Siebel Systems has just launched a new 'Global Business Process Outsourcing Alliance' programme.

According to Siebel, the programme is expanding its Global Alliance Programme to deliver product, maintenance and support that meets the needs of alliance partners in the BPO market.

The addition of the Global BPO Alliance Program enhances Siebel's industry-leading alliance programs to cover the full spectrum of technology partners -- more than 750 partners with expertise in consulting, software, hardware platforms and services that meet the business intelligence needs of Siebel Systems customers worldwide.

'Clients realize their greatest return on investment in Siebel's technology when they focus on business outcomes and re-architect key processes to achieve desired business results,' commented Marty Sunde, vice president and general manager of alliances for Siebel. 'Business process outsourcing firms are experiencing unprecedented growth because they are willing to align their business return in proportion to the business value their clients receive. Siebel is endorsing the power of this alignment with our new BPO offerings.'

Siebel said the Business Process Outsourcing programme offers participants flexible pricing, inventory management and support models that enhance the ability of outsourcing partners to meet client demands.

'Siebel Systems' key partners in the BPO sector are developing standardized offerings that will be centrally managed to reduce support costs, eliminate duplicate processes and increase operational control,' said Butch Winters, vice president of alliances at Siebel. 'Siebel has designed the Global BPO Alliance Program to support these efforts, ultimately enhancing partners' client satisfaction by delivering more robust solutions, improving time-to-market and reducing costs.'

According to industry watchers Meta, the market for business process outsourcing is growing as service providers fine-tune delivery methods. Michael Doane, senior vice president at Meta Group said: 'This proactive reach into the Business Process Outsourcing market may well signal greater BPO market efforts on the part of major enterprise software firms.'

Siebel said it will be teaming up with its partners to create a 'shared presence' in the Business Process Outsourcing marketplace and will 'architect industry-oriented product and services solutions'. Shared customers will gain access to 'agile approaches to conducting business', it said, while reducing the total cost of service delivery and gaining the ability 'to access required CRM technology on a utility basis'.