Mumbai: According to market research firm IDC, Siebel Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEBL), a provider of customer-facing solutions, has the highest global market revenue in the CRM applications market.

According to the IDC report, Worldwide CRM Applications 2004 Vendor Shares: Let the Games Begin, by Mary Wardley, released in July 2005, Siebel Systems was ranked to have earned 10.7 per cent of the world-wide CRM applications software market in 2004 compared to the closest competitor, which captured a 6.8 percent market share.

IDC's report is based on vendor-reported and observed trends, 2004 license and maintenance revenues, and in-depth vendor surveys and analysis. The firm examined 153 providers of "packaged software," which is defined as software that is commercially available through sale, lease, and rental or as a service, and included marketing automation, sales automation, customer service, and contact centre applications.

"Siebel Systems continues to lead in the CRM applications market," said Wardley who is vice president, CRM Applications at IDC. "Siebel has consistently strengthened and expanded its CRM applications and is on the right track to continue to deliver customer value in the next phase of CRM."

The report also outlined key market dynamics that are of increasing importance to organisations implementing CRM applications and that will continue to drive market growth. IDC believes that vendors providing solutions that address on demand, analytics, and business processes such as solving the lead-to-customer or order-to-cash flows will have an advantage in solving customer demands.

"This report confirms that CRM is a viable, growing market and that Siebel Systems remains the market-leading player," says Bruce Cleveland, senior vice president, products, Siebel Systems. "We have over 11 years of experience, more than 3 million live users at more than 4,000 of the world's largest and most respected organisations, and some of the world's largest CRM deployments, each spanning tens of thousands of users. This positions us well to continue to lead the market and help our customers achieve outstanding business results by helping them build their business around their customers."