An In-Depth Look At SEBL
So, Siebel Systems’ CEO, J. Michael
Lawrie, was fired on Wednesday.
((This
column discussed Siebel in greater detail on
April 6.) To some extent, he was a victim of the times; but that
said, he could have done a better job. Lawrie’s replacement
is George Shaheen – a longtime Siebel board member.
Siebel
needs to do a whole lot that’s different. Maybe the new guy has enough of a
background in change management to make a difference. (Craig Conway did a good
job stabilizing PeopleSoft and starting its turnaround. But over time, he got
too full of himself for his own good.)
Siebel
really needs to change just about everything–it’s truly screwed up:
- Sales –
The sales process has not evolved to the realities of today’s market. The
sales people are not aware of all the hoops they have to jump through to close
the deal and therefore are not pushing hard enough;
Marketing – The marketing message does not adequately recognize the value of
analytics and visibility. Siebel needs to place more emphasis on analytics,
which would be a sure way of getting more deals sold more quickly; and- Product
– It should acquire reporting and analytics to improve what it has in these
areas.
One of the
biggest fantasies of the 1990s was the illusion of “CRM” (customer relationship
management). There are a relative handful of companies that need “a” CRM
application. Most need sales force automation, marketing automation, call center
automation, customer support automation, maintenance dispatching, etc. – but
only as discrete applications. The reason why folks have bought into
Salesforce.com’s message is they need simple sales force automation, including
the ability of sales people to access their systems easily on the road.  They
don’t have the time and money or inclination to buy a “CRM” solution.
That said,
Siebel’s problems are still fixable. It’s still a great franchise. But the
mindset of the organization is still stuck in the 1990s. Buying the stock here
you have to hope that the new CEO Shaheen, the business consultant, can do an
internal turnaround. You have to hope that having lived through running a total
IT hype business he’s got the sense to see through Siebel’s internal BS and get
it focused on what counts.
Would
Siebel sell? Why sell? The major difference between a PM / trader and a guy
running a business is the former can sell and move on. The latter has to find
another job. And the job market in software is tight (even more so as the
PeopleSoft / Oracle layoffs continue). Siebel is less inclined to sell. And sell
to whom?
Going
forward, my bet is Siebel sort of beats the second quarter number and really
beats the fourth quarter numbers.
Melanie Hollands
melaniehollands@yahoo.com