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Saratoga CRM Releases Saratoga CRM 6.5 for Enterprises Who Seek CRM as a Competitive Weapon

Unique software architecture delivers fast deployment and tight SAP and Oracle integration for more efficient sales automation processes

CAMPBELL, Calif. (December 13, 2005) – Saratoga CRM (www.saratogasystems.com), a global leader in CRM solutions since 1987, today released Saratoga CRM 6.5, the latest version of Saratoga CRM’ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software (formerly iAvenue). The new release includes a number of enhancements and more powerful integration to back-end enterprise data, making Saratoga CRM a superior alternative to “behemoth” CRM enterprise software solutions that require substantial programming to integrate and customize. The core of the new release is closer, more efficient integration with systems such as SAP using new Web Services support.

“You don’t need to rely on ERP vendors to be the CRM experts,” said Mark Elconin, CEO of Saratoga CRM. “We deliver CRM solutions for companies that are serious about making CRM a competitive weapon, and not just a sales contact database. Our customers tell us that they want a sales automation solution that meets their evolving needs from a CRM expert and not an ERP provider, and they don’t want a partial on-demand fix. We offer the power of easy-to-adapt software at a price that competes with on-demand solutions that can’t integrate to back end systems.”

Other new features in Saratoga CRM 6.5 include a new alert engine, new data push for Outlook and Lotus Notes, an improved Web dashboard, and new query capabilities.

Saratoga CRM’s unique software architecture makes it far easier to implement and upgrade than competing enterprise CRM solutions. Rather than re-programming the enterprise application to accommodate a CRM implementation, Saratoga CRM lets you customize everything including business processes, and integration with other systems without any programming. Users can create new business applications or optimize current processes in days rather than months, and at a fraction of the cost of other enterprise software solutions. And Saratoga’s modular design makes it easy to create CRM applications that users can access whenever they need to, either through LAN or WAN, through the Web, or through handheld wireless devices using Saratoga’s Apresta™ technology.

“With Oracle’s acquisition of Siebel, customers are actively seeking CRM alternatives that allow them to mine enterprise data and power new business processes without a lot of programming maintenance and service fees,” said Al Smith, president of Saratoga CRM. “We designed Saratoga CRM for companies that need sales automation systems that can be easily adapted as a tactical market weapon. Saratoga CRM offers an attractive alternative to Siebel customers because it separates the CRM engine source code from the business rules and processes, which means it delivers superior integration with back-end systems at a fraction of the cost.”

• New Web Services support – Saratoga CRM adds a new Web Services interface to access any type of SAP data anywhere in the enterprise. As a result, Saratoga CRM can now consolidate information gathering for manufacturing, supply chain, order processing, human resources, and any other SAP-driven applications.
  
• A new alert engine – This alerting tool monitors the CRM system as well as other back end systems and generates e-mail notifications instantly when certain conditions and business rules apply, such as when a contract is about to expire or a credit threshold is exceeded.
  
• New Outlook and Lotus Notes push capability –Saratoga CRM can push tasks, appointments, or contacts to Outlook and Lotus Notes en masse, and then keeps the information automatically synchronized with the CRM database.
  
• New, extremely powerful web dashboard – This new feature allows each user to create any number of sophisticated dashboards via an intuitive drag and drop interface.

Saratoga CRM 6.5 is especially useful for midsize to large organizations that need versatile sales force automation that leverages back-end enterprise data sources. Saratoga CRM begins shipping this month. Pricing is based on per-user licensing and averages from $1,100 to $1,800 per user.

About Saratoga CRM

Saratoga CRM helped pioneer the CRM movement. Today, we are a world leader in CRM solutions that enable large, global enterprises to effectively manage interactions with their customers at every stage, from marketing and initial contact through the complex sales, service and support relationships that develop between successful companies and their happy customers.

Saratoga CRM provides advanced solutions that enable our customers to maximize employee productivity, increase operational efficiency, create new revenue opportunities, build and maintain satisfied customers, and build a strong, sustainable competitive advantage. Saratoga CRM currently has 120,000 users worldwide and more than 800 corporate customers including BASF, Blue Cross of California, ING, Kodak, MetLife, Office Depot, T. Rowe Price, Tyco Healthcare, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and WellPoint.

Saratoga CRM has its headquarters in Campbell, California, the heart of Silicon Valley, and regional offices in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, and France, as well as distributors throughout the world. For more information, see Saratoga CRM at www.saratogasystems.com.

Contact:
Orly Mager
Saratoga CRM
(408) 558-9604
omager@saratogasystems.com

Tom Woolf
Allison & Partners
(415) 277-4923
tom@allisonpr.com

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