InformationWeek

March 15, 1999

Customer Info Portal

Product lets users consolidate data

By Jeff Sweat

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roadQuest Inc. last week unveiled BroadQuest 2.0, which uses information brokers to access various enterprise applications and lets sales and customer-service representatives pull customer information from anywhere in the system. It's the latest in a string of customer-relationship management portal products from vendors such as Glyphica, Sales Vision, Siebel Systems. Vantive has one due out next month.

Compaq is evaluating BroadQuest 2.0 to pull together information from contract-management and service-delivery systems, performing queries to find data on customer obligations and contract information. "In the past, I would've had to go with three or four systems to get this information," says Ed Harrington, manager of information management and reporting for the vendor's customer-services unit. "Now I can get it in one." That gives Compaq more-timely information--and representatives more time with the customer.

Because the software links to a browser interface, the source application's performance isn't affected, and companies don't need customer-relationship management clients on every user's desktop. "The user shouldn't have to worry about where the data resides," says Hurwitz Group analyst Steve Bonadio.

BroadQuest's Rapid Success Package, which includes BroadQuest 2.0, maintenance, and installation services, is priced at $99,000 for up to 50 clients. The vendor says businesses should be able to get it running in about a month.