HP to Provide Systems Integration for E.piphany's CRM Software
HP and CRM vendor E.piphany have announced a deal whereby HP will become a systems integrator for E.piphany's suite of customer relationship software.
Under terms of the deal, HP will provide customized implementation and integration services, as well as resell E.piphany software to financial services customers. HP will integrate the E.piphany software with other complementary CRM software, services and hardware. Services provided by HP will include discovery services, as well as an infrastructure architecture specific for each client. The complete solution will be sold by HP's direct sales force. The deal follows up on an agreement unveiled last April, whereby HP agreed to use E.piphany's applications internally to collect and analyze information about its hundreds of channel, alliance and development partners.
E.piphany is emerging as a real player in the growing market for customer analytic, campaign management and real-time personalization software. Such software analyzes data from a variety of sources to help businesses understand customer behavior. The idea behind the E.piphany applications is to cover numerous "customer touchpoints," a touchpoint being anywhere an interaction occurs with a customer or potential customer. Each touchpoint offers an opportunity for a business to provide not only a service but to collect information and market other products and services. The disparate bits of information are then passed to a central database, where the information is consolidated. The consolidated information allows brand managers, customer relationship managers and others to make decisions about product design, marketing focus and resource allocation.
In E.piphany HP chose a partner that has been getting a lot of industry attention lately and that has expanded its portfolio with recent acquisitions of Octane Software, a provider of multi-channel CRM applications, and iLeverage, a start-up developing patent-pending marketing solutions for digital marketplaces. The iLeverage technologies will extend E.phipany's business-to-business capabilities.
From E.piphany's viewpoint, HP, with its HP's solid reputation and strength in the financial services industry, must seem like an ideal partner.