Full-suite CRM delivers, analyzes global customer information

It's said that manufacturers need customer relationship management (CRM) in depth—i.e., a solution capable of much more than simply tracking sales contacts, calls, visits, and discussions. A number of global companies, including Emerson, say they've found it.

"Today, companies need more from CRM," says Karen Richardson, CEO of E.piphany, a full-suite provider of customer relationship management solutions. "They need to quickly adapt to—and capitalize on—the constantly changing needs of customers; they need flexible, scalable solutions that integrate easily into existing IT infrastructures; and they need to see quick ROI."

Emerson's Daniel division, a manufacturer of measurement and distribution technology for the energy industry, is using the E.piphany solution to aggregate global account information from four separate enterprise business solutions. It also delivers critical business-analysis capabilities, and offers employees in North America, Europe, and Asia a single view of global account transactions via a Web browser.

E.piphany's E.6 suite actually includes three product lines for Marketing, Sales, and Service. Each of the three is powered by E.piphany's customer analytics. They also feature the company's customer relationship backbone, a set of J2EE services that unify customer processes, customer intelligence, and customer data across all CRM and other front-office applications.

"Delivering component services on a J2EE-based architecture enables users to deploy modular solutions that seamlessly blend information about marketing, sales, and service—and may be deployed incrementally," says Phil Fernandez, president and chief operating officer at E.piphany.