The Future of Siebel CRM: A Comprehensive Overview

Introduction

Are you maximizing your Siebel CRM investment? Oracle is making significant improvements in enhancing Siebel, and we're here to give you the inside scoop. During a recent strategy session, Oracle experts outlined a clear path for Siebel's future: smarter, more connected, and more user-friendly. Imagine a Siebel CRM that intuitively anticipates your needs, seamlessly integrates with your digital ecosystem, and adapts to your specific requirements. Outdated user interfaces and a lack of agility in integrating with emerging technologies were common pain points for organizations relying on older Siebel deployments. Oracle’s transformation was crucial to address these issues, bringing Siebel in line with modern user expectations and the need for greater business responsiveness. We'll break down the key updates, showcasing how a modernized user interface, flexible AI, and adaptable deployment options are transforming Siebel CRM for the better.

Modernized Architecture Refinement

The architectural improvements in recent Siebel CRM versions represent a strategic evolution, blending component-based design with optimizations for cloud environments, particularly OCI. While Siebel's core foundation remains the same, Oracle has focused on enhancing its modularity and scalability. This includes leveraging containerization for key Siebel components, allowing more efficient deployment and resource management. Furthermore, the architecture has been refined to better integrate with OCI services, improving performance and cost-effectiveness. This approach allows organizations to leverage the existing strengths of Siebel CRM while benefiting from the flexibility and scalability of modern cloud infrastructure. The changes are more of an enhancement of the existing architecture and cloud-readiness than a complete rewrite.

Next-Generation User Experience (UX): Embracing Redwood Design Principles

The latest Siebel release marks a significant step forward in user experience, with a redesigned interface inspired by Oracle's Redwood design system. This isn't just a cosmetic update; it's a strategic move to create a more modern, intuitive, and efficient user environment.

Redwood - A Foundation for Modern UX:

Oracle's Redwood platform is a comprehensive design system emphasizing simplicity, clarity, and consistency across all Oracle applications. It's built on principles that prioritize user-centered design, ensuring that applications are visually appealing and highly functional.

How Redwood Influences Siebel's UX:

• Visual Refresh with Neutral Colors and Sleek Icons: Redwood introduces a refined color palette with neutral tones, reducing visual clutter and promoting focus. The sleek, minimalist icons contribute to a clean and contemporary aesthetic. This visual consistency aligns with the look and feel of other modern Oracle cloud applications, creating a more unified experience for those using multiple Oracle products.
• Enhanced Clarity and Consistency for Intuitive Navigation: Redwood's emphasis on clear typography, consistent layout, and intuitive navigation simplifies the user's journey through Siebel CRM. This reduces the learning curve and makes it easier for users to find the necessary information and tools. For example, consistent placement of buttons and menus across different modules.
• Improved User Adoption and Increased Efficiency: By adopting Redwood's user-centric design principles, Siebel CRM becomes more accessible and user-friendly. This leads to faster user adoption, reduced training time, and increased efficiency. Users can complete tasks more quickly and accurately, boosting overall productivity.
• Responsive Design: Redwood is designed to be responsive and adapt to different screen sizes and devices. This is carried over to the Siebel application, allowing a better user experience on mobile devices and tablets.
• Accessibility: Redwood emphasizes accessibility, ensuring that applications are usable by people with disabilities. This includes improved color contrast, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility.

Superior Integration for the Digital World

In today's interconnected business environment, seamless integration is a necessity. Siebel CRM is evolving to meet this demand, offering robust and flexible integration capabilities that allow organizations to connect with a wide range of systems and data sources. These "bulletproof integration capabilities" are further advanced, ensuring that Siebel CRM remains a central hub for your digital operations.

Key Enhancements:

• Event Pub/Sub (Kafka): Siebel CRM now leverages Event Pub/Sub (Kafka) to handle real-time data streams, enabling instant communication between different applications. This means that changes in one system can be immediately reflected in Siebel CRM and vice versa, ensuring data consistency and up-to-the-minute accuracy.
• Open Integration: Siebel CRM embraces an "open integration" philosophy, providing a comprehensive set of APIs and connectors that allow easy integration with cloud services, mobile applications, and other enterprise systems.

Example: Customer Service Integration with social media: By leveraging open integration capabilities, Siebel CRM can be connected to social media platforms, which can automatically create service tickets, assign them to an agent, and track their resolution when a customer posts a question or complains. This enables proactive service, better customer satisfaction, and a comprehensive customer view. Enhanced integration capabilities help organizations operate efficiently and deliver superior digital experiences.

Flexible AI with Customer Control

Siebel CRM now empowers users with flexible AI capabilities, allowing for seamless integration of smart features. You can easily apply pre-built AI models for tasks like automatically categorizing incoming service requests, routing them to the appropriate agent, and reducing response times, or incorporate custom AI-driven solutions tailored to your needs. Enhanced data connectivity ensures quick and secure access to relevant insights, while advanced analytics tools empower informed decision-making. Oracle’s AI strategy transforms Siebel CRM into an intelligent system by integrating pre-trained AI services with the Siebel AI Framework. Generative AI streamlines tasks such as service request classification, meeting notes summarization and campaign content creation. Upcoming AI enhancements include Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) for finding similar service requests, AI-driven recommendations for next-best product suggestions, and advanced analytics for opportunity scoring and deal loss analysis.

Deploy and Manage Anywhere: Your Siebel, Your Way

Every organization has unique needs when it comes to deploying and managing their CRM. That's why the latest Siebel CRM is designed to provide maximum flexibility, allowing you to run it wherever it makes the most sense for your organization. You get more choices than ever before:

• Cloud Deployment: Siebel is now optimized for cloud environments, allowing you to deploy it using modern container and orchestration technologies. This means easier scaling and improved management. You'll also benefit from comprehensive monitoring and logging tools, providing clear insights into your Siebel deployment within the Oracle Cloud. Deploying your application is simplified with the Siebel Cloud Manager, making the process more efficient.
• Managed Cloud Services: You have the option to run and operate your Siebel CRM either in-house or through managed services, giving you the flexibility to choose the level of support that best fits your needs.
• On-Premises: For organizations with specific data residency or regulatory compliance requirements, Siebel CRM can still be deployed on-premises, providing complete control over your environment.

Modern Observability and Enhanced Analytics

Keeping your Siebel CRM running smoothly and understanding your data is crucial. The latest updates provide improved monitoring and analysis tools that help you see exactly what's happening with your system in real time. This lets you spot potential problems early and fix them before they cause disruptions. Siebel now connects seamlessly with advanced reporting tools, so you can easily create detailed reports and gain deeper insights into your business data. And by utilizing smart AI features, you can uncover hidden patterns and predict trends, giving you the information you need to make better decisions. These improvements are all about helping you maintain peak performance and providing the information needed to make strategic decisions.

Upward Trend in Upgrades and Updates

We're seeing a clear trend of Siebel CRM customers adopting a more frequent upgrade approach, moving from less frequent major releases to a model that embraces regular updates. This shift allows organizations to leverage the latest innovations and enhancements consistently without extended waiting periods. Over 400 organizations are utilizing the most recent Siebel releases, with 33% expanding their license footprint, demonstrating the value and appeal of staying current.

Historically, Siebel CRM releases occurred quarterly, with updates and enhancements spaced out. However, since Version 21, Siebel has transitioned to a monthly update cycle, providing quicker access to bug fixes, security patches, and feature improvements.

For customers on Siebel CRM version IP17 or older who wish to upgrade to the latest version, a staged upgrade process is necessary to ensure a smooth transition and compatibility with the new features. This involves first upgrading to an intermediate version, such as version 18 or 19, before moving to version 21 or the latest available release. This upgrade journey can be complex, and organizations should approach it with careful planning and consideration. Engaging a System Integrator can significantly streamline the process and minimize disruptions.

IPS approach to Siebel CRM Upgrades

At Infosys Public Service, we specialize in modernizing Siebel CRM for public service organizations, ensuring a seamless, secure, and efficient transition to the latest version. Our structured upgrade methodology minimizes risks and maximizes operational continuity by following staged upgrade process, moving from legacy version (IP17 or older) to an intermediate version (18/19) before reaching the latest Siebel release. Through our upgrade framework, we help governments agencies, and other public service organizations modernize their CRM without disrupting critical services/infrastructures. In addition to identifying potential risks and mitigation strategies, performing upgrades, conducting comprehensive testing, and providing post-upgrade support, we also focus on:

• Tailored Assessments – Identifying specific public sector needs, compliance requirements, and data governance challenges.
• Minimal Disruption – Implementing parallel upgrade environments, ensuring uninterrupted services.
• Performance Optimization – Upgrading Siebel Infrastructure for better scalability, automation and AI integration.
• Secure Cloud Adoption – Enabling Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) integration for enhanced resilience and cost-efficiency.
• Training & User Enablement – Conducting specialized training programs to ensure smooth adoption of new functionalities.

IPS Vision for Enhancing Siebel CRM Capabilities in Future Upgrades

At Infosys Public Service, we are committed to continuous innovation in Siebel CRM, helping public service organizations leveraging AI, automation, and cloud capabilities to enhance citizen engagement. With our deep expertise in public service transformation, we ensure that Siebel CRM remains powerful, future-ready solution that drives efficiency, transparency, and citizen-centric innovation. Our future roadmap includes:

• AI-Powered Citizen Services – Integrating Generative AI for automated service request classification, chatbots, and intelligent case resolution.
• Next-Best Action & Predictive Analytics – Implementing AI-Driven recommendations for public assistance programs and community services.
• Omnichannel Citizen Engagement – Expanding Siebel’s capabilities with self-service portals, mobile accessibility, and automated workflows.
• Cloud-Native Enhancements – Enabling OCI-hosted Siebel CRM with microservices and API-driven integration for faster scalability.
• Low-Code/No-Code customization – Empowering government IT teams to configure Siebel without heavy development efforts.

Key Takeaways

• Modernized Architecture: Siebel CRM has undergone a strategic architectural evolution, focusing on component-based design and cloud optimization, particularly for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). This enhances modularity, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
• Enhanced User Experience: The latest Siebel release features a redesigned user interface inspired by Oracle's Redwood design system, providing a more modern, intuitive, and efficient user experience.
• Seamless Integration: Siebel CRM offers robust integration capabilities, including Event Pub/Sub (Kafka) and open APIs, enabling seamless connectivity with various systems and data sources.
• Flexible AI Capabilities: Siebel CRM now provides greater flexibility in leveraging AI, allowing for easy integration of pre-built AI models, custom AI solutions, and advanced analytics tools.
• Flexible Deployment: Siebel CRM offers flexible deployment options, allowing you to deploy it in cloud environments, use managed cloud services, or deploy it on-premises.
• Modern Observability and Analytics: Improved monitoring and analysis tools and seamless integration with advanced reporting tools and AI-driven insights help maintain peak performance and enable informed decision-making.
• Upward Trend in Upgrades: Customers are clearly adopting a more frequent upgrade approach, allowing them to consistently leverage the latest innovations and enhancements.
• Continued Investment: Oracle continues to invest in the Siebel CRM platform, demonstrating its commitment to its users and the platform's continued evolution.

Why Choose Siebel CRM?

Oracle Siebel CRM continues to be a strong choice for organizations seeking a highly configurable and mission-critical CRM platform. With its proven track record for reliability and robustness, Siebel is a cornerstone for many enterprises. It offers flexible deployment options, whether in the cloud, on-premises, or a hybrid environment, ensuring adaptability to diverse operational needs. The platform is equipped with advanced AI and integration capabilities, specifically tailored to address the unique requirements of various industries. Additionally, Siebel CRM stands out as a cost-effective solution, delivering a high return on investment and proven scalability. It is ideal for businesses that require a powerful and adaptable CRM solution to enhance customer relationship management while optimizing costs and resources.

Author

Jayagobi Natesan, Principal Consultant, Infosys Public Services

Jayagobi brings over 30 years of diverse industry experience, including 25 years in Information Technology consulting across both public and private sectors. With deep expertise in CRM, Data Integration, and Cloud Transformation, Jayagobi shares insights in this article on best practices for upgrading to the latest Siebel CRM version, strategies for integrating Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), and how Infosys Public Services (IPS) supports organizations throughout their modernization journey.