As expected, JD Edwards yesterday announced an OEM agreement with leading front office application vendor, Siebel Systems Inc, to resell its sales force automation software alongside the ERP vendor’s OneWorld application suite. Yesterday, ComputerWire reported that JD Edwards was about to unveil two OEM agreements and today’s announcement marks the first of the two partnerships, both of which are aimed at giving the software maker a needed leg up into the booming front office applications market. The second OEM deal, with a procurement software vendor, is also expected to be announced any day now.
Under the terms of the agreement, JD Edwards will immediately begin marketing and selling Siebel’s sales force automation software as an option with its OneWorld ERP suite, enabling companies to have a seamless view of their supply chains from the front to back office. Under phase two of the partnership, the companies will work to tightly integrate the products by the end of 1999, according to Cathie Frazzini, JD Edwards’ senior manager of sales channel operations. Frazzini said the ERP vendor was currently developing an integration module, which will be available to its customers for free some time by the end of the year.
On the front end, Frazzini said that JD Edwards already has its own customer service management solution (CSMS) software, as well as a production configuration offering which it acquired through the acquisition of Premisys Inc earlier this year. Now Siebel gives us the sales automation side of the picture, she said, so that we can now offer our customers software that helps them find customers, sell to customers and service customers. JD Edwards said the product serves as a key part of a larger e-business offering, which will be announced at its user conference in Denver, Colorado next week. Through the partnership, JD Edwards also becomes the first member of Siebel’s Channel Alliance program; an initiative set up to enable businesses to purchase Siebel’s applications from the technology providers with whom they already have established relationships.
