While Microsoft is preparing a more social 
approach in its next update of Microsoft Dynamics CRM , Oracle is getting to market first. Oracle has rolled out Oracle CRM On Demand Release 19 to charge the competitive landscape.
With this latest release, Oracle promises industry-leading capabilities to drive revenue, reduce costs, and improve the customer experience. Of course, those are the same promises that competing software titles are making to customers in the CRM space.
So what's different about the latest iteration of Oracle CRM On Demand, which comes nine months after the last release?
Mobile Devices Are the New Terminal
Anthony Lye, senior vice president of Oracle CRM, pointed to new mobile and cloud capabilities in Release 19, including the ability for customers and partners to customize CRM information access based on their operating systems such as Apple's iOS and the Blackberry OS. A new smartphone app gives sales reps anywhere, anytime access to CRM data .
Oracle also pushed out a new Microsoft Outlook user interface that gives sales reps access to all CRM information in a familiar application . The interface lets users access the data online or off-line. The goal of this feature is to make it easier for sales reps to update data and keep it consistent so they can focus on selling instead of manual updates.
"Tablets and smartphones are quickly becoming the terminal of the current century. Enterprises are embracing the platforms in an aggressive fashion," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
"It showcases the initial mistake that was made with this class of products where everybody figured IT wanted to manage it. What IT wants is to make use of these new platforms to manage other things. IT doesn't want any overhead, but they want this new appliance to be their window into managing their world. That's been the big shift we have seen in the industry in the last six months."
Custom Industry Offerings
Another big shift has been in cloud computing. Oracle CRM On Demand Release 19 offers hosted CRM code with client-side extensions. That feature paves the way for a platform that lets customers create customizations to meet their specific business needs.
"Oracle CRM On Demand Release 19 introduces extensive new capabilities such as next-generation mobility and opportunity hierarchies to increase user productivity," said Jonathan Eastwood, manager of business delivery at CRMNow. "Enhanced open CTI APIs and hosted Java customizations enable developers to leverage open standards to meet unique customer requirements."
Speaking of customization, with Oracle CRM On Demand Release 19, Oracle is getting more industry-specific. The latest iteration offers enhanced industry functionality for life sciences, insurance, financial services, and automotive.
For example, new life-sciences functionality includes what Oracle is calling "mass creation of planned calls," along with enhanced PCD assessments, and the ability to customize and extend account contact relationships. Meanwhile, new automotive functionality includes vehicle enhancements, dealer addresses, improved historical analytics, and new insurance capabilities, including policy origination support, policy object enhancements, and financial plans and financial accounts enhancements.
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