For the answer to these and other questions stay tunned.     

DrKoop.com RIP

DrKoop.com is ceasing operations and has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Code. The company needed additional debt or equity financing in order to continue operations but failed to find enough money to go on.    The company formed strategic relationships with America Online and its content was featured on Web sites representing more than 420 health care facilities and 20 television stations. More than 1.4 million people registered for DrKoop newsletters. Under Chapter 7, an independent trustee will sell the company's assets, including content, in an attempt to meet creditors claims.

>From the time its auditors first raised concerns about the company's financial condition, The Siebel Observer has chronicled the slow decline of DrKoop as a case study for the new economy (See Issue 53: DrKoop Saved from an Untimely End, Issue 48: The Varying Fate of CDNOW and DrKoop.com, Issue 41: DrKoop's Condition Worsens, and Issue 38: DrKoop Auditors Issue Warning).

The time has come finally to conduct the postmortem. One of the most valuable lessons to learn is that when your client is an unprofitable start up company, it is wise to get payment up front. Another lesson is that in business, popularity should not be confused with profitability. Owning a site that millions of people visit is not very helpful unless they can be turned into paying customers. DrKoop.com also proves it is not a very good idea to go public with an unproven (unprofitable) revenue model. The glare of public scrutiny forced the company's management to move precipitously and make costly agreements with portals that contributed to its decline.    

In the end, those who can learn from these lesson's are the drkoop.com's greatest beneficiaries. Everyone else - employees, investors, and creditors - are poorer for the experience.     

Siebel 7 Industry Applications Ship

At the end of 2001 Siebel Systems began shipping 20 industry-specific vertical applications based on version 7. They include thirteen existing industry solutions: financial services (institutional, retail, insurance), health care, communications (wireline), energy (utility), life sciences (pharma, clinical), consumer (consumer goods, apparel and footwear), industrial (high technology, automotive), and public sector. Seven new applications are making a debute includes wireless communications, media, oil and gas, medical products, chemicals, retail, and travel and hospitality. "Siebel Systems has invested extensively to develop industry-specific CRM solutions," said Stephen Pratt, Global CRM Leader, Deloitte Consulting. "The 20 new industry applications are a powerful solution."

The biggest advantage of an industry specific functionality is that it minimizes the need for customization which lowers the customer's total cost of ownership. "An ideal implementation of software applications involves more than 90 percent out of the box functionality with the ability to configure the applications to company specific processes," said Siebel customer Peter Harbin, of Boehringer-Ingelheim.

By being based on Siebel 7, the industry applications also take advantage of the release's zero-footprint client architecture, scalability, and integration kits to legacy systems, industry-specific niche applications, and external applications for collaborating with partners. In addition, the industry applications ship with Siebel Analytics 7, which includes prepackaged reports to track best practice metrics for sales, marketing, service, partner, and executive users.

The news is significant for many reasons. From a financial perspective, Siebel Systems will be able to recognize revenue for any sales it makes on these applications during the current quarter. The news also highlights a general industry trend away from point solutions and towards a day when a single vendor will be able to supply most of a company's package software needs. Most of all the announcement represents a triumph for the team assembled by David Schmaier.   Siebel Systems has been highly regarded by the rest of the software industry for the high standard of its sales and marketing efforts. By shipping so many versions so soon after the general release, the product line management and engineering groups demonstrate an excellence in software design that is as unprecedented as it is unacknowledged by the rest of the industry.     

Antenna Software Validated

Antenna Software has validated its AntennaTools for Siebel Field Service. The integration of Antenna Tools version 1.2 with Siebel eBusiness Applications version 6, and specifically Siebel Field Service provides field technicians with real time access to service requests including next steps, recommended parts, account and contact information.

"The field service systems used today are the same systems they were using twenty years ago," said Peter Semmelhack, President and CEO. "We founded Antenna Software because Web and wireless technologies have increasingly become the key differentiator for the field service industry."

"In the consolidating Field-Service market, point vendors are feeling the squeeze of the suite players and the economic downturn. Yet in this market, wireless field-service vendor, Antenna Software, has secured $17M in venture capital funding to expand its operation," said Lindsey Higgs in the AMR Research Alert on Customer Management Strategies, April 20, 2001.  "Antenna plans to use its latest venture capital investment to expand its partnerships with wireless and CRM vendors."

AntennaTools for Siebel Field Service is a wireless mobile   solution that enables real-time, end-to-end service request and inventory management from the field. Mobile workers can access information stored in Siebel applications, and manage their activities remotely using Motorola's two-way Personal Communicator, the Timeport 935. Data is also continuously updated with no manual synchronization required. AntennaTools also allows alerts to be automatically pushed to the Timeport devices, so field technicians can view and update them, reducing the overall repair time. Another feature of the product is TimeTracker, an electronic timesheet that tracks activities, and logs billable time. TimeTracker is an extends Siebel activities tracking out into Field Service arena. Antenna also offers an e-procurement network in association with Ingram Micro and Tech Data that allows field technicians to order parts as they needed and and check order status without leaving the customer's site.

The validated solution is available today and offered through Antenna Software. Based in New York, Antenna's products enable organizations of all sizes to more profitably deliver field service.    Besides Siebel, other Antenna's partners include Accenture, Nortel Networks, Motorola and Research in Motion (RIM). The company was recently selected by Computerworld as a company to watch. A good contact at the company is Shelly Peng at 212-343-2866, ext. 124 or speng@antennasoftware.com.     

Siebel Systems Adopts Support.com

Siebel Systems has adopted Support.com's (Nasdaq: SPRT)   Resolution Suite software for internal use. The Resolution Suite software platform is intended to help Siebel Systems automate the support process for its employees by identifying issues and automatically resolving them.  Common support requests can also be resolved via its automated knowledge base. As part of Siebel's own implementation of ERM, the Resolution Suite has improved employee productivity and reduced operating expense. For the Siebel Systems' IT employees, the Support.com solution decreases the need for employee desk-side visit by automating some of their most common support activities.

"By giving our employees advanced support resources and technology, Siebel Systems expects to decrease our overall IT support costs," said Mark Sunday, Vice President, IT and Chief Information Officer of Siebel Systems, Inc.

"Siebel Systems is one of those rare companies that walk the talk," said Bruce Mowery, Support.com's senior vice president of marketing. "Their percentage of IT employees is 50% of the industry norm and they are always looking at ways to improve their efficiency."

A final consideration in Siebel Systems' selection was Support.com's Support Portal Hub. The web site addresses a variety of support needs with a single point of reference by connecting users to tools, personnel and communication channels that best address their specific issue.

"This announcement illustrates the growing importance of support automation in the CRM ecosystem.  It's also an important next step in the Siebel-Support.com partnership, a relationship that has a lot of potential upside for both parties," said Allen Bonde, CRM industry consultant and President of the Allen Bonde Group.

Support.com was started in 1997 to answer the question: If computers are so smart why can't they fix themselves?  The company's answer was a patented technology called the DNA Probe, which gave birth to a category called "self-healing software" to fix problems before the user even knew they existed.  From there, the company has built a platform to provide full software support. The company estimates it has more than 50% share of the Corporate IT marketplace (employee service and support) for end-to-end suppport automation softare and more than 60% market share of the Broadband Service Provider marketplace (external service and support for consumers). A good contact at the company is Joi Deaser at 650-556-8930 or joi@support.com     

Ion Global Joins Siebel Alliance Program

Asian integrator Ion Global has joined the alliance program as a consulting partner. Established in Hong Kong in 1995 as Web Connection, Ion Global is a wholly owned subsidiary of chinadotcom (Nasdaq: CHINA).

The consulting company offers services that cross strategy, training, technology, and marketing with industry-specific background. Having built its expertise in financial services, travel and transportation, Ion Global has developed an active practice among major corporations for globalization, mobile business, and customer relationship management consulting.

"By joining the Siebel Alliance Program, we are able to offer our clients around Asia tailored CRM solutions" said Jon Winslow, Chief Operating Officer of Ion Global.

Major clients include HSBC, Cathay Pacific, GE, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Cable & Wireless, David Jones, MCI, Matsushita and GM China. Ion Global has offices in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, USA and the UK.