Handbags at dawn in the CRM sector

CRM giant Siebel has predicted that smaller rival E.piphany will not make it to 2003.

Siebel, considered by analysts to be the world's most successful CRM software vendor expects E.piphany to die under the weight of declining revenues and resources.

Neil Morgan, VP for European marketing at Siebel told silicon.com E.piphany's cash burn of $13.5m last quarter together with a 51 per cent decrease in licence revenues on the equivalent quarter last year spells disaster for the CRM analytics specialist. It faces death or acquisition. "They're going down the pan," Morgan said.

He added: "They're trying to go head-to-head with Siebel but how can they accomplish that on the resources they have, such as a 50 per cent reduction in head count on last year?"

Morgan was responding to claims by E.piphany's CEO Roger Siboni that in five years' time his company will "eclipse Siebel". He argued Siebel has "peaked in terms of functionality and architecture"- claims rubbished by Siebel's Morgan.

Morgan said: "Roger's obviously not been reading the news lately." He pointed to Seibel 7, which, he claims, has a 'Smart Web architecture' which will carry Siebel into the future for the next five to ten years.

But Siboni claimed Siebel's architecture is "rigid". While Morgan accepted this is a common criticism by competitors he argued that Siebel's tools allow customisation that makes its architecture "as good if not better than E.piphany's". Morgan also hit back saying return on investment is currently the greatest demand on CRM software and something Siebel excels at.

He concluded: "Let's come back in one year to see if E.piphany is still here to continue this conversation."