Oracle (News - Alert) has announced Oracle CRM On Demand Release 15, the latest release of Oracle's on demand CRM service. Company officials say it has "new Social CRM capabilities, including social networking and collaboration capabilities."

 

Social CRM gives users collaborative applications that become "e-smarter" by "using the collective intelligence of social networks and work both within and outside the barriers of companies."

 

The product includes enhanced collaboration, "driven by the combination of Sticky Notes and a Message Center, allowing back-and-forth commentary," company officials say. For example, pertinent team members can subscribe to sticky notes, creating a social network where all members of the network are kept up to date simultaneously. 

 

Customers can take Oracle CRM On Demand objects, such as top accounts

or contacts. and include them within their Web portal applications, such as iGoogle or MyYahoo!, and incorporate content from other Web applications and RSS feeds. "This lets users continuously access updated CRM information without having to leave their preferred portal," according to Oracle officials.

 

The new product also offers customizable dashboards that can be tailored for specific business needs and metrics of individual organizations, as well as the Oracle Mobile Sales Assistant, a new product for mobile CRM access.

 

Last month Oracle announced that Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, its convergent, real-time billing and revenue management application, supports IBM's (News - Alert) AIX operating system.

 

AIX, IBM's Unix operating system, in combination with IBM's PowerVM virtualization offerings, allows consolidation of workloads on fewer servers.

 

With this announcement, Oracle officials say the company "extends its support for AIX, which it has previously supported with other Oracle Communications applications including Oracle Communications Service Activation, Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management and Oracle Communications Order and Service Management, as well as Oracle's Siebel CRM.

 

Oracle's support of AIX strengthens Oracle's relationship with IBM, a member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork.

 

"By supporting AIX, we give service providers increased flexibility to choose the operating system that works best for their environments," said David Sharpley, vice president product marketing and channels, Oracle Communications.