Following the news that IBM is to absorb it's Corepoint operations back into the core IBM business, Alfred Spector, General Manager of Marketing & Strategy for Application & Integration Middleware, explained why it all happened and spelled out the new direction for the firm exclusively to IT-Analysis.Com.

Corepoint started life back in November 1998 as the CRM arm of IBM's operations. The company was headed up by three executives from Software Artistry (SA) - CEO Scott Webber, chief operating officer Michael Robbins, and Vice President Scott McCorkle - which was bought by IBM's Tivoli unit in 1997.

Following the integration of the Software Artistry products into the Tivoli product portfolio, Webber, McCorkle and Robbins approached IBM about the remaining assets. Their plan was to combine the remaining SA technologies with some of IBM's own CRM offerings to produce a well rounded CRM portfolio, they also asked for it to be independently branded - hence the birth of Corepoint.

The three SA execs, entrepreneurs of the likes typically found in energetic start-ups, pulled this collaborative venture off so well that IBM then found itself in the position of funding development and marketing exercises that overlapped with IBM's own operations. McCorkle, Robbins and Webber did their job very well indeed, says Alfred Spector. They managed to pull together some incredibly diverse product lines and managed to grow revenues substantially, he adds.

Unfortunately, as the overlaps in development and marketing became more apparent, IBM had to make the choice - continue developing as separate entities or roll Corepoint back into the fold, develop together and build on the integration and functionality of IBM's existing products. As Spector explains, IBM decided to opt for the latter.

For Corepoint to make it as an independent company we had to provide assets and resources that would have led to a considerable overlap in our operations. We decided that a far better approach would be to bring Corepoint back into IBM and develop from there. By doing this we are able to bring our entire product range together much more effectively and to deliver much tighter integration across the portfolio, says Spector.

Now, IBM faces the future with a portfolio of products that can all be developed in conjunction with its core e-business operations, of which, the firm recognises, CRM is a massive part. CRM is an exceedingly important part of e-business and by bringing Corepoint into IBM we can make sure that it becomes a core part of our e-business message, says Spector.

Corepoint is now no more. The products will continue and, as IBM is keen to stress, existing customers like Midland Bank in the UK and ABN Ambro will continue to be supported. The only change will be to the value proposition which, according to IBM, will change for the better as the integration levels across the IBM range improve.

As yet the future development of the Corepoint and IBM products is a little hazy as the company comes to terms with the regrouping. But we do know that the Corepoint brand will be gradually phased out and as Spector explains, there will be a new push towards componentised development. We will be developing component based development products for our core competencies like banking automation as well as developing middleware for best of breed solutions, some of which will be developed by IBM and some of which will be sourced through partnership deals with third party vendors, he says.

IBM is currently in talks with a host of vendors ranging from the specific CRM software companies to the ERP firms that are gradually creeping into the space. And according to Spector, we can expect some impressive announcements in the next few months as a result. Admittedly, there is speculation that this move has been provoked by intense competition from the likes of Siebel but according to Spector and other IBM sources that simply isn't true. CRM is a major initiative for IBM and Gerstner, IBM's CEO, is encouraging all of the groups, including the RS/6000 and AS/400 teams, to ramp up their efforts as the CRM bandwagon gathers steam.

In the meantime IBM will continue to work with its customers on developing the CRM solutions for the diverse customer channels. One such project that is currently underway at a leading UK bank is attempting to build a whole set of personalised customer access channels for the Internet, phone and high street branch. It is being done with technologies from Corepoint and is utilising Java and other reusable components to streamline the whole process.

The only downfall to this fresh approach to CRM is that IBM has lost some of the best people it had in this space. Webber, McCorkle and Robbins, the management team from Corepoint, have decided to go back to their roots and concentrate on smaller software operations of their own. We really wanted to hang onto those guys, but they decided they wanted to move into other areas, says Spector.