Use Siebel as the core, integrated it with other similar web-based software, and customize it with in-house modules that use spring.net and ajax

Use Siebel as the core, integrated it with other similar web-based software, and customize it with in-house modules that use spring.net and ajax

By doing this, users immediately have something to experiment with. Also, Siebel will determine the architecture as web-based (since it is highly interactive, even it is via ActiveX, so, it also determines Ajax), and ubiquitously using web services (because of Siebel's EAI methods).

Further (I know I repeated this a lot in my recent blogs -- I am trying to rationalize a new mode of development), after a team working with Siebel's configuration and customization, the team then can really understand what "enterprise application" mean, and will totally give up those VB6 mindsets, and accept Java mindset -- I know Siebel is in C++; but C++ and Java are close enough. In enterprise development, you strive to make all things just like Siebel: every enterprise development is to make a general configurable system; also, every application development is API development.

More specifically, Siebel will lead to the adoption of centralized security and logging, generalized validation, OR mapping, and UI regularity as easy as "let's do something to make the work like working on Siebel" -- Siebel is so good, you cannot argue against that!

Another justification of this Siebel-first approach is that we start from CRM, then, ERP -- this is a micro-relive of the e-business IT revolution. That is actually how Siebel has been growing.