Customer-relationship management company Blue Martini Software Inc. is looking at Java as the key to helping its customers help themselves get more out of their CRM applications. This week, the company is launching an online developers' community as well as new development tools to support its CRM application package.

Richard Fleischman, director of product marketing and developer relations, says his company saw a need to create an environment for its customers to collaborate on customizing Blue Martini 4, the company's Java-based E-CRM apps, after they were installed. So it created the Blue Martini Developer Network to provide technical information. It also has released a set of visual tools to help developers extend and customize functions on the applications and to help developers integrate the software with existing and legacy systems.

The move is a good one, says Mitch Kramer, a senior analyst at the Patricia Seybold Group, because most packaged apps need customization, and by developing a user group around that need, Blue Martini is creating a tighter bond with its customers. "This kind of thing starts to create a community of Blue Martini developers, moving them from a small, hot niche into a broader community," he adds. That, Kramer says, makes it a more substantial software company.

Blue Martini says other vendors, including Intel, IBM, Sun Microsystems, BEA Systems, Hewlett-Packard, and Commerce One, are supporting the community with products and services.