Oracle Releases New CRM Software 2Oracle Releases New CRM Software 2

Oracle on Monday debuted a release of its customer-relationship-management software that offers sales reps tools for developing proposals and quotes, improving channel management, and aligning a company's sales and marketing staff.

Oracle says the emphasis in Oracle Sales, Oracle Marketing, Oracle Partner Relationship Management, and Oracle E-Commerce 11i.10 is on better integrating a company's sales efforts with its other operations. The new Oracle Audience Workbench, a component of Oracle Marketing, is designed to improve communication between a company's sales and marketing groups. The app helps build sales and marketing campaigns around common objectives and makes it easier for marketing departments to provide sales reps with information about leads generated through marketing campaigns, according to Oracle.

A new Oracle Incentive Compensation tool helps sales managers design salary and bonus plans that better support a company's sales goals and lets reps see how selling specific products or giving discounts affects their compensation. A new version of Oracle Territory Manager, part of Oracle Sales, helps managers plan sales territories for internal and partner sales organizations.

Also new in Oracle Sales is Oracle Sales Coach, which gives sales reps a tool for referencing a company's sales methodologies, techniques, and strategies. Oracle Proposals and Oracle Quotes provide templates for preparing sales proposals and quotes and linking them to collateral marketing materials.

New in Oracle Partner Management is Channel Manager Dashboard, which managers use to monitor channel-partner activity, including such performance indicators as partners' sales rates, and identify channel trends. Channel partners use the complementary Partner Dashboard app to align their selling activities with those of their suppliers.

The 11i.10 applications also provide built-in analysis capabilities that sales reps use to analyze sales opportunities and report sales-pipeline status.

Some of the apps, including Incentive Compensation and Territory Manager, are available now, and the rest will be available within two months. The apps are sold individually or as a suite.