While widespread adoption of Web services is still years away, CRM vendors are starting to stand up and take notice of the technology that could fundamentally change their business.
"The biggest thing you're going to see is the days of the monolithic application are going to change in the Web services environment," said Scott Nelson, vice president and distinguished analyst with Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. "More and more, clients are interested in composite applications. It provides a truly customized and unique environment."
San Mateo, Calif.-based NetSuite was the latest vendor to jump into the Web services game with the release of its NetFlex application, a customization tool with an XML-based interface built on the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) standard. SOAP essentially allows programs built on one operating system to communicate with another program running on a different operating system.
Additionally, BEA set its sights on the CRM world in November with the launch of the Solution Framework initiative, a program to helps its customers tie together customer service applications through Web services.
