Siebel all shook-up over AvantGo's 'rip-off' mobile software

NEWS CRM giant Siebel has got itself in a tizz over plans from AvantGo to launch an unofficial mobile version of its CRM software. Brian Stone, marketing director for wireless products at Siebel, said: "AvantGo is not part of the Siebel alliance program. Theirs is not a validated integration programme. I would ask my customers to very closely understand that. I doubt if it even works." AvantGo was unable to refer silicon.com to a successful user of its recently launched "off-the-peg" mobile version of Siebel's CRM applications, but it insisted that previous customers have successfully deployed mobile versions of Siebel applications, on a bespoke basis, using AvantGo technology. Siebel is known in the industry for its domineering approach to its partners, requiring large contributions to a "joint marketing fund" before admitting companies to the highest levels of its partnership program. Stone insisted it was possible to join the partnership programmes at a lower level without making a contribution to the joint marketing fund. Neither AvantGo nor Siebel confirmed whether a discussion about partnership had taken place. However, a large proportion of companies' spending on Siebel applications goes on systems integration - a cheap alternative to official Siebel integration partners will threaten revenues for the Siebel business "ecosystem". AvantGo has official partnerships with other CRM vendors, including Onyx and Pivotal. AvantGo is better known for its web-clipping software, allowing users to read internet news on PDAs while disconnected from the web. Receive news direct to your PDA:
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