We use Siebel as a CRM to capture all agent selling activity. We also capture backend orders received from other interfaces and send them downstream to be fulfilled.
Salesforce Technical Lead at Tata Consultancy
CRM and sales tracking solution that offers high levels of customization
Pros and Cons
- "Siebel offers a high level of customization which has been valuable. The solution also offers the ability to model complex products."
- "The backend performance of Siebel could be improved as it is often slow. In addition, the Open UI is not that responsive."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Siebel offers a high level of customization which has been valuable. The solution also offers the ability to model complex products.
What needs improvement?
The backend performance of Siebel could be improved as it is often slow. In addition, the Open UI is not that responsive. If we send out a call to a server, click any buttons or any drill-down links, and then click on that thread itself, it gets stuck and the system freezes.
Secondly, the customization capabilities available to users could be reduced. Over time, technical debt increases and the system starts to slow down due to all the customizations and this leads to user complaints.
Finally, the cost of this solution could be reduced to gain more customers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for seven years.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is challenging to scale, especially when used on-premises. We experienced CP-usage spikes, memory-usage spikes and component crashes due to the memory limit of 4GB.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service for this solution is not great. Issues require a few escalations in order to get resolution. Support tickets and communication are handled in the same way regardless of how much experience a customer has with the solution. They do not tailor feedback to suit the level of experience that customers have.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Salesforce over Siebel. This is because Salesforce offers guard rails for development, is scalable and overs a large product ecosystem.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Technical project manager at Saudi Telecom Company
Used for distributing information between systems, trouble ticketing, and case management
Pros and Cons
- "Siebel CRM is used for distributing information between systems, trouble ticketing, and case management."
- "Currently, Siebel CRM is not helping the agent provide faster feedback to the customer."
What is our primary use case?
We are in the enterprise business units and managing some of the product catalogs on Siebel CRM.
What is most valuable?
Siebel CRM is used for distributing information between systems, trouble ticketing, and case management.
What needs improvement?
Currently, Siebel CRM is not helping the agent provide faster feedback to the customer. Many things are put on Siebel CRM which are not designed for Siebel CRM.
For how long have I used the solution?
I joined my company recently, but they have been using Siebel CRM since 2009.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Siebel CRM an eight out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Siebel CRM a ten out of ten for scalability. More than 5000 users are using Siebel CRM in our organization.
How was the initial setup?
Siebel CRM's initial setup in our company was difficult because it was a complex migration.
What other advice do I have?
Users should use Siebel CRM for its intended purpose. Getting integrated systems is better than taking the system outside the context.
Overall, I rate Siebel CRM an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Siebel CRM
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Siebel CRM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
A complete enterprise solution that fits every use case
Pros and Cons
- "The best thing about the tool is its data model. The underlying data model refers to how the data is stored in databases. We can also experience the ease of developing anything with the tool. We can customize any functionality as per any business challenge."
- "I want Oracle to improve the tool’s UI with a vanilla application. I would also like to see an insurance broking vertical in their future releases. There are thousands of brokers who look for an insurance broking solution."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution primarily for sales which includes prospect management, opportunity management, customer management, etc. As an insurance brokerage firm, we have various core technical processes like underwriting. We have also integrated Oracle EBS. There are different modules like the collection module and the on-claim module.
What is most valuable?
The best thing about the tool is its data model. The underlying data model refers to how the data is stored in databases. We can also experience the ease of developing anything with the tool. We can customize any functionality as per any business challenge.
What needs improvement?
I want Oracle to improve the tool’s UI with a vanilla application. I would also like to see an insurance broking vertical in their future releases. There are thousands of brokers who look for an insurance broking solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for twelve years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is pretty much stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. You can add any amount of load to it and it will be performing the same. My company’s total employee strength is 1500. Every single person in my company is using the tool somewhere in their operations.
How are customer service and support?
Oracle’s support is one of the beauties of the deployment process. The tool’s issue resolving strength is really good. They support all technical issues as well. The tool’s support has resolved all the issues that we had raised over the past 12 years. I would rate its support an eight-point five out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used a Google-based application. My company wanted to move to an enterprise solution that could accommodate all the needs. There is no solution made for brokerages. We had to opt for one that allowed for customization and hence chose Siebel CRM.
How was the initial setup?
The tool’s initial setup was very easy and straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think the tool’s pricing is exaggerated. Once you do the price sizing as per your business needs, you would find that the price of other solutions like Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM, Salesforce CRM, etc. would be always the same.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated the Salesforce CRM solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the overall solution a nine out of ten. I would recommend this solution to anyone who has sales and customer service as their use cases. This tool can make your life easier than any other solution. The tool is very handy and easy in terms of execution and operations support. The solution also has the best industry standard architecture. Siebel CRM is a complete package solution that fits every use case.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Principal Technical Consultant at Tech Mahindra Limited
CRM used for order management with many features built into the solution
Pros and Cons
- "Due to the many features that are built in from a CRM perspective, it is the best product we have."
- "The UI could be improved by being fully cloud native as this is what our customers are looking for. It would also be great to see what updates are coming up for release and for updates to take place automatically without manual intervention."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for order management.
What is most valuable?
Due to the many features that are built in from a CRM perspective, it is the best product we have.
What needs improvement?
The UI could be improved by being fully cloud native as this is what our customers are looking for. It would also be great to see what updates are coming up for release and for updates to take place automatically without manual intervention.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for more than 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The latest versions of this solution are not stable. I have been working on the latest version for three and a half years and I'm still experiencing issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
This solution's advanced customer support (ACS) is fine, but the general customer support (GCS), needs a lot of improvement. There are long waiting times for issue resolution when the support team need assistance from the engineering team.
How was the initial setup?
The latest version is easier to deploy. The IP 17 version is cumbersome. The versions after this are easier to install.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This solution is expensive compared to other solutions in the market. This makes it difficult to convince our customers to use it. The customers who are already using Siebel have thought about moving to Velocity or Salesforce. There are big telcos who want to continue using Siebel using the latest version but because of the costing, they are not doing so.
We are only able to get costing information when we connect with one of the sales representatives from Oracle. This information should be included on the website.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution for large enterprises only. For small and medium sized businesses, I don't think it's worth spending the time to complete the customizations.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
General Manager at ActiveIT Consultores
Reliable with good upper-level support and capable of expansion
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is scalable."
- "It is difficult to set up."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is primarily on a salesperson's applications like a CRM to sell, create and track opportunities, sell products, and find our customers.
What is most valuable?
It's very stable.
The solution is scalable.
Upper-level support is great.
What needs improvement?
Oracle is working very, very hard in moving such solutions to a software as a service, like other CRMs. We hope it will be fully SaaS in the future.
It is difficult to set up.
It's hard to get to the level of support you need.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product was very scalable. It's not a problem if you want to expand.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is okay. They have a lot of good engineers there, however, it's hard to reach them.
You have to create a ticket. The problem is the first level of support and it's very basic. If you need something more special or more specific, you have to go very deep and move from the basic level, the entry-level, and the middle level, and then, you finally get an engineer who can solve or understand what kind of problem you are facing.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are really involved in Oracle products, and we are certified in the Oracle CRM brand.
How was the initial setup?
It is not easy to set up. It's a bit difficult.
What other advice do I have?
We are a partner and reseller of Oracle.
I'm an architect on CRM. I'm a consultant and my primary assignment is to create solutions or add more functionality to that system.
We work for several banks or retailers in Latin America, part of it is an on-premise solution, and a few of them have part of the solution implemented on the cloud.
The advice I'd give to others is to hire a very good consulting company. It's not a solution that you can make on your own. You have to have people who know very, very well the solution as it's really huge.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Senior IT Architect at IBM
Is stable, but guidance on customization is needed
Pros and Cons
- "The problem with Siebel is that everything is customizable in it. It's probably over-engineered, which makes it difficult to use, and it makes it difficult for the users to get started with the system."
What needs improvement?
The problem with Siebel is that everything is customizable in it. It's probably over-engineered, which makes it difficult to use, and it makes it difficult for the users to get started with the system.
They should provide some guidance on what to customize and what not to customize.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution, but because it is an on-premises one, we have slow response rates at times.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable, but it eats up a lot of hardware.
We have more than 1000 users.
How are customer service and support?
My experience with technical support is varied. Sometimes, it is okay, and at other times, I've had to wait for a long time.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Siebel CRM is complicated.
It took almost 18 months. This is also because there was an old CRM system which was home-built, running on a system from which they had to migrate data to the Siebel solution.
What other advice do I have?
Given all the other CRM solutions on the market, Siebel is not the first one I would recommend to people.
I would rate it at five on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Head of Technology Department at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good order management and accounts management, however it's quite a heavy solution
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's order management pack is quite fantastic."
- "The solution itself is very heavy."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution to get an almost 360-degree view of a customer. If you can see a customer, you can have a view of all the technical assets which the customer has. We use product subscriptions and subscription management right from onboarding a product to a customer's account, all the way through to upgrading or downgrading that product and, of course, termination.
We also use it for customer interaction management. When a customer places a call to the call center, we use Siebel to review their history and see how you can support the customer in terms of any query your customer has.
What is most valuable?
The solution's order management pack is quite fantastic.
Customer and accounts management as well as subscription management are all great aspects of the solution.
What needs improvement?
The solution itself is very heavy.
If Oracle can provide a better cloud version, they could provide a cloud dated version that can be deployed on a microservice.
There needs to be a way to move things in and out of the cloud, and the solution shouldn't just run on an Oracle cloud either. they need to also ensure users can use any cloud provider, including AWS, Azure, Google, etc.
The most important thing they need to do is offer cloud-native support. A lot of benefits that come with the cloud-native implementation can be realized.
The solution needs to auto-scale and offer horizontal scaling.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for over a decade. It's been 11 years or so now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution has quite a complex set up, however, once it stabilizes, it becomes very reliable. There is no frequent downtime, though it's tightly coupled to the database so if the Siebel database does experience some degradation, it will impact the performance of the application.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have a lot of users. In the call center, we have about 2,000 agents logged into the solution. At our peak, we have over 2,500 users on it.
We really use it extensively every day. We don't have plans to increase usage, however, maybe in the future we will upgrade to a more cloud native version.
How are customer service and technical support?
The solution's technical support has been impressive. Whenever we request support from Oracle, in terms of whether the features raised are in demand, etc., they are very responsive and knowledgeable. Even though they just upgrade products, they really assist us when we need it.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not straightforward. It was complex, at least when we originally implemented it.
What other advice do I have?
We're just an Oracle customer.
I'd advise organizations considering the solution to get the right partner to implement the Oracle Siebel CRM for them. The partner will be even more essential if the company decides to go for a cloud-native version of Siebel CRM.
I would rate them seven out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Assistant Vice President at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
A strong database model which needs improvement in UX/UI
Pros and Cons
- "Siebel CRM has a strong database model, workflow and integration tools."
- "However, there are areas that this product has not evolved at par with global industry trends, including the UX/UI and cloud capabilities."
Siebel CRM has a strong database model, workflow and integration tools.
However, there are areas that this product has not evolved at par with global industry trends, including the UX/UI and cloud capabilities.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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