Worldspan Gains Superior Functionality and Reduces Costs with Siebel CRM OnDemand and IBM
Monday January 10, 8:02 am ET
Siebel CRM OnDemand to Deliver 50 Percent Savings over Three-year Period
SAN MATEO, Calif. and ARMONK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2005--Siebel Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEBL - News), a leading provider of business applications software, and IBM today announced that Worldspan, a technology service provider and global leader in e-commerce for the travel industry, will deploy Siebel CRM OnDemand to its global sales force. Worldspan expects to save 50 percent over its current costs by using Siebel Systems' CRM solution, which is hosted by IBM. The company is currently in the implementation planning phase and expects to complete the deployment by March 2005.
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Worldspan provides 24-by-7 high-speed operation of travel shopping and booking solutions to Web sites such as Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline and Hotwire, access to inventory for more than 800 travel suppliers, and hosting solutions for airlines including Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. Worldspan has a tradition of technology innovation in the travel industry, including the first browser-based travel agency desktop product, the award winning LINK supply chain integration system, and Worldspan Rapid Reprice®, the industry's first automated ticket re-pricing engine.
"Earlier this year, Worldspan made a strategic decision to look for opportunities to move to the on demand model for financial, human resources, Sales Force Automation (SFA), and other systems that run our business behind the scenes," said Sue Powers, CIO and senior vice president -Worldwide Product Solutions, Worldspan. "Worldspan's demonstrated history of technology innovation and our technology strategy to deploy the right technology for the job made it a natural fit for Worldspan to be one of the first to adopt on-demand technology. Siebel CRM OnDemand provides greater scalability and accessibility and is a perfect fit with Worldspan's service-oriented architecture. We'll be able to benefit from the capabilities of the latest Siebel software releases and built-in best practices based on Siebel's experience with thousands of customers. In addition, we'll reduce infrastructure and support costs, and free IT resources to focus on our core competencies so that we remain ahead of the curve."
Siebel CRM OnDemand combines Siebel Systems' industry-leading customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities with IBM's proven performance in hosting mission-critical business applications and Web sites. It incorporates IBM's industry-leading best practices for hosting and managing Siebel applications. Siebel CRM OnDemand will provide Worldspan with a fast, cost-effective means of moving to the newest version of the Siebel applications, which offer such features as a simple, straightforward Web interface and more tightly integrated analytics.
Major drivers behind the transition to Siebel's hosted solution includes the reduction in infrastructure costs compared to maintaining an on-premise solution, and the opportunity for Worldspan to divest itself of an effort that is outside its core business. This will enable the company to focus its IT resources on developing, managing, and supporting the software and services it provides to its customers. The subscription pricing structure, which is a pay-per-user approach versus a fixed-price annual contract, offers greater flexibility as the company adjusts its staffing requirements based on changing business requirements.
After Worldspan made the decision to move to a subscription model, Worldspan conducted an extensive evaluation of available offerings. The company required a technology provider that could meet its high standard of technology innovation and selected Siebel CRM OnDemand because of Siebel Systems' proven performance, ease of use, wide acceptance, and best practices, combined with IBM's world-class hosting capabilities. Another important factor in the decision was the fact that Siebel Systems offers a true on-demand solution, unlike many other offerings, which are simply outsourced custom implementations. "Because of our long-term relationship with Siebel Systems and IBM, we were very comfortable with our choice," said Sue Powers, CIO and senior vice president - Worldwide Product Solutions, Worldspan. "We knew they could deliver."
About Siebel CRM OnDemand
Siebel CRM OnDemand is a hosted CRM offering delivered over the Web and accessible from an Internet browser at a fixed price per user per month. Customers can deploy Siebel CRM OnDemand quickly, easily, and affordably without any up-front IT investments. Hosted by IBM, Siebel CRM OnDemand delivers complete sales, marketing, and service functionality; built-in customer analytics; virtual call center technology; embedded best practices; and world-class hosting services and support. Siebel CRM OnDemand is now available for purchase. For more information, visit www.crmondemand.com
About Siebel Systems
Siebel Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of business applications software, enabling corporations to sell to, market to, and serve customers across multiple channels and lines of business. With more than 4,000 customer deployments worldwide, Siebel Systems provides organizations with a proven set of industry-specific best practices, CRM applications, market-leading analytics products, and business processes, empowering them to consistently deliver superior customer experiences and establish more profitable customer relationships. Siebel Systems' sales and service facilities are located in more than 30 countries.
About IBM Hosting Services
IBM hosting services, a key part of IBM's on demand offerings portfolio, helps customers leverage Siebel's on demand CRM solutions on a flexible and cost-efficient basis. Other IBM on demand services include security capabilities, computing capacity on demand, software as a service and desktop management. Most services are sold on a usage basis, reducing the upfront capital investment and freeing up financial resources for strategic growth initiatives. IBM has been providing hosting services since 1995. For more information, visit: www.ibm.com/services/e-business/hosting/
About Worldspan, L.P.
Worldspan is a leader in travel technology services for travel suppliers, travel agencies, e-commerce sites and corporations worldwide. Utilizing some of the fastest, most flexible and efficient networks and computing technologies, Worldspan provides comprehensive electronic data services linking approximately 800 travel suppliers around the world to a global customer base. Worldspan offers industry-leading Fares and Pricing technology such as Worldspan e-Pricing®, hosting solutions, and customized travel products. Worldspan enables travel suppliers, distributors and corporations to reduce costs and increase productivity with technology like Worldspan Go!® and Worldspan Trip Manager® XE. Worldspan is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional information is available at worldspan.com.
Statements in this release and the exhibits hereto which are not purely historical facts, including statements about forecasted financial projections or other statements about anticipations, beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future, may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to Worldspan, L.P. ("the Company") on the date this report was submitted. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: the Company's revenue being highly dependent on the travel and transportation industries; airlines limiting their participation in travel marketing and distribution services; and other changes or events which impact the travel industry or the Company. More information on potential risks and uncertainties is available in the Company's recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's annual Form 10-K report, Forms 10-Q, Forms 8-K, and Form S-1 Registration Statement.
For more information on Siebel Systems solutions and services, please visit our Web site: CRM - www.siebel.com/crm; OnDemand Solutions - www.crmondemand.com; Industry CRM - www.siebel.com/industry-crm; Call Center & Service - www.siebel.com/call-center; Sales Force Automation - www.siebel.com/sales-force-automation; Marketing Automation - www.siebel.com/marketing-automation; Business Intelligence - www.siebel.com/business-intelligence; Integration Solutions - www.siebel.com/integration-solutions; CRM Services - www.siebel.com/crm-services
Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risk or uncertainties. Future operating results of Siebel Systems may differ from the results discussed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to factors that include, but are not limited to, risks associated with customer relations, such as the availability of Siebel Systems' products and services, customer implementation of products and services, relationships with customers, third-party vendors and systems integrators, concentration of revenues in a relatively small number of customers, existence of errors or defects in products, ability to successfully manage growth, significant current and expected additional competition and the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Siebel Systems are included in Siebel Systems' Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov. Siebel Systems assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release.
Siebel is a trademark of Siebel Systems, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other product and firm names mentioned are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.
All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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Contact:
Siebel Systems, Inc.
Stacey Burbach, 602-279-1137
email: stacey.burbach@siebel.com
or
Worldspan, L.P.
Lisa Kwon-Brooks, 770-563-5245
email: lisa.kwon-brooks@worldspan.com
or
IBM
Scott Sykes, 914-766-4644
email: sykessc@us.ibm.com
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Source: Siebel Systems, Inc.