Kana Puts The Focus On Vertical CRM AppsKana Puts The Focus On Vertical CRM Apps

Customer-relationship-management software company Kana Inc., with the recent introduction of its Kana Service 8, is focusing efforts on creating vertical-industry offerings in order to bolster "unacceptable" revenue levels.

Utilizing systems-integration partners Accenture, BearingPoint, and IBM, Kana can now "significantly enhance our software for very specific vertical markets," says Tom Doyle, president of Kana.

Kana says it's zeroing in on the telecommunications, finance, and health industries with its Kana 8 software and plans to introduce a series of additional software support for the three key industries, he says.

"We are aggressively building out new applications based on the new platform," Doyle says. "Vertical applications in the past were to the greatest extent done by customizing with our partners, but now that we have so many customers we feel it is time to provide these targeted products."

The effort comes as Kana, like many CRM vendors, deals with flagging revenue. In its second-quarter results, revealed last month, CEO Chuck Bay said in a statement that "revenues were clearly unacceptable." The company reported a net loss of $10 million on revenue of $12 million. For the first half of 2003, Kana has reported a net loss of $13.8 million on revenue of $30.2 million, compared with a net loss of $89.4 million on revenue of $42.3 million in the first half of 2002.