Oracle Siebel Enterprise Marketing Suite (discontinued) vs. Shape Software

Use it when you need one platform that can provide integration among all cloud products - Email Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Web Marketing, Events Management, Loyalty Management, Campaign/Dialogue Management and Marketing Resource Management. Don't use it when users are not very technical.

Incentivized

Shape Software is well suited when using "mainstream" ad platforms that have robust integrations. It also works well when budgets are set less frequently and are allowed to run unchanged for a set period of time. Shape Software gets less accurate when frequent budget changes need to be made and when using ad platforms with little to no support built into Shape Software.

• Siebel EMS offered useful customer insight and more effective dialogue with recipients by delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time.
• Siebel EMS was very effective for loyalty lifecycle and retention by seamlessly integrating with marketing and CRM platforms.
• Siebel EMS was instrumental in aligning marketing, sales and analytics divisions.

Incentivized

• Platform integrations
• Pacing accuracy
• Automated notifications

• Oracle Siebel Marketing Suite's processing time is not as fast as I would expect it to be. This is the major improvement I would like to see in it.
• It requires a very high level of training being given to the employees for configuring and implementing it in the business needs.
• Expert employees are needed in order to understand the functionality of Oracle Siebel Enterprise Marketing Suite, which is not easy to find.

Incentivized

• Automated budget pacing could be more sophisticated - it tends to conflict with platform best-practices in my opinion.
• Integration with LinkedIn leads would give more accurate picture of conversion volume I believe.
• More customizable alerts

A very conservative data security policy limits the organization to a hosted solution. At particular issue is the tendency of cloud based CRMs to have data centres based in the US, a major issue for Canadian consumers. Once you have integrated a system of this size and complexity, and have the staff resources to utilize it effectively, it's hard to justify a move to an alternative. Consider Siebel if you are a conservatively run organization with a large database of customers and a big marketing team

Incentivized

Shape Software is very easy to set up and use. The core functions and features require little explanation. The options and settings are easy to find and the capabilities of the platform are apparent to the user after just a few minutes of use.

I never had the need or opportunity to work with support.

Siebel offers a lot of the same functionality as the major cloud based CRM's. Its flexibility for custom configuration is a definite advantage if you have the resources. Like other enterprise CRM's you need some dedicated staffing to get the most out of the system. As the industry, Oracle included, continue to push to cloud based solutions, Siebel (and some of its competitors) seem a bit under-loved, particularly in terms of user experience. If you are committed to going with a hosted solution and you have a large marketing team with the financial resources to keep yourself on up-to-date versions then Siebel should be considered

Incentivized

Shape Software is very user-friendly and easy to set up. The controls and settings are very straightforward and the core functions (onboarding new accounts, creating new budgets, managing budgets, etc) are easily understood. The customizable alerts and budget intervals provide modularity for different situations and provide significant peace-of-mind. The automations are less impressive in that they generally conflict with ad platform automation in my opinion. Automated bidding and budgeting is hindered by third-party automations like Shape Software and the performance Shape Software features provide doesn't justify forgoing that technology in the ad platforms in my opinion.

• It has increased the business tactics as we have added more clients who wish to use this technology.

Incentivized

• Reliable protection against overspend
• Precise budget control
• Cross-platform visibility