Siebel picks up call centre hosting firm for $5m

Siebel has announced it will buy call centre hosting company Ineto Services for $5m, in a move it claims will allow small and medium-sized enterprises to deploy 'virtual' customer service centres at the fraction of the traditional cost.

Siebel said the acquisition will remove the need to buy and integrate complex telephony hardware and software to intelligently route calls to the correct agent and prioritise customer enquiries.

Companies choosing to buy what Siebel is calling the industry's first complete hosted call centre offering will pay a monthly subscription fee with the option to add call centre agents and other users as the need arises.

Ineto Services' hosted telephony infrastructure will be integrated into Siebel's CRM OnDemand product as part of the company's 'CRM for Everyone' strategy. Siebel said the new "virtual contact centre" product will allow customer service representatives to work anywhere, and enable firms to quickly scale to meet increased call demand for seasonal peaks or marketing campaigns.

Mark Sunday, senior VP of IT and CIO at Siebel, said in a statement: "With Ineto Services' hosted telephony infrastructure integrated with our CRM OnDemand product we are providing small- and medium-sized businesses with a one-stop-shop to implement an industry-leading call centre, quickly and reliably."

The deal is expected to complete by 30 January.