The Bloor Perspective: Baan finds a buyer, the not-so-printed word, and Siebel 2000

Finally, after a week of rumours and fluctuating stock prices, UK-based engineering firm Invensys acquired Baan. Invensys will buy 95 per cent of all Baan shares and will incorporate the company into its newly formed Invensys Software and Systems division (ISS). ISS will also have responsibility for the Marcam ERP software acquired for $60m back in May 1999.

It is estimated ISS will generate revenues of around $200m per year and should break even within 12 months. An 18-month period of restructuring is expected at a cost of $400m. Costs will be reduced dramatically with only key Baan employees remaining.

Baan had been ripe for acquisition for some time with seven quarters of poor financial performance and steadily falling stock value it had reached the point where something had to give. In addition to this, it also had some pretty good software products. Historically, Baan has been associated with strong manufacturing systems and it is these that would have appealed to companies like i2 and Computer Associates.

It also has CRM software acquired through Aurum Software in May 1997. The Aurum products are well regarded within the industry and would have been of interest to SAP and, possibly, Oracle. The question that needs to be asked is whether Baan might have done better by selling off its products individually rather than simply giving itself up entirely.

Ultimately, this is a sad end for company that looked so good for so long. It was building itself a strong business and made some good acquisitions along the way. However, it never really succeeded in integrating these acquisitions into a single unit that could compete with other ERP vendors. There has to be some doubt whether Invensys will do any better.

*The portable book, Mk II*

With the trade gathering in Chicago for North America's largest book convention, publishers are clearly expecting change. Three major publishing houses have recently announced the release of titles to the electronic market and many others are expected to follow. Consumer interest in electronic books has been lukewarm, but the question surrounding the revolution seems to be 'When?' rather than 'Whether?'

Electronic devices don't provide the quality of presentation that is available from the printed page. Special purpose e-book hardware has attempted to remedy this. Yet it seems that a different feature of the traditional book - portability - draws most interest.

Despite the limitations of its display, most e-book activity is linked with the Palm device, noted for its lightness, small size and long battery life. Active online publishers believe that the future lies with such general-purpose handhelds.

What does this say about the wider world? The consumer message looks clear. There is a preference for a single, highly portable device. Taking into account the rapid evolution of mobile phones into intelligent devices, it is reasonable to expect that consumers will favour a compact wireless gadget with strong PDA functionality. Some display limitations are evidently acceptable in a trade off against portability and general usefulness.

Although phone companies are making a lot of noise about WAP, their longer-term plans suggest migration towards more capable devices. Improved technology is not far away, both for the devices themselves and for the wireless communications capability. Palm is leaving others to move into the front line of hardware development as it makes the transition into a software company. Symbian, the child of Psion and the mobile phone makers, clearly has a PDA heritage.

WAP is likely to be displaced by new devices, and Microsoft is alongside Palm and Symbian, making it a three-cornered fight. The result will be widely used devices that form a new route to market for publishers.

*Siebel 2000 - a multi-channel choice?*

The latest incarnation of Siebel's business solution was recently given its first airing to the UK analyst community and Bloor Research went along to take a look.

The new release marks the repositioning of Siebel from CRM vendor to an ebusiness solution provider. In fact, Siebel 2000 brings a good deal of additional functionality to the party which does indeed make it a very well-rounded offering suitable for a multi-faceted ebusiness.

The fundamental premise upon which Siebel 2000 is built is the need for channel integration. Siebel contends that ebusiness is not just about Web trading - call centres, sales forces, resellers and other traditional routes to market are still equally valid.

The first impression of Siebel 2000 is that it is comprehensive yet at the same time, very user-friendly. Navigation appears to be intuitive and consistent regardless of where you are in the application or which type of interface you are using - Windows or a browser.

The sales force and field service automation capability has been extended to include access via WAP phones and PDAs. In addition, the Web has been fully embraced as a sales and service channel with full trading and personalisation capability. Unlike many niche solutions, however, events generated and information gathered via the Web can drive activity in other channels (and vice versa). Now, for example, two-way Web-based collaboration is possible between the agent in the call centre and the
customer. The customer can initiate contact via a "call me" button on a Web site and when the agent responds, they can take control of the customer's browser to present content or help them navigate to accomplish their objective.

In theory, Siebel could deliver pretty much everything that is needed to facilitate and co-ordinate customer interaction across multiple channels. However, the company does not expect customers to make decisions to implement Siebel across the board in one go, saying that it might take several steps. This very mature attitude is again an interesting contrast to the Oracle "rip and replace everything" message.

It is still early days to make a real judgement on street readiness as Siebel 2000 has not yet been used in anger by live customers. It does, however, look very promising and is likely to reinforce Siebel's "guerrilla" position in the CRM space.

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