Nefit Delivers Blazing Customer Service Response Levels Using Siebel S

    Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

    SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2005--

    Market Leader in Condensing Boilers Increases Productivity and
    Improves Cross-Selling with Single View Capabilities Providing
    Detailed Sales and Service Information for 1.5 Million Customers

    Siebel Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:SEBL), a leading provider of business applications software, today announced that Nefit BV, the European market leader in condensing boilers, is delivering fast, accurate, and consistent service using Siebel Sales and Siebel Service. The Dutch company has created a single, complete view of more than 1.5 million customers in The Netherlands with Siebel Systems' leading CRM solutions. In addition to enhancing customer service and satisfaction, this best-practice CRM strategy is improving sales productivity and increasing the number of boiler cross-selling opportunities.
    "Siebel Sales and Siebel Service are having a profound impact on Nefit -- together they support our entire sales, customer service, and marketing operations," said Frank L. Milane, ICT Manager, Nefit BV. "Our employees are able to do their work more quickly and efficiently, allowing the organization to handle greater volumes of calls and service requests. It also means we can serve customers more effectively and better support the overall business operations. Based on this success, we are expanding our Siebel CRM program to integrate all of the systems throughout the wholesaler chain, including information on our installers, manufacturers, and wholesalers. Branching out to this broader channel will greatly enhance our data quality, as well as further extend our customer insight and profitability."
    Nefit BV pioneered the concept of condensing boilers in 1981. Since then, the company has become the European market leader in gas condensing, serving more than 1.5 million customers throughout The Netherlands and exporting its heaters to more than 20 countries worldwide. Following an extensive period of sales growth, the company recognized the need to more efficiently locate, track, and access customer information in order to increase customer knowledge and better anticipate and serve their requests. Almost every department was using a separate system to manage customer relationships, the result being that if customers or installation contractors contacted more than one Nefit department, they didn't always receive a consistent level of service.
    Launched on time and on budget in just three months, Siebel Sales and Siebel Service provide Nefit with a single, comprehensive view of the company's customers. With Siebel Service, all 75 sales, marketing, service, and back-office personnel now have a unified view of customer profiles, including the type of boiler being used, boiler maintenance history, and communications exchanges and service requests. When a customer or an installation contractor contacts Nefit with an inquiry, the service agent uses this consolidated customer knowledge to provide a fast and accurate service response.
    Siebel Sales has also increased sales productivity. When Nefit sales representatives use Siebel Sales to make appointments and prepare for their meetings with distributors and retailers, the application provides them with an up-to-the-minute view of which boilers are installed across the sales region and how many customers the distributor manages. This enables representatives to view the status of outstanding orders and service inquiries received by the help desk. Following the meeting, they can input the meeting minutes directly into Siebel Sales and automatically accept and process subsequent actions.
    Previously, Nefit only targeted its marketing campaigns at boiler installers and not end user customers -- and that targeting was not always accurate. The single, complete customer view enables Nefit to segment individual groups of customers and target them with compelling offers on boilers and associated parts and services. As part of a recent sales promotion campaign, the company uploaded 500,000 end user customers into the system and was immediately able to identify where these customers were located, the boiler they had installed, and its age. If the boiler was more than 15 years old, the Siebel-based systems passed the customer's details on to the contractor so the contractor could follow up to offer a replacement boiler.
    Siebel CRM applications provide the most comprehensive multichannel solution that allows organizations to manage, synchronize, and coordinate customer interactions across all channels. Siebel Sales helps organizations grow revenues more quickly, predictably, and profitably by helping them focus on the right deals at the right time. Siebel Call Center and Service applications help organizations deliver world-class customer support and robust customer self-service while increasing top-line revenue, enhancing customer loyalty, and improving the profitability of service operations.

    About Siebel Systems

    Siebel Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of business applications software, enabling corporations to sell to, market to, and serve customers across multiple channels and lines of business. With more than 4,000 customer deployments worldwide, Siebel Systems provides organizations with a proven set of industry-specific best practices, CRM applications, market-leading analytics products, and business processes, empowering them to consistently deliver superior customer experiences and establish more profitable customer relationships. Siebel Systems' sales and service facilities are located in more than 30 countries.

    For more information on Siebel Systems solutions and services, please visit our Web site: CRM -- http://www.siebel.com/crm; OnDemand Solutions -- http://www.crmondemand.com; Industry CRM -- http://www.siebel.com/industry-crm; Call Center and Service -- http://www.siebel.com/call-center; Sales Force Automation -- http://www.siebel.com/sales-force-automation; Marketing Automation -- http://www.siebel.com/marketing-automation; Business Intelligence -- http://www.siebel.com/business-intelligence; Integration Solutions -- http://www.siebel.com/integration-solutions; CRM Services -- http://www.siebel.com/crm-services

    Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risk or uncertainties. Future operating results of Siebel Systems may differ from the results discussed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to factors that include, but are not limited to, risks associated with customer relations, such as the availability of Siebel Systems' products and services, customer implementation of products and services, relationships with customers, third-party vendors and systems integrators, concentration of revenues in a relatively small number of customers, existence of errors or defects in products, ability to successfully manage growth, significant current and expected additional competition and the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Siebel Systems are included in Siebel Systems' Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov. Siebel Systems assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release.

    Siebel is a trademark of Siebel Systems, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.

--30--JC/sf*

CONTACT: Siebel Systems, Inc. Cecilia Denny, 650-477-5861 email: Cecilia.denny@siebel.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL EUROPE INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE ADVERTISING/MARKETING SOFTWARE PRODUCT MARKETING AGREEMENTS SOURCE: Siebel Systems, Inc.

Copyright Business Wire 2005