PeopleSoft expands CRM suite. (In Other News...).

PeopleSoft Inc has made headlines for something other than its tussle with Oracle Corp, announcing extensions to its CRM suite in the form of predictive analytics capabilities.

PeopleSoft Predictive Analytics for CRM includes two pre-packaged analytics templates: PeopleSoft Customer Churn and PeopleSoft Campaign Response, to reduce implementation times.

The software is also designed to tap an emerging trend for opening-up analytics to a wider audience, which includes business managers and customer facing employees. The goal is to enable the use of enterprise-wide data during real-time customer interactions.

Having put the hard work in when it built its suite-wide analytics platform and plugged some glaring functionality holes, such as mobile access with CRM 8.8, PeopleSoft is now reaping the benefits. The company can make incremental additions to maintain pace with market developments.

The fifth release in 18 months, the rapid pace of development reflects the company's standing start in the CRM market. However, as the suite reaches its second birthday this month, Brad Wilson, VP of marketing, PeopleSoft CRM said the pace will slow down. Customers can expect service packs throughout this year, and release 8.9 nine months from now.

Acquisition angst aside, the company needs to put its efforts into increasing the customer base as currently it has something in the region of 525 customers, meaning it lags SAP AG.