The company says the offering will make it easy to set up and operate a global customer care system.

PARIS--Oracle Corp., a provider of software for e-business, has unveiled Support.Oracle.com, a new offering it says delivers the customer care applications of the Oracle E-Business Suite as an online service. Oracle says Support.Oracle.com is accessible via a web browser from anywhere in the world and it says this eliminates the need for companies to set up and operate regional customer care operations. Not only does this allow companies to save money, but, according to Oracle, this also helps improve customer service by making centralized customer information available to anyone who interacts with a customer. The company says Support.Oracle.com is designed to appeal to companies of all sizes who want to avoid the traditional price, maintenance and implementation barriers to enterprise customer care applications.

Oracle says the online service is based on the customer care applications of the Oracle E-Business Suite, and offers comprehensive support functionality for end-to-end customer support, from initial problem tracking through resolution. It says customer care representatives will have the ability to create and manage service requests, reviews tasks and search for resolutions to many different service inquiries, and all they'll need is a simple web browser.

"This new offering expands on Oracle's software-as-service model and adds new functionality that complements its existing online sales force automation product," said Joshua Greenbaum, principal of Enterprise Applications Consulting, Daly City, California. "Support.Oracle.com provides an important set of functions that can automate the essential tasks required for service and support. Doing so as an online service significantly increases the value-add to the customer."

Oracle says Support.Oracle.com is integrated with the previously launched Sales.Oracle.com providing support and sales personnel with a comprehensive understanding of a customer's history. It says this integration gives sales and services representatives real-time access to up-to-date customer information, enabling them to better serve their customers, thereby allowing increased customer satisfaction and promoting customer loyalty.

"With Support.Oracle.com, Oracle is enabling companies to operate a 24x7, 'follow the sun' service model," said Mark Barrenechea, senior vice president, Applications Development, Oracle Corp. "Support.Oracle.com allows companies to consolidate their support data, and makes it accessible to support agents around the world, regardless of time zone or location. This virtually eliminates the need for companies to construct and manage physical support centers, thus allowing companies to significantly reduce service-related expenses."

Oracle says Support.Oracle.com can be accessed at www.support.oracle.com and will initially be offered free of charge.