The Oak of CRM: Oracle is strong and solid, but not as flexible as a willow
Updated June 03, 2015
The Oak of CRM: Oracle is strong and solid, but not as flexible as a willow
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
11.5.10
Modules Used
- CSF - Field Service
- CSP - Oracle Spares Management
- CSE - Oracle Enterprise Install Base, CSI - Install Base
- OKS - Oracle Contracts Service Module
- ASL - Oracle Mobile Field Sales Laptop
- CS - Oracle Service
- BOM - Oracle Bills of Material
- CSD - Depot Repair
- CSM - Oracle Field Service Palm
- IBU - iSupport
- ICX - Oracle Self-Service Web Applications
- IEU - Oracle Universal Work Queue
- JTF - CRM Foundation
- JTM - Oracle CRM Mobile Foundation
- JTS - Oracle CRM Self Service Administration
- QP - Oracle Pricing
Overall Satisfaction with Oracle CRM
Oracle E-business Suite 11.5.10 ERP is used internationally by Diebold, Inc., a provider of banking and security solutions, as its enterprise business platform solution. Oracle CRM is used primarily for call center service request handling and field service dispatch and management. Oracle CRM enables Diebold to execute: service request installed base equipment entitlement, acceptance and tracking; service technician coverage, task scheduling and dispatch; customer inquiry and escalation management; spares parts requests; task debrief, including labor, travel, expense, and spares part reporting; installed base configuration update of reported parts usage; depot repair of repairable modules; and both service and contract pricing and billing elements. The Oracle CRM solution ties together the international Diebold business entities in a common database language and in common processes, providing apples-to-apples reporting of Diebold's service operations in a single instance. Notable exceptions are the separate Oracle CRM instance in Brazil used to accommodate more particular localizations and language requirements, and Diebold North America, which is slated to implement the full Oracle R12 suite in 2015; the intent being to upgrade the international groups to that platform thereafter.
- Oracle 11.5.10 CRM provides good cross-modular visibility. Oracle forms allow users to access entitlements, installed base configuration, contact information, and knowledge bases logically from functional forms.
- Oracle 11.5.10 CRM facilitates great installed base transaction tracking. The detailed level in which configuration alteration and equipment movement is accompanied from cradle to grave is exceptional.
- Oracle 11.5.10 CRM controls and simplifies data tracking during service request creation and throughout the servicing process.
- The Oracle 11.5.10 CRM forms are not easily or intuitively customizable to facilitate speed or ease of use. Custom forms are not supported by Oracle support, but call center functions require throughput velocity that the standard forms do not provide. The forms are also inflexible when it comes to selection-driven information or in-procedure guidelines. Data selections in one field should allow the limitation of data selection in other fields and should permit additional information to be made available for the users of the forms.
- The CRM administrator setups such as groups and territories as well as the dispatch center functionality are painfully slow and cumbersome to use. Not all reasonable filters are made available to ensure that the technician with the right skills is assigned to tasks. More flexibility in this area would improve Oracle 11.5.10 usability tenfold.
- Overall, the main issue when it comes to sales or service CRMs is always a question of flexibility. "When this customer calls, collect x data." "When a service request is created for that site, include information y for the technician." "Remember to ask the caller for z measurement when they open a service request for the other product type." More intuitive and elastic tools for the ebbs and flows of real service situations would certainly put a feather in Oracle's cap.
- The single most important positive impact that Oracle CRM has had on Diebold is that of consolidating internationally dispersed service information onto a single platform for tracking, reporting, and control.
- Another positive result of implementing Oracle CRM has been to allow the company to outsource development and support functions for the applications and database, as Oracle is a widely used product. The software brings Diebold out from the legacy green-screen era and tightly held IT knowledge into a more open, if less custom, application.
- Diebold's service is its key differentiator in the market; the lengths to which the company will go to please the customer and improve service operations is second to none. Oracle weakens this position slightly through the standardization of service systems and processes that restrict some of the outside-the-box processes that built this reputation. On the other hand, this standardization also makes visible the costs of some of this differentiation so that steps can be taken to ensure proper compensation for extraordinary performance.
- Oracle Siebel CRM,SAP CRM,PowerHelp
I have used PowerHelp in the past for field service and contact center applications with a startup company and it had proved extremely flexible for process accommodation. I was not part of the selection team who evaluated and chose the CRM for Diebold, though I am fairly certain that it was an Enterprise software decision more than a module-driven choice.
Oracle E-Business Suite Feature Ratings
Oracle CRM Implementation
- Implemented in-house
- Professional services company
Infosys