Joint Venture Consolidates Customer Data

Manufacturers product support staff will be able to get a more comprehensive view of the customer using new software jointly developed by Sybase Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. With Sybases EnterpriseConnect data access system and H-Ps customer contact management software, service representatives will be able to access customer data in a variety of systems, such as on mainframes and database servers, and to view it all on a single screen. At many companies, especially those that inherited various hardware and software platforms as a result of mergers and acquisitions, consolidating customer data has been a problem. "Obtaining a complete view of each customer relationship is the key to successful customer service, customer support, telemarketing, and sales programs," says Gary ONeall, general manager of H-Ps electronic commerce business. "With this joint solution, customers can cut the implementation time from months to weeks for integrating legacy databases into customer-contact applications."