YORK International Sets Stage for Growth in Profits and Market Share with Siebel Business Applications  (email this article)

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 2003-- Siebel Systems (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), Inc. (Nasdaq:SEBL - News), a leading provider of multichannel business applications software, today announced that YORK International Corporation, a leading heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration company, has experienced significant benefits from the first two phases of its customer relationship management (CRM) system implementation based on Siebel business applications. YORK's platform is part of a three-phase CRM strategy supporting its corporate objective of aggressive service growth, achieved through a move into new commercial service markets.

YORK's ongoing deployment of its service delivery system, YORKConnect, includes Siebel Call Center, Siebel Field Service, Siebel Handheld, and Siebel Customer Order Management, and has already delivered significant product and revenue gains. Contributing to YORK's recognized benefits are the creation of new sales opportunities and an improvement in sales win rate, as well as the cost savings associated with consolidating 40 call centers into one, thereby generating a 20 percent increase in service sales productivity.

"The worldwide service market is three times the size of the equipment market. We are continuing to make investments in this area, as there is a tremendous opportunity for continued, highly profitable growth," said Robert Wernly, Vice President of Total Quality Management and Managing Executive of CRM, YORKConnect. "Our investment in Siebel business applications is positioning us to capitalize on this growth, as it will allow us to present one face to customers and serve them better than ever before."

YORK embarked on its CRM strategy in 2001 to achieve corporate objectives in service revenue growth by providing a service infrastructure that would consolidate call centers, replace legacy systems, provide sales capabilities to service representatives, and extend field service capabilities out to field technicians via handheld wireless devices. "Service is a relationship business," continued Wernly. "We will not be able to meet our growth targets unless we maintain very high customer retention rates. Our CRM solution has to drive those retention rates. Siebel business applications will allow us to do this without adding a lot more technicians, salespeople, and offices."

YORKConnect consisted of a three-phased implementation strategy -- Call Center, Service Sales, and Service Execution. Phase 1, completed in January 2002, consolidated the district-level after-hours call centers into one individual center and converted YORK's Product Service support system to Siebel Call Center. Core customer data was consolidated into one system, giving YORK one customer-facing solution for the first time in the company's history. This system manages more than 100,000 site accounts and 50,000 customer calls annually, and on average, each call is addressed in less than one minute. Phase 1 also included the integration of remote monitoring diagnostic technology with preventive maintenance functionality in Siebel Call Center. The combined technology monitors data outputs of the customer assets, and if these outputs exceed designated performance threshold metrics, the application will automatically generate a service request and dispatch a technician to proactively service the equipment before a failure occurs. The coupling of technologies is proving effective, as the time from when an "out of control" condition is identified and a service request is created, to the point where a technician is dispatched, averages under three minutes. From a customer perspective, this capability, as well as other capabilities of the YORKConnect CRM system, is enhancing the customer experience by improving the consistency of service, as well as service response and resolution cycle times.

Phase 2, also complete, centered around the expansion of sales functionality and the deployment Siebel Customer Order Management to service sales representatives. Phase 2 specifically focused on the introduction of sales force automation, product and pricing configuration capabilities, job procurement applications, and the creation of an online updatable service catalog. Sales representatives can now configure product packages to ensure that product and service options are bundled together and compatible. Furthermore, with product and pricing information contained in a single system, YORK can more effectively enforce account-specific and contract-based pricing to ensure that customer quotations comply with existing agreements and product margin goals. Since completing the deployment, YORK has experienced a 20 percent productivity improvement in service sales, three times the expected improvement, along with an increase in service sales opportunities as a result of increased visibility into the sales pipeline. "We're creating new opportunities and winning additional deals," Wernly said. "More importantly, we are learning from those deals we do not win and can apply that knowledge to those opportunities still in play."

Phase 3 of the YORKConnect project is in development and includes the deployment of Siebel Field Service and Siebel Handheld to 1,700 service technicians, incorporating handheld support and integrating the Siebel environment with YORK's enterprise resource management system. These applications will be used to improve responsiveness on service requests, as technicians will be able to carry devices with them to service calls, allowing them to quickly identify equipment warranty information. Service technicians will also be able to exchange service call-related time logs, scheduling information, and dispatch data. Furthermore, the applications will also be used to enhance credit management, inventory management, purchasing, billing, and payroll capabilities. Initial piloting indicates that this phase will deliver important benefits, including a reduction in the cycle time for communicating site inspection data from the field to the strategic account office.

In recognizing YORK's significant CRM accomplishments, Gartner Inc. recently selected the company as one of three finalists in the large enterprise category for its 2003 CRM Excellence Award. Finalists were selected based on each entrant's demonstrated excellence in its CRM initiative based on eight categories: vision, strategy, customer experience, organization, processes, information, technology, and metrics.

About Siebel Systems

Siebel Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of business applications software, enabling corporations to sell to, market to, and serve customers across multiple channels and lines of business. With more than 3,500 customer deployments worldwide, Siebel Systems provides organizations with a proven set of industry-specific best practices, CRM applications, and business processes, empowering them to consistently deliver superior customer experiences and establish more profitable customer relationships. Siebel Systems' sales and service facilities are located in more than 30 countries. For more information about Siebel Systems, Inc., or to review other customer success stories, please visit www.siebel.com.

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