Case Write up on :

Siebel systems Anatomy of a sale

Summited To:
Prof. Vikas Goyal

Summited By:
Rohan Kumar Sinha
2015PGP039
Case Facts:

About Seller:
Company Introduction
Founded by Tom Siebel in 1993
World leader in CRM software with 50% market share in sales management, marketing automation,
customer service & support (2001)
Core values of company emphasize on customer satisfaction, professionalism, professional courtesy
& bias for action
Product Matrix
Portfolio of more than 200 products
Customized product according to customer requirements
Go-to-market strategy with direct sales force
Followed a multichannel approach
Alliances
Integration Alliance Partners include Accenture, Cap Gemini, Deloitte Consulting, IBM, PWC etc
Key hardware & software partners include Alcatel, AT&T Wireless, Avaya ,Cisco, Compaq, Microsoft
etc
Competitors
Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, Clarify, E*piphany

About Buyer:
Cathy Ridley, the VP of Marketing at Quick & Reilly, was looking for lead tracking and fulfilment
system to track 100 offices, 500 brokers and 1 million customers. This is when she came across Greg
Carman, and started considering Siebel Systems for the requirement.
Quick and Reilly used a DOS-based P.C. system (named MDFS- Marketing Database & Fulfilment
System in the firm) for lead tracking and fulfilment system which was outliving its usefulness as
described below.
The employees tried to cope up with the systems' slowness and inefficiency going as far as avoiding
making entries into the system by scribbling leads on a paper. This resulted in poor tracking of follow
up & conversion rates.
Customer acquisition rates were going down.
IT department later announced the imminent crash of MDFS by the year 2000 due to impending Y2K
bug.
Hence Ridley was looking for an in-house solution or probably off the shelf solution that could solve
replace the MDFS..

Key Issues:
How should Carman respond to the invitation to tell the Quick and Reilly executives what he thought of
Oracle? What features of this particular interaction influence your opinion? Would your opinion of the
right response change if the circumstances were different?

A discussion of Key Issues:

Siebel Systems was founded to pursue opportunities in a saturated market. However, it was critical
that the companys fundamental vision was followed.
Customer Satisfaction Potential customers were always included in the product design
process. This ensured that the customers needs and requirements were met.
Carman needs to figure out what Quick & Reilly actually needs from Siebel Systems.
Now that they have been acquired, Carmen needs to know how their business requirements have
changed and what product would best suit them and FleetBoston. Siebel Systems have achieved
great success by following the rules of customer satisfaction. As a result, their products have delivered
what their customer want. Carman needs to continue that legacy.
Professionalism Absolutely everything is done to make sure customers succeed with their
product.
Carman should not push product that he may know is not needed. Siebel Systems
solves problems. They do not create them. When considering professionalism he needs to meet with
the new stakeholders from FleetBoston to make sure there is still an issue that their software can
solve.

Summary:
Siebel Systems, founded in 1993 by Tom Siebel, became the world leader in software for customer
relationship management 7 years after its inception in the year 2000. This wasnt by accident though.
Tom Siebel strived to be uniquely different by a commitment to making its customers successful. In
the HBS case study Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 1 Gregg Carman, a Siebel Systems
salesperson, is pondering solutions to a dilemma he encountered while negotiating a $2.1 million sale
to Quick & Reilly. During the consultations, the largest bank in the United States, FleetBoston,
acquired it. Carman didnt know how he should handle this situation. He looked to the companys core
values to see how the founder, Tom Siebel, would handle it.