Oracle CRM Reviews

I was responsible for the Oracle financial department.

We use Oracle to keep all of the providers in their perspective sites. We have all of the financial aspects with Oracle, the payments, the bills and we manage the accounting with the ERP.

I was in charge of looking for the providers who were the best suited for one school.

We requested the DRSP to send to the providers and to analyze it with the team in order to select the current one and hire them.

I was with the project from the start to the implementation process and the post-implementation process also, to be able to stabilize the system.

What we like is that we have all of the information that we need. It is very simple.

It's quite good and it's very stable.

It's a good product but the are some performance issues. The performance can be improved.

The initial setup is complex, it could be improved to be more simplified.

I have used Oracle CRM in the last 12 months.

We are using version 12.

It's a stable solution. This is one of the features we like.

We have approximately 50 to 60 people in our organization who are using this solution.

The initial setup was quite complex in the beginning, and once it was done, it was quite difficult to manage. 

When we migrated from version 11 to 12 it took us a year and a half, it was quite complex.

In the beginning, it was quite harsh. Once we got to know it, it was quite simple.

We needed the help of an integrator. With the enterprise version, there is a lot of customization. We needed a special group for this project.

I would rate Oracle CRM an eight out of ten.

We mainly use it for the units related to marketing and lead management. We are using the latest version.

Everything related to insights and dashboards is valuable. It is great for tracking all the effort and generating reports.

The interface could be more user friendly. It is currently not intuitive, and it can be better.

The onboarding process for the end users of this solution could be easier, and there should be a few more things for user knowledge and training. It takes a lot of technical knowledge to get used to it.

I have been working with this solution for a little bit over a year.

I am pretty impressed with its stability. It is more powerful than I expected it to be. It is really interesting in terms of its capability to handle complex actions.

It is pretty good, but I really haven't given much thought to it.

They are a little bit slow.

It is not cheap. It is more suitable for big companies.

I don't know if we plan to keep using this solution. I know our company likes the product and wants to use it. 

I would recommend this solution. It is a really solid and useful product, but to really take full advantage of this solution, you should be a really big sized company. It is an excellent product for big companies that manage so much data. It is not a cheap solution, so be sure that your company size is aligned with this kind of product.

I would rate Oracle CRM a nine out of ten.

Oracle/Siebel CRM On Premise Solution generally caters to Organization  Sales, Marketing, Service, Social, Partner, Channels, Call Center, Loyalty and many more business functions. 

Though late entrant in the CRM Cloud space, Oracle already has introduced the next gen Cloud based CRM Solution as part of it's Oracle Customer Experience(CX) suite which is more modular, cloud based and tightly integrated with Customer Portal and Analytics business solutions. The core CRM functions are delivered through Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud CPQ Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Data Management Cloud, Engagement Cloud, Social Cloud and many more moduler but tightly integrated solutions. Customer can chooses what they require based on their business drivers.

Earlier On Premise Solution with features like Open UI, horizontal features: Service, call center, marketing, SFA, loyalty, dealer, robust real-time, batch integration tools, separate industry solutions for banking, finance, telecommunication, healthcare, retail, etc.

To add to the above On Premise Solution the new Oracle CX Solution comprising Sales, Service, Marketing, Loyalty, Data Management,  Social, Commerce  and  related Cloud Solutions come with a integrated framework and lesser integration cost/complexity. In addition it is modular and Customer can pick and choose, enables quick deployment and faster go to market and last but not the least less OPEX cost.

We implement for the customers and they were benefited by having a better 360-degree customer view, a reduced operation cost, an improved market spending and tracking its effectiveness, quick go-to-market, improved sales, SLA-based servicing etc.

Though late entrant in the Cloud  area for CRM area, Oracle introduced the next gen Cloud based CRM Solution as part of it's Oracle Customer Experience(CX) suite which is more modular, cloud based and tightly integrated with both it's Customer Portal Solutions and Analytics Business Solutions.  This is the future of Oracle CRM and it has addressed the gap earlier existed.

Sometimes, we encountered stability issues.

Sometimes, we encountered scalability issues but once the server, OS, network and database are properly configured the problem was less.

Technical support is very good.

It is not the most cost-effective on-premise solution but it is worth it. The Cloud version, Customer CX takes care of the user-based/transaction-based pricing.

We evaluated other solutions such as Amdocs Clarify, Oracle E-Business Suite SFDC CRM, etc.

It is a good product with broad functions and industry-specific coverages.

• Page layout
• Workflows
• Fields
• Tabs
• Web services
• Audit trail
• Related information
• Search
• Quick search lists
• Great performance and availability

It is relatively easy to centralize your services when using a cloud solution.

Easiness of onboarding new people and markets.

95% of business requirements can be met by making administrative configuration changes rather than development.

This allows you to bring customer satisfaction in short time rather than launching large project each time a new requirement will appear.

Support: My Oracle Support service, enhancement, bug fix roadmap, and planning, quick and modern global cross-search is missing.

We have been using this solution for six years.

There were minor stability issues that were always addressed in the agreed-upon RTO/RPO.

There were no scalability issues, but this is mostly about the architecture and how the system was rolled-out. This is not a reflection on the product itself.

We used many local solutions. We switched in order to centralize and globalize so we could achieve better business satisfaction and save on our budget.

The installation was straightforward. We set up the integration and configuration changes can be easily modified and adjusted.

Depending on the number of users, you can get an incredibly good offer compared to other products.

The product has very good quality to price, has a stable and powerful configuration, and allows your business to fulfill the required processes.

Integration with Oracle E-Business ERP: Every installation of CRM uses some form of ERP or back office applications. The benefits of integration are often overlooked when making a CRM purchase decision. Integration of CRM with the back office applications, allows for more meaningful and effective usage of the tool. The wing-to-wing integration of applications is one of the most strong features of Oracle CRM.

As an implementer, I have worked to implement this application for organizations that were new to CRM as well as organizations that have used some other CRM tool before. The Oracle CRM application provides for an effective interaction with the customers, allows capturing vital information of the customers and provides a comprehensive view of the customer to the sales and marketing members.The wing-to-wing integration of the customer data provides an integrated view of the customer to sales and marketing.

The application needs improvement in its usability aspects. Non-integrated applications such as Salesforce have been able to be more nimble; they provide more flexibility to adapt and interface with state-of-the-art social applications, mobile technology, and communication tools. Oracle CRM needs to make advancements in this area.

The application also needs to provide a more flexible and configurable user frontend. Sales users need a more user-friendly and easily configurable user interface.

Oracle seems to encourage users to move to other platforms such as the Oracle Cloud applications to compete with Salesforce or other leading CRM products. While that may be a strategic direction to expand into markets where Salesforce is strong, Oracle should improve its hosted applications such as Oracle CRM with more flexible, effective and state-of-the-art enhancements, rather than abandoning them and leading its clientele using the hosted applications to Cloud applications.

I have used this solution for more than 13 years.

Version 12.1.3 seems to be stable now, but is reaching the end of its support cycle. Oracle 12.2 is next. Oracle CRM, in general, is becoming more stable, but each version takes some time to stabilize.

I did not experience any scalability issues, but having said that, the infrastructure aspect needs to keep lock-step with the scale of operations.

The level of technical support is fair to good.

I have used mainly Oracle CRM for a long time.

The setup varies with a particular implementation/customer. Oracle CRM provides core application that is fairly straightforward to configure and use. However, the standard out-of-the-box features do not always fit every client installation. Adapting the application to suit each customer's environment takes time and effort, but this is not unlike adopting any other application.

• Plan ahead, i.e., at least for the next five years.

• Make sure you have your internal processes worked out to conform to the industry standard practices. While each organization may be unique in certain ways, adopting standard off-the-shelf applications means conforming to standard practices. Rather than work towards bending and twisting such applications to the individual organization's requirements, make sure such special steps are really warranted. Are your practices that special so that the standard industry practices do not apply? Or do your internal practices themselves need some review? Changing, or ‘customizing’ as it is called, is expensive in the short run as well as in the long run. Do not ignore ongoing maintenance costs with such efforts. Added to this, is the need to keep up with the dynamic and fast changing technology.

• Take time to evaluate your shortlisted selections.

• Do not be influenced by the glitz and show of any product. At the end of the day, customers need to think of how effective the product is in delivering results, i.e., whether it is improving the sales effectiveness or service efficiencies. Product usability is likely to create a good first impression, but you will have to discount the surface level appeal to real day-to-day efficiencies.

• Do not discount/ignore integration challenges. Disconnected applications will reduce efficiencies and consume valuable IT resource time; it is often not given sufficient importance during the selection process. By all means, choose the best of breed approach, but make sure to allow for sufficient resource time and skills so as to achieve necessary integration for all areas to work together.

As an implementer, my platform is the Oracle CRM. I have some familiarity with other applications, but my in-depth expertise is with Oracle CRM.

• Identify one or more key ‘super users’ for leading the implementation or managing the product. These would be your go-to people for expert help.

• If you need to bring in outside help for the implementation, then do so. This will help in getting you the best help at the time you need it most.

• Prepare and train your organization for the change.

During the selection process for a CRM product, something that I have witnessed first hand, sufficient attention must be given to how the CRM application integrates with the back end applications. While it is important to consider the capabilities of the CRM applications in its own specialized areas, at some stage in the process the transactional information will have to be passed on to back end or other applications to complete the processing cycle - for Sales it would be Orders, for Service it would be service requests and tasks. At the heart of it all is integration with customer master data. A key aspect here is whether organizations are factoring in the cost of this integration with the other applications in the flow.

I will illustrate my point with the following case scenarios - from ideal to not-so-ideal

Case 1: In this case the selection process evaluates the CRM application for features and capabilities to their specific needs. The selection process includes considerations for integrating the CRM application data with the other applications to complete the end-to-end process flow and for master data, and including the folks in IT in the discussions to identify the integration that will be necessary for a sustainable on-going operation, and factors this cost and time into the overall cost of the CRM application. The estimation is realistic and considers all aspects of the applications involved in the flow. The cost aspects include one-time costs as well as ongoing costs for sustained operations. This would be the ideal scenario.

Case 2: In this case the selection process evaluates the CRM application for features and capabilities to their specific needs, but only with the relevant end users, for eg. with predominant opinion of Sales or Marketing users only. This process does not list out the potential integration with other applications, does not include IT or other team members to evaluate the requirements or effort and leaves these aspects as a post-implementation effort. With such a process only the immediate needs of the CRM application are considered. As it becomes evident later, the need for adding on integration with other applications are brought up and dealt with as and when the need arises, many a time overwhelming the resources of IT or other resources and discovering blind alleys of integration, with incompatible interfaces, ad-hoc methods to back file such requirements, leading to a very messy after-thought for building consistent and efficient business processes. I have witnessed these myself in more than one implementation. Not only have I seen such after-thought Integration of transactional data, I have even worked on efforts to integrate master data, such as customer data, exposing weaknesses of both applications. There was one case where the CRM application was set operational with one-time setup of customer master data from the back-end application with no thought given to ongoing processes for continuous synchronization of data between the two systems - the CRM application and the back end Order fulfillment application with customer master data.

Case 3: This case is just a more extreme variation of Case 2. In this case the selection process evaluates the CRM application on its own, as in Case 2. There is no effort to list out the potential integration or even the need for integration. The administration staff are left to manage the integration with manual maintenance of data on the related applications and doing manual synchronization. This is a very poor use of technology.

Case 4: This case is becoming more and more an attraction to the people in Sales and Marketing areas. In this case the selection process evaluates the CRM application for features and capabilities with an eye on all the third party integration solutions to the core CRM product - the 'app' attraction. The 'app' era has led to third party solutions, the ultimate version of best-of-breed - the core CRM solution for customer and contact data, an app for emailing solutions, an app for data mining, an app for social app integration and so on. The integration aspects of such solutions are considered on an ad-hoc basis with no forethought to process consistencies. With data and processes in such diverse environments it is anyone's guess whose job it is to manage the different flows of data, if that is even possible by the company's IT. One recent case I came across where the company engaged with a third party to manage its diverse applications on the cloud! In conclusion, fully integrated platforms with CRM applications are at the one end of the spectrum of integrated solutions while the CRM cloud applications with third party integrating applications are at the other end. Each organization needs to evaluate which point in the spectrum makes most sense for it, not just in the short run, but in the long run also, before jumping in to settle down on the solution. Making a choice that is short sighted hides the long term cost of use and short changes business objectives while costing the organization in never ending efforts to shuttle data between systems to achieve key business visibility to what is really happening

• Product Configurator
• Quotes
• Product Catalog with Simple, Complex and Configurable items
• Catalog Synchronizations
• Integration Objects
• On Demand Web Services both inbound and outbound from their core CRM (Siebel) acquisition

It provides you an end-to-end offering but with heavy weight offerings.

May not be suited for your smaller needs but for complex ones, you can rely on it blindly for the next couple of years.

The product support, sharing the integration standards with major products or solutions and also for custom ones which am sure that will be a challenge for Oracle itself, support for REST out of the box will be required.

When it comes to software as a service CRM, the market has watched Oracle exhibit a near quick ramp-up on its position regarding the validity and opportunity for software as a service (SaaS) in the business software marketplace. In fact, even after inheriting the Siebel on Demand solution, the SaaS product was left as it is with no major upgrades for 18 months. Nonetheless, despite some initial reservations, Oracle has made up lost time, secured market share and advanced their Oracle CRM on Demand solution to earn a competitive leadership position in the cloud marketplace.

To continue growth and find new competitive differentiation, Oracle is using its Sun acquisition to deliver tightly integrated and optimized hardware and software products as well as continuing to expand its vertical market solutions and its applications business with the long awaited Oracle Fusion Applications—which offer the flexibility to run on-premises, on-demand or both.

Oracle CRM is used for sales activities. We can create customers, opportunities, codes submitted, reporting, and forecasting.

The forecasting reporting section was the most useful.

The performance could be better. It has sometimes taken far too long to complete a single task. I'm not sure if it's a product bug or a result of the implementation, or because we work via web and VPN.

I have been working with Oracle CRM for three and a half years.

We have six users.

We did not contact technical support.

I previously worked with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and a local solution, which was built here,  it is not an international solution.

The initial setup was complicated. I would rate it a three out of five.

It took six months to one year to deploy.

The deployment was completed by a third party.

I would rate Oracle CRM a nine out of ten.