CRM overhaul sees Siebel picking Blackberry's

Siebel Systems has announced a partnership with Blackberry designers Research In Motion (RIM), marking a major change in Siebel's approach to wireless CRM.

Siebel's current mobile services include a proprietary system based on the Compaq iPaq and Windows CE.

RIM will deliver Siebel's CRM and other ebusiness applications on its Blackberry handheld computers, which are widely used as wireless email devices.

This represents a significant shift from the company's traditional approach, using relatively large Windows-based clients to run applications on a single device at a time.

It's an approach that works well in North America, where mobile coverage is patchy. However, it doesn't take advantage of Europe's burgeoning GPRS networks, which will soon offer always-on data coverage in all major business areas.

Duncan Chapple, former CRM analyst, sees this as a major shift in Siebel's thinking. "It shows that Siebel is moving in the direction of Java, which they will have to do to take advantage of Europe's GPRS networks."

Siebel has always had a close relationship with Microsoft its applications run on Windows and Microsoft recently took over a major Siebel reseller, Great Plains software.

Microsoft has traditionally been ambivalent towards Java and has had an antagonistic relationship with Sun, which developed the language and promotes it enthusiastically.

If Siebel, which dominates the CRM market, is bowing to pressure to adopt Java, it represents a significant endorsement of the Java model and a blow to Microsoft.

The decision to adopt Blackberry, which doesn't use the Microsoft operating system, is also a surprising departure for Siebel.