14018

14043
14098
14099
14115
14134
14170
14174

0|Page

Section A, Group 10
ANIRUDH TANTRY P
DEEVITH HEGDE
PIYUSH KUMAR
POOJA CHINIWALAR
RAMYA GANGOLLI
SAKET SUMAN
|
TANEYA TALUKDAR
VARTIKA TEWARI

Contents
Overview of Industry.............................................................................................. 1
Major Players in the Industry.................................................................................1

Microsoft Dynamics...............................................................................................................1
SAP........................................................................................................................................2
About Oracle.......................................................................................................... 2
ERP Solutions by Oracle......................................................................................... 3
Business Function.................................................................................................. 4

Key Business Functions.........................................................................................................5

Request to Service................................................................................................. 5
Business Function for Request to Service..............................................................6

Service Request Process Flow...............................................................................................6

Service Request Process.........................................................................................................7
Business Function (Dell Build to Order)..................................................................8

After Sales service of Dell...................................................................................................11

Customer Experience Cycle by Oracle................................................................................13
Reference Architecture Conceptual View-Oracle..................................................14
Customer Experience Reference Architecture Logical View.................................17
Loyalty and Marketing Product Mapping..............................................................19
Service and Support Product Mapping.................................................................20

Service & Support................................................................................................................20

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 21
Bibliography......................................................................................................... 22

1|Page

Overview of Industry
ERP software runs the core operations of a business, including finance/accounting,
production, inventory, order management, procurement, and human resources (HR)
management. However, implementations have often been fragmented and departmentalized,
and different applications have had varying levels of success. Financial and HR applications
have been the most successful in supporting the needs of many types of businesses, while
companies have struggled to implement packages that support other core business operations
or processes that span multiple departments or functions.

Major Players in the Industry

Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship
management (CRM) software applications. Microsoft Dynamics applications are delivered
through a network of reselling partners who provide specialized services. Very few
installations are made without the aid, and cost, of these resellers. In its 2013 update, the first
since 2009, Microsoft removed many capabilities of users to access features such as reportwriting without the intervention, and cost, of members of their approved reseller
network. Microsoft Dynamics is part of Microsoft Business Solutions.
There are many benefits to this system.
1

First of all, it has an architecture that is multi-layered which makes it very user-friendly

for everyone and can adapt to a changing business.

If you have other Microsoft programs on your computer, such as Word, Excel and

Outlook, it works seamlessly with them allowing for an easy transfer of information
For large, international businesses the system works very well due to multi-language and

4
5

multi-currency capabilities.
Microsoft Dynamics AX now meets regulatory requirements for 36 countries.
Global ERP support also comes with the system to answer any question or solve any

problem that may come up.

One of the many reasons that companies are now turning to Microsoft Dynamics AX is
that it has a shorter implementation due to the familiar nature of Microsoft products with
an average implementation time of 13 months which is several months shorter than its
competitors.

2|Page

While there are many benefits to Microsoft Dynamics AX, there a few negatives as well. One
of the more recent complaints is that the system has moved towards larger companies and left
smaller companies behind. Having a strong cloud ERP option is also something that can be
improved.

SAP
SAP is a German multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to
manage

business

operations

and

customer

relations.

SAP

is

headquartered

in Walldorf, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, with regional offices in 130 countries. The

company has over 293,500 customers in 190 countries. SAP is a company that has been
around for quite some time and owns quite a large share of the market. In other words, they
know the ERP market very well. In 2014, SAP owned roughly a quarter of the market,
according to Forbes. Despite being such a large company they also do business with
companies with fewer than 1000 employees which shows their diverse client base.
1

One of the areas that SAP has excelled at for many years is business intelligence. They
have a very integrated and user friendly system which includes dashboards, report

writing, and data warehousing.

If you are not familiar with SAP software it tends to take longer to pick up and the
implementation process tends to take longer than other alternatives. Not only does the

implementation take longer but it also tends to be more expensive than other systems.
Another negative about ERP software is that it demands many upgrades which can be

4
5
6
7

come costly.
SAP is flexible.
SAP is integrated with several modules which is not present in other ERP Systems.
The SAP HR and SAP SuccessFactors software are some examples of these.
SAP has customized solutions that will suit any kind of business.

About Oracle
Oracle Corporation (Oracle), incorporated on September 9, 2005, is a provider of enterprise
software and computer hardware products and services that are engineered to work together
in the cloud and in the data centre. The Companys offerings include Oracle database and
middleware software, application software, cloud infrastructure, hardware systems including
computer server, storage and networking products, and related services. The Company
provides Oracle software and hardware products through its Oracle Cloud offerings, and its
software and hardware products and related services are used to build internal clouds or on
premise IT environments.
3|Page

The Company offers various cloud computing IT environments, including those offered
through its Oracle Cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offerings. It provides various technologies of cloud
computing, including database and middleware software as well as Web-based applications,
virtualization, clustering, large-scale systems management and related infrastructure. The
Company operates through various segments, including new software licenses and cloud
software subscriptions, which include Oracles SaaS and PaaS offerings; cloud infrastructureas-a-service; software license updates and product support; hardware systems products;
hardware systems support, and services business.

ERP Solutions by Oracle

R12 Oracle E-Business Suite: Oracle E-Business Suite is the most comprehensive suite of
integrated, global business applications that enable organizations to make better decisions,
reduce costs, and increase performance.
JD Edwards Enterprise One: Only JD Edwards EnterpriseOne offers more choice of
databases, operating systems, and hardware so you can build and expand your IT solution to
meet business requirements. JD Edwards delivers over 80 application modules to support a
diverse set of business processes and key industry solutions such as Consumer Package
Goods, Manufacturing, Asset Intensive, and Projects and Services.
Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management: Primavera focuses on solutions that
go beyond facilitating on-time and within budget and scope projects, to support business
outcomes that drive C-level strategic metrics and results.
Siebel Customer Relationship Management: features to manage all customer-facing
operations. With solutions tailored to more than 20 industries, Siebel CRM delivers
comprehensive on premise and on-demand CRM solutions that are tailored to industry
requirements and offer role-based customer intelligence and prebuilt integrations. Siebel
CRM plays an important role within the Oracle Customer Experience (CX) portfolio,
delivering customer experience across mobile, in-store, and field service, and leveraging a
wide range of Oracle foundation tools.

4|Page

Business Function
Business function is a core process or operation or set of activities which is performed
routinely to carry out certain missions of an organization. (business function, n.d.) It is often
referred to as organizational function. Common business functions may include operations,
marketing, human resources, information technology, customer service, finance, warehousing
etc.
Classification of Business Functions

Business functions can be broadly divided into two parts front office functions and back
office functions.

Front-Office Business Function: Business functions which are directly connected

with customers are front-office functions. Primary front office functions are
marketing, sales and customer service. These departments are responsible for
researching and developing solutions, promoting them to targeted prospects and then
providing customer service to drive loyal relationships. In a business, these functions
are known as the revenue-generating activities. In an organization, significant amount
of budget is allocated to these departments.

Back-Office Business Function: Business functions which support front-office

activities from behind the screen, are back-office functions. Primary back-office
functions are human resource, finance, IT, warehousing etc. Back-office functions are
important to the success and progress of an organization, but they receive less public
recognition. Tension sometimes exist in companies where support functions receive
lower budgets and deal with constant cost-control measures. Managers in back-office
departments defend the value their teams provide internally to secure equitable
compensation and adequate funding. (What Are Organizational Functions?, n.d.)

5|Page

Key Business Functions

The following diagram represents key business functions in an organization.

Figure 1 Business Functions Chart (Source: (Business Functions, n.d.))

Request to Service
A Service Request is a customer request for information or advice, or for a standard change (a
pre-approved change that is low risk, relatively common and follows a procedure) or custom
order or for access to an IT service. (3 Reasons to Separate your Service Requests from
Incident & Change, n.d.)

A service request is initiated by a customer for particular service provided by an organization.

The request is for a specific service considered to be part of OSFs customer support. The
service request can be divided into two parts as below.

1. Assistance Service Request These are the service requests for routine ongoing
support to customer. Assistance service requests must have the following
characteristics:
Known requirements
Known solution
6|Page

 Known cost (approximate)

Known risk
No impact to the Customers SLA
Preapproved by Service Provider Group Manager
Predefined Service Level Target
2. Enhancement Change Request These are the requests for a modification or
addition to an existing service, ex., a new voucher report or modification to an
existing report, request for hardware enhancement etc. (3 Reasons to Separate your
Service Requests from Incident & Change, n.d.)

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Business Function for Request to Service

Service Request Process Flow

8|Page

Service Request Process

The Service Request Processes manage submission and handling of all requests for service.
The processes are customized to meet the customers needs based on the type and complexity
of the request.
Step 1 - Requesting Customer
Customer initiates request by submitting information to a service request to the service desk.
The request can be submitted in person or via main or by calling the service desk.
Step 2 Request Logging
The request will be logged as a Service Request.
Step 3 Verify Request against SLA
Check if the request is covered under an existing SA supporting a service listed under the
Service Catalog. If yes, process the request using standard service request process. If no, use
service catalog request process.
Step 4 Verify Incident
Determine if this is actually an incident. If yes, change the case type to Incident, and follow
the incident process.
Step 5 Check Applicability
Determine if the request can be resolved by the Service Desk. If yes, fulfill the request.
Step 6 Handle Request
If service desk can handle the request, it should be done immediately.
Step 7 Notify Customer
Notify customer if the request is fulfilled by the Service Desk.
Step 8 Close Case
If handles by service desk, update and close the case.
Step 9 Evaluate Request
If service desk cant resolve the request, technical delivery team evaluates the request via
collecting additional data from customer (if required).
Step 10 Verify Type of Request
Technical team verifies the type of request. If its an Assistance Service Request, they
proceed to fulfill request.
Step 11 Fulfill Request

9|Page

Using the appropriate service task list (if available), they perform the service requested by the
customer.
Step 12 Update Case Status
If the request is resolved by technical delivery team, update case to show that work is
complete and change status to resolved.
Step 13 Evaluate Costing
Check if the service is chargeable.
Step 14 Provide Billing Information
If chargeable, perform billing using appropriate mechanism and provide information to the
Service Desk to update the Agency Services Database. Also generate invoice for the service.
Step 15 Customer Feedback
Service desk takes feedback from customer if the resolution is as per expectation.
Step 16 Customer Feedback Analysis
Check with customer and identify any concern.
Step 17 Customer Not Satisfied Reassignment
If work is incomplete, or customers needs were not met, service desk identifies specifics
within the case, changes case status, and then notifies person assigned to the case and the
provider group manager.
Step 18 Customer Satisfied Update SCD
If customer is happy with the resolution, update Service Catalog Data for Customer.
Step 19 Close the Case
Complete and close the case.

Business Function (Dell Build to Order)

Dell Inc. is an American multinational computer technology corporation based in Round
Rock, Texas, and United States that develops, sells and supports computers and related
products

and

services.

Dell

sells personal

computers (PCs), servers, data

storage

devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3
players, and electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is well known for its
innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce, particularly its directsales model and its "build-to-order" or "configure to order" approach to manufacturing
delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications. Dells direct go to market

10 | P a g e

has also proven to be effective as the resellers are eliminated and the saving is passed on back
to the customer.
Dell has been following this unique direct build-to-order sales model for more than 20
years. Customers can plan their own configuration and place orders directly with the
company via the phone or its Web site. Over the years, Dells supply chain efficiencies and
direct sales gave it a competitive advantage.

Process technology strategy

Line 1

Order
Received

Order pushed
for production

Assembly line to
assemble all the
components
Line 2

Labelling

Burn Test

Software, drivers, OS,

etc. are loaded

Boxing

Customer
clearance

Delivered to
logistic Dept.

Delivered to
End-User

Above figure shows the factory design layout for a typical Dell manufacturing plant. This
design is a standard layout design for the production of all of Dells hardware. Upon order
being received from the sales department, releases the order to flow to production.
Once the order is pushed to manufacturing dept., the line operator will be fed the custom
specification of the model through a unified communication system. There are 7 stations in
line 1, besides the line operator that receives the order, the other 6 stations operator that will
several line operators to assemble the chassis, motherboard, processor, ram, hard disk and
power supply. The last operator will push the assembled machine to Line 2.
The process in Line 2 is automated where the operating system, relevant drivers and
softwares is loaded to the hardware and pushed to a burn test. This burn test will take from 4
hours to 48 hours depending on the configuration of a system. The burn test is a stress test to
identify defect on the hardware. This is a continuous flow of production with no halt until
boxing of a product.
Once the hardware passes the burn test, a line operator will label the hardware with a unique
7 digit alpha numeric code and sends it for boxing. Another operator will check the finished
hardware for any physical defect before boxing. Since all of Dells manufacturing plants are
11 | P a g e

located in free trade zones, the hardwares will need to go through a customs inspection
before being delivered to the logistic hub. Once in the logistic hub, the finished goods will be
segregated to its destination by country, then state, and then district before dispatching them.
A factory will have a minimum of 8 lines, 2 for notebooks and tablets, 2 for desktops, 3 for
servers and storages and 1 for switches and peripherals. Dell practices product oriented layout
as each line operators are individually trained for the continuous process.
There are 2 lines in the plant; line 1 will be assembling with manual manpower the hardware
while line 2 will installing softwares with automated process. Most of the of Dells order are
batch processes where the volume is high with standard product but with minimal
customization. Dell also offers Custom Factory Integration (CFI) whereby a commercial
end user will be able load custom software, custom logo or asset tagging at a small fee (Dell,
2012b). This jobbing process is done in line 2 after the softwares are installed, a small
specialized line operator will perform the CFI requirement that has been agreed upon before
the sales cycle takes place.
Dell specializes in build to order with low inventory and low capital. With this global
strategy, Dell has the edge over the competition as the pioneer of build to order. With its CFI
offerings, selling service contract is no longer about persuading customer to buy something
that they dont require but fulfilling customers business need thus allowing Dell to lock in the
customer by building scales and efficiency that stands against the competition (Jackson,
2011). With a uniform approach of manufacturing from hardware as simple as a mouse to as
complex as 4 socket blade server, the manufacturing process remains the same. The line
operators require very less training before they can be in production line. This also eliminates
downtime in the event of shortages of manpower as training an operator from one line to
another takes less than an hour for desktop and less than 4 hours for a server.
Dell success is because it built its supply chain management from backwards, from customer
to production by prioritizing its customers. The other crucial parts of Dells success are:

CAPACITY MANAGEMENT:
Dell identifies its resources capacity by assessing its labour hours. Dell measures the
capacity of labour needed by previous years record. In fact many of Dells decision is
based in past year trend analysis. This also gives Dell a better control of capacity
planning and capacity management.

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ORGANISATION AND SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT:

Being one of the organizations practicing Just In Time (JIT), Dell holds just enough
inventories for three to four day compared to a conventional method of holding a
months stock. They key to this success is by continuous monitoring of demand and
supply in real time.

LEAN PRODUCTION: Dells model of production is simple as a pay as you use. It

only pays for the inventory delivered to the manufacturing plant 30 days post
invoicing. Dell moves the capital expenditure of owning a warehouse and the logistics
to operating expenditure. With this Dell, does not have to face the issue of
underutilizing or shortages of trucks and warehouse space. By producing custom built
orders and not for inventory, Dell does not face the problems of being stuck with older
generation technology.

SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY:

Dell keeps track of it suppliers activity and records them, this statistics are later used
during a Quarterly Business Review (QBR).By having a stringent policy on supplier
management Dell has managed to avoid several issues such as human rights and
environmental misconduct. Diversity is a key aspect of Dells business model. Dell
welcomes supplier from businesses that are owned by individuals of diverse
backgrounds.

After Sales service of Dell

Dell provides service and support as follows

Dell Telephone Support: Dell provides the service at its sole option and for as long
and for such hours as it may decide Telephone Support for the Customer. "Telephone
Support" means telephone and remote hardware fault diagnosis provided by Dell at its
sole option and on such terms and conditions as it may, from time to time determine

pursuant to clause.
Remedial Support: Upon receipt of notification from the Customer that the Products
have failed or are malfunctioning, and in the event that the fault cannot be rectified
using Dell Telephone Support, Dell undertakes to use all reasonable endeavors during
the Standard Service Hours to make such corrections, repairs or adjustments to or

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replace such parts of the Products as may be necessary to restore the Products to their
proper operating condition. The extent of such remedial support and whether this is
achieved remotely or by an on-site visit by a Dell engineer will be determined by Dell
in its discretion and/or depending upon any Service Offering purchased by the
Customer. Service Hours" means the hours between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. each day

excluding Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Exceptions to Service & Support: Dell shall provide repair services that are
necessary because of any existing defect or a defect occurs in materials or
workmanship in the system or in any system component covered by a particular
Agreement. Preventive maintenance is not included. Repairs necessitated by software
problems, or as a result of alteration, adjustment, or repair by anyone other than Dell

(or its authorized representatives) are not included.

Replacement: Dell reserves the right to replace the whole of the Products or any part
or parts thereof which may be found to be faulty or in need of investigation even
where only a part of the Products are so faulty or in need of investigation.
Dell, in effecting such replacement, is under no obligation to use Products or any parts
thereof which are identical in all respects to the faulty Products. Unless local laws
determine otherwise, Dell reserves the right to supply used or reconditioned parts or
Products which are equivalent to new in functionality and appearance.
The products or parts supplied to replace the Products shall become the property of
the owner of the Products. The Products or any part or parts thereof removed shall
become the property of Dell.
The warranty term for a spare part used in repairing Products ("Replacement Part") is
90 days from its installation in the Product or the remainder of the warranty term for
the Product into which it is installed, whichever is longer.
Customer's Obligations: During the continuance of a particular Agreement, the
Customer shall:(a) Provide Dell with full, safe and prompt access to the Products to enable Dell to
carry out its obligations under this Agreement.
(b) Provide adequate working space around the Products for the use of Dell's
personnel and make available all reasonable facilities as may be requested from time
to time by Dell for the storage and safe keeping of any test equipment and spare parts.
Notification and Information: The customer has to promptly notify Dell if the
Products need service or are not operating correctly. Failure by the Customer to notify
Dell within 2 weeks of the Customer first becoming aware of such failure or incorrect
working shall free Dell from all obligations to investigate.

14 | P a g e

The customer has to make available to Dell, free of charge, such information as may
be necessary to enable Dell properly to conduct telephone diagnosis as part of the Dell
Telephone Support service, and in addition, such programs, operating manuals and

information to enable Dell properly to perform its obligations under the Agreement.
Liability: Dell shall not be liable for any loss or damage sustained or incurred by the
Customer or any third party (including without limitation any loss of use of the
Products or loss of or spoiling of any of the Customer's programs or data) resulting
from any lines down of or fault in the Products, unless such lines down or fault is
caused by the negligence or willful misconduct of Dell, its employees, agents or subcontractors.
Some Services may require Dell to access hardware or software that is not
manufactured by Dell. Some manufacturers' warranties may become void if Dell or
anyone else, other than the manufacturer or its authorized representative, works on the
hardware or software. Dell does not take responsibility for third party warranties or

for any effect that the dell services may have on those warranties.
Waiver: Except as otherwise expressly provided for the Agreement, no forbearance,
delay or indulgence by either party in enforcing the provisions of the Agreement shall
prejudice or restrict the rights of that party, nor shall any waiver of its rights operate
as a waiver of any subsequent breach, and no right, power or remedy herein conferred

upon or reserved for either party, is exclusive of any other right.

Consumers: Nothing in the Agreement shall affect the statutory right of a Customer
dealing with Dell as a consumer as defined in any consumer protection legislation

intended to protect consumers in similar transactions.

Subcontracting: Dell has the right to subcontract the Services provided under the
Agreement to any of its authorized service providers.

Customer Experience Cycle by Oracle

In todays connected world, the customer experience spans multiple different touch points
throughout the customer lifecycle. Figure 2 illustrates an example of how a customer could
move through multiple different touch points during the buying process.

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It should be noted that the customer lifecycle terms used in Figure 2 are illustrative, not
definitive, since different terms would be used for specific industries. For example, in the
financial industry the term purchase would be replaced with apply when the product is a
loan or account.
The challenge that many companies face is that the IT systems that support the business have
been acquired or built piecemeal over time resulting in silos of information and functionality
that, from the customers perspective, results in a fragmented customer experience.
Additionally the explosive growth of social media has left companies scrambling to
effectively leverage the opportunities and information from this new point of customer
interaction.
The solution is to address customer experience holistically from both the business and IT
perspective. This requires that the business and IT work collaboratively to acquire, build, and
integrate the systems needed to support a truly cross-channel customer experience solution.
This paper describes the architecture of a cross-channel customer experience solution by
presenting several different architectural views of the solution.

Reference Architecture Conceptual View-Oracle

The conceptual view for the reference architecture, uses business terms to provide a highlevel description of the customer experience solution.

16 | P a g e

Customer Experience Reference Architecture Conceptual View

At the top of the illustration is support for the different channels that a company uses to
conduct business with customers. Ubiquitous integration with social networks is also an
important capability for modern customer experience solutions.
Business Functions
At this level of detail, customer experience consists of three primary business functions:
Commerce, Marketing & Loyalty, and Support & Service. Each of these business functions is
further detailed below.
It should be noted that although the customer experience reference architecture is organized
into these three functional areas, the solution cannot be implemented as silos of functionality.
Rather, the functionality must be available wherever needed throughout the customer
experience lifecycle.
Commerce
Commerce focuses on selling a product or service to a customer. At a high level this includes:

Search / Browse - The customer must be able to readily find the products of interest
either by searching the product catalogue or via browsing of the catalogue. Great
customer experience requires guided search and navigation to help customers rapidly

find the right product(s) of interest.

Offer / Recommend Providing offers and recommendations greatly improves crosssell and up-sell. Offers and recommendations must be real-time, personalized, and
relevant to provide a compelling shopping experience. Offers and recommendations
should also incorporate business insight to specifically target customers based on past
behavior or purchases from other customers with similar interests.

17 | P a g e

Order Management Once the customer has decided on particular products, the
ordering process must be efficient and accurate even for complex products that

require order orchestration.

Business Insight To consistently improve the customer experience, information
needs to be collected from all interactions across all point of interaction and made
readily available for both historical and near real-time analysis.

Marketing & Loyalty

Marketing & Loyalty drives demand for the companys products and services and rewards
customers for continued business. At a high level this includes:

Marketing Automation Rapidly launch targeted marketing campaigns across all

channels, align marketing and sales to produce higher quality leads and increased

closure rates, and measure the campaign performance and return on investment.
Community Management Building a community of customers that provide
feedback, recommend products to others, assist new users, etc. The community

management must also cover social media outside the direct control of the company.
Loyalty Management Integrated loyalty management to encourage and reward

customers for their repeat business.

Channel Optimization Using the strengths of one channel to overcome the
weaknesses in another channel can significantly improve the customer experience.
Additionally, promoting less expensive channels (e.g. Web) where appropriate can
reduce costs and improve the bottom line.

Support & Service

Support & Service provides help to customers throughout the customer lifecycle including
product information, troubleshooting, warranty issues, configuration guidance, etc. At a high
level this includes:

Self Service Providing comprehensive self-service is essential for great customer

experience, especially for the do-it-yourself type of customer. Comprehensive self-

service also reduces costs since this is the least expensive form of customer support.
Agent Assist For some problems, and some types of customers, self-service will
just not provide the needed help. In these cases, a real, live agent is the only means to
provide acceptable service. Agent assist must be available via multiple channels
including phone, chat, and email

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Account Management Full featured account management is a must to provide

acceptable levels of customer support. This functionality needs to be available both

via self-service and via agent assist

Knowledge Management Collecting, correlating, and organizing product support
information can dramatically improve customer service. A knowledge base of product
support information should be available to agents as well as customers themselves.

Information
The three primary types of information needed for customer experience are:

Customer Customer information should be all encompassing (i.e. 360view) and

customer centric.
Product Product information needs to be complete and up-to-date.
Content Content provides the supporting material for all of the business functions
across all touch points and includes wide variety of formats including documents,
images, video, templates, etc.

All of the information included in the customer experience solution must be accurate,
consistent, authoritative, and real-time. Stale, batch-propagated information is the bane of
successful cross-channel customer experience. Likewise, multiple data storage systems
containing overlapping but conflicting information leads to a poor customer experience.
Deployment
There are more options today for where to run a solution than ever before. At a high level the
four options for deployment of the customer experience solution are:

Public Cloud In the public cloud model, a company rents resources from a third
party. The most advanced usage of public cloud is where the business functionality is
provided by the cloud provider (i.e., software-as-a-service). Public cloud might also
be used as the platform upon which the business functionality is built (i.e., platformas-a-service), or the public cloud may simply provide the infrastructure for the system

(i.e., infrastructure-as-a-service).
Private Cloud - Private cloud is the same as public cloud, but the cloud is owned by a

company instead of being provided by a third party.

Managed Services In this model a company owns the components of the system, but

outsources some or all aspects of runtime operations.

Traditional IT In this model a company owns and operates the system.

These various options for deployment are not mutually exclusive. The customer experience
solution might be deployed in two or more different ways. Not only might the functional
areas be deployed differently (e.g. Marketing & Loyalty as Managed Services with Support
19 | P a g e

& Service deployed to a Public Cloud), but even a single functional area might span
deployment options. For example, the on-line ordering experience might start (search,
browse, recommend) with a system hosted in a public cloud but then transition to an internal
system (traditional IT) for order management when the customers critical information is
being handled.

Customer Experience Reference Architecture Logical View

The previous sections described the customer experience reference architecture by focusing
on particular areas of functionality that the solution must provide. Of course, the customer
experience reference architecture must describe a unified solution covering all necessary
functionality across all touch points.

The top layer in the diagram shows the various devices and touch points that are supported by
the customer experience reference architecture. The Interaction Layer provides the consistent
interface across the devices and touch points.
The Business Process Layer includes the business processes provided by the solution from
both the customer perspective (red) as well as from the company perspective (grey) all
supported by the Business Process Management capability. Likewise the Business Service
Layer shows the necessary capabilities from both the customer perspective (red) as well as
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the company perspective (grey). Underlying the business services is the Data and Service
Integration capability that provides the glue that brings all the data and services together into
a comprehensive, unified solution.
The Information Layer illustrates the information required to support a consistent, seamless
customer experience. Fragmented, siloed information cannot yield a compelling customer
experience. The bottom layer, Shared Infrastructure, is the compute, network, and storage that
supports the entire solution. This might be on premise, hosted off-premise, private cloud,
public cloud, etc.
Finally, but certainly equally important, is the security, monitoring, and management layer
that spans the entire customer experience reference architecture. This is another area where a
piecemeal, fragmented approach is unacceptable since it will inevitably lead to customer
experience issues or inconsistencies resulting in customer dissatisfaction.

Loyalty and Marketing Product Mapping

The below Oracle products are onto the loyalty and marketing components of the logical
architecture to illustrate how the capabilities required for loyalty and marketing can be
realized using Oracle products.

Oracle Eloqua Marketing Cloud Service transforms the way a company markets in the
digital age by targeting prospects, easily executing campaigns, sending leads to sales in real
time, increasing lead quality, and increasing close rates.

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Oracle Siebel Enterprise Marketing is a comprehensive, closed-loop solution that

empowers organizations across industries to achieve excellence in marketing and is tailored
to the needs of business and consumer marketers across more than 20 industries.
Oracle Siebel Loyalty enables organizations to create loyalty campaigns without the help of
IT staff. It delivers a full range of analytics, marketing, and service capabilities that help to
better understand each customer's lifetime value and design service levels and promotions
that maximize the potential of all each customer relationship.
Oracle Real-time Decisions includes a collaborative web-based application that enables
business stakeholders to manage the lifecycle of their decision logic from inception to
execution.
Oracle Endeca Commerce allows business users to guide and influence customers across
multiple touch points without having to predict their path, set up scenarios, or engage IT.
Integrate with technologies like Web analytics, recommendations, and user reviews to
automatically drive elements of the experience including data-driven, dynamic, and static
content.

Service and Support Product Mapping

Below figure maps the Oracle products onto the service and support components of the
logical architecture to illustrate how the capabilities required for service and support can be
realized using Oracle products.

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Service & Support

Oracle RightNow CX Cloud Service combines Web, social, and contact center experiences
for a unified, cross-channel service solution in the cloud. RightNow's service enterprise
platform provides transparent reliability, unmatched security, and total cloud freedom for
mission critical customer experience delivery.
Oracle Siebel Contact Center and Service helps businesses deliver quicker, better, and
more-efficient customer service. Whether a company needs hosted, mobile, or on-premise
solutions, these applications provide optimal resource deployment, speedy issue resolution,
one-and-done request handling, warranty management, service scheduling, etc., integrated
with powerful tracking and analytics capabilities.
Oracle Knowledge offers simple and convenient ways for customers and agents to access
knowledge that was once hidden. To understand the true intent of each inquiry it uses
techniques such as natural language processing, real-time contextual data, and industryspecific libraries to quickly pinpoint the most-relevant answers.

Conclusion
Companies today operate in an environment where traditional methods of differentiation are
less effective and customer experience has become the primary differentiator and driver of
business value. To successfully compete, companies need to create consistent, connected, and
personalized brand experiences across all touch points and all devices.
The cross-channel customer experience reference architecture described in this study
delivers:

A full set of commerce capabilities including guided navigation, targeted and

personalized recommendations, and accurate order fulfilment

Integrated loyalty and marketing capabilities
Service and support capabilities to quickly resolve customer questions, issues, or

problems via self-service or agent assist

A consistent, accurate, real-time view of all relevant information
Predictive and semantic analysis of all customer interactions that can be leveraged
across departments to enhance the customer experience

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