment

Hi All .. Before jumping directly to learn Siebel …. Lets just get familiar with the term CRM and why it’s important in today’s business environment.

The concept of Customer Relationship Management has been around since the start of business. Only over the last few years has CRM started to be used as a buzz word defined by software manufactures. Some CRM tools manage sales & leads, some are used for customer service, most are do not fully encompass the idea of Customer Relationship Management. I urge companies to make full use of the tools available, but don't be limited by them. Keep the focus on your goals.

Goals of a Customer Relationship Management Plan

1. Increase customer retention
2. Increase company profits
3. Better serve the customer / increasing competitive advantage
4. Build and maintain a relationship with your customers, so that you know their current and future     needs and can incorporate trends into your strategy.
5. Manage leads through the sales pipeline by creating a relationship

Please refer the below Diagram

 

There are there important phase in CRM Life cycle

·         Acquire

·         Retain

·         Extend

A good CRM system focuses in acquiring customers and retaining most of them so as to extend the business. Studies consistently show that it costs 8 times more to cultivate a new customer than to keep an existing one. A good CRM plan that focus on retention of customers will make your business more profitable…Guaranteed!

Most companies find that using a good software tool as part of their CRM plan will create a ROI within 3 months of implementation. This is do to increased efficiency, more repeat business, increased referrals, and faster invoicing.

An Introduction to Siebel CRM

Oracle Siebel CRM

Oracle Siebel CRM is the world's most complete customer relationship management solution. Siebel CRM is available in many different modifications tailored to the specific needs of specified industries and covering completely the management of the following processes: sales, service, contact center, marketing, customer loyalty management and partner management in the following market verticals:

• Automotive;
• Consumer Goods;
• Industrial Manufacturing;
• Life Sciences;
• Media and Entertainment;
• Travel and Transportation;
• Communications;
• Financial Services;
• Healthcare;
• High Technology;
• Public Sector;
• Retail;
• Utilities.

With each of these versions Oracle Siebel provides out-of-the-box functional solutions, while many system modules are modified to the requirements of a specific industry. At first glance, this creates the impression of a great complexity of the system, but in practice it is invaluable for the accurate reproduction of the customer’s specific business model in the CRM system, and also for the access to ready-made successful business models and best practices from around the world.

Based on the specific functionality, the Oracle Siebel modules are grouped as follows:

Sales

• Sales;
• Mobile and Handheld;
• Quote and Order Capture;
• Sales Analytics;
• Collaboration - integration with Micoroft SharePoint;
• Siebel Server Sync for Microsoft Exchange Server;
• Partner and Channel Management.

Offers and Orders

• Quote and Order Lifecycle Management;
• Dynamic Catalog;
• Product and Catalog Management;
• Dynamic Pricer;
• Product and Pricing Analytics.

Pricing Management

• Advanced Pricing;
• Dynamic Pricer;
• Deal Management.

Marketing and Loyalty Systems

• Marketing Resource Management;
• Campaign/Dialogue Management;
• Loyalty Management;
• eMail Marketing;
• Events Management;
• Web Marketing;
• Marketing Analytics.

Customer Service

• Siebel Contact Center;
• Siebel Field Service;
• Siebel Help Desk;
• Siebel Mobile Solutions;
• Siebel Contact Center and Service Analytics;
• Oracle CRM Call Center On Demand.

SelfService and e-invoicing

• E-Commerce;
• iStore;
• E-Support;
• Self-Service E-Billing.

• Partner Portal;
• Partner Manager;
• Partner Analytics.

Business Intelligence

The Oracle Business Intelligence applications support more than ten different functional areas through fully integrated best practices for analysis, key performance indicators (KPI); metrics and workflows for analysis. Oracle Business Intelligence provides access to key information to everyone in the organization who has the required rights, thereby ensuring a solid basis for making faster and better business decisions related to optimizing the use of resources, reducing costs, improving operations, etc., in a wide range of processes - from sales through human resource management to purchasing.

Customer Data Integration

Oracle Customer Hub is a customer data integration (CDI) solution that enables organizations to centralize information from heterogeneous systems, creating a single view of customer information that can be leveraged across all functional departments and analytical systems.

Siebel CRM Technology

Oracle's Siebel CRM Technology provides the server framework to support Siebel Applications. It delivers solutions for: Development, Deployment, Diagnostic, Integration, Productivity, and Mobile services.

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Oracle Siebel CRM delivers comprehensive on premise and on demand CRM solutions. The second option does not require the purchase of software licenses and hardware to install the application, but a monthly subscription fee for as many users as required.