PRODUCT PROFILE
Selectica Interactive Selling System

While many CRM vendors have built multifunctional product suites in an effort to address every customer contact need, others have stayed focused on a single function, hoping to succeed by doing one thing well. Selectica is a case in point.

"I used to hear everything about suite products," observed Karen E. Smith, research director at the Aberdeen Group. "But more and more companies are looking for a product that will address a specific point of pain," she told CRM Buyer Magazine.

Selectica's Interactive Selling System is designed to address one of those points of pain: configuring complex products, particularly in a multichannel environment.

Assembling Complex Products

At the heart of the Selectica application lies a configuration engine that allows companies to capture specifications, business rules, and other processes integral to the sale of complex technology. The Selectica software uses this data to configure products or systems to meet customer requirements. It then calculates pricing and produces a quote -- all in much less time than it would take to do the job manually.

The company says that customers who formerly spent days producing a quote can now complete them in minutes, with improved accuracy. That saves money and can lead to increased sales, Selectica representatives claim.

Vertical Thrust

Selectica's customers include manufacturers of computers, networking equipment and other high-technology gear; telcos; and medical product providers. Selectica also offers a vertical package for the insurance industry.

In Selectica's target industries, products and pricing can change rapidly. Dr. Sanjay Mittel, president and CEO, told CRM Buyer that Selectica's programming-free environment makes it possible for these changes to be modeled quickly by nonprogrammers. "That becomes a huge cost-of-ownership advantage for our customers," he said.

Selectica also proves real-time connectors to other CRM products, as well as to ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other back office systems, so that changes in customer status, inventory levels, and other factors can automatically be taken into account as a configuration is built.

Beyond Corporate Walls

Because Selectica's software is Web-based, it can be extended to include multiple sales channels, including unassisted selling on the Internet, mobile sales forces (via wireless devices or disconnected), partner channels, and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) distributors.

"With other vendors, you will end up building multiple solutions, one for each of the channels," Mittel said. "With Selectica you build the solution once and can deploy it across any and all of these channels."

Tightly Focused

Aberdeen's Smith said Selectica's focus on narrow but deep functionality, as well as its vertical approach, makes sense in the competitive CRM environment.

"For the future," she said, "they'll need to stay focused on deepening their experience in specific verticals, understanding what those customers want -- and address that with new tools and services."

She added that the company has done a good job of providing return on investment, particularly for customers in IT technology applications. "An area Selectica needs to focus on, like all suppliers, is to make sure they can deliver results quickly -- months, not years," Smith concluded.

More Than a Function

"The way we look at it, providing support for configuration, pricing and quoting is not just a matter of having a check box in a long list of CRM functionality," Mittel said.

"If you cannot sell your product, you're out of business. We help companies sell their products in a timely manner, in a cost-effective manner."