Chordiant To Ship CRM Application, Interaction ServerChordiant To Ship CRM Application, Interaction Server

Chordiant Software Inc. next week will ship its Selling Director customer-relationship management application and its Dialog Interaction Server, which was spawned from its $7.2 million acquisition of ActionPoint Inc.

Selling Director is a thin-client Web application that uses information stored in legacy databases and other CRM apps to guide a customer through an online purchase based on the information a customer provides in pop-up windows. The process acts as an instant help desk as customers navigate the online sales process. This will reduce incomplete online sales, execs say.

The Interaction Server has a Runtime Engine that manages the delivery of online customer-service functionality, adding content to a Web site, and the export of XML data to a site. The server comes with a customization tool called Dialog Designer. The Interaction Server is based on the JX architecture, with native support for Java 2 Enterprise Edition and XML software standards. The company says this architecture allows for faster development of online customer-service-interaction capabilities.

Analysts say the Selling Director application will see most of its competition from Siebel Systems Inc.'s sales application. "Selling Director requires a lot more up-front customization work than Siebel's app," says Eric Schmitt, senior analyst for Forrester Research. "But Siebel's application has much more rigid business process flows, so companies adopting that solution will be required to change the way their own work flows."

Chordiant didn't reveal product pricing, but analysts say average sales are approximately $1.5 million per customer.