Siebel CRM vs Zendesk comparison

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Siebel CRM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Siebel CRM and Zendesk are competitors in the CRM space. Zendesk often leads due to its modern features and cost-value perception, while Siebel CRM has strong support and pricing feedback.

Features: Siebel CRM is renowned for its customization capabilities and enterprise system integration, ideal for large deployments. It offers workflows and a comprehensive data model, which enhances customer engagement through detailed customization. Zendesk provides a user-friendly interface with a flexible ticketing system, analytics, and seamless integration with other apps, like JIRA, enhancing its customer support tools.

Room for Improvement: Siebel CRM could improve its user interface flexibility and offer a clearer setup process for smaller businesses. Its high resource demand could also be a barrier for some users. Zendesk could enhance its reporting functions for deeper insights and provide more robust offline options for geographically dispersed teams. Its customization options could also be expanded further to suit larger enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Siebel CRM's deployment is complex, requiring substantial resources but benefits from robust enterprise support. Meanwhile, Zendesk offers a streamlined setup with an intuitive interface, promoting faster onboarding and efficient customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Siebel CRM entails a significant initial cost, offering high ROI for large enterprises due to its integration potential. Zendesk's flexible pricing is appealing for quicker ROI, providing immediate customer service benefits, making it cost-effective for varied business sizes.

To learn more, read our detailed Siebel CRM vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: April 2025).

Siebel CRM vs. Zendesk

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Helped 850,028 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Siebel CRM

Ranking in CRM

8th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Local Government CRM (3rd)

Zendesk

Ranking in CRM

20th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (7th), Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (7th), Sales Force Automation (7th), Reporting (13th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), Community Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Siebel CRM is 6.3%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 1.4%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM

Featured Reviews

KalpanaSingh

Senior Manager at Credit Suisse

Customizable and flexible but user experience needs enhancement

Siebel is not user-friendly. There are so many tabs and different features that until it's explained to someone, they will not understand it. A user-friendly tool is supposed to be designed in a way where the user can log in and intuitively understand how to use it. People who use it regularly are still confused, and it requires a lot of clicks and is very difficult to navigate. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to reflect the correct information—even when it's updated, you have to refresh it again and again to see the right data.

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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication

Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo ( /products/klaviyo-reviews ), enhancing our workflows.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Siebel CRM is the number one CRM product in the world."

"One valuable feature is that certain views can be adjusted as per our requirements, which adds a level of customization that is appreciated."

"Siebel CRM has enhanced customer engagement for our organization, particularly through its robust data model and flexible features. One specific scenario where Siebel CRM excelled was in addressing complex client requirements. For instance, we successfully implemented a module for email responses, a feature that was not readily available or as robust as other CRM tools. Additionally, Siebel's open UI module allowed us to customize the user interface for one of our clients completely. This customization proved to be a major selling point for our company."

"It is quite robust and flexible. You can develop almost anything you want. You go into the tools, and you can do anything you want."

"Siebel CRM has a strong database model, workflow and integration tools."

"Siebel CRM is used for distributing information between systems, trouble ticketing, and case management."

"The flexibility is very good."

"Due to the many features that are built in from a CRM perspective, it is the best product we have."

More Siebel CRM pros

"The most valuable feature is the trackability of incoming requests. The system keeps a comprehensive history of work requests, making it a useful tool for our internal processes."

"It's very convenient to use."

"One of the most valuable features is the ease of use. If you take the standalone product, it is so easy to use, but if you want a tailor-made Zendesk Guide, you can't do it yourself. However, you can use a template that already exists—they have a lot, and they're very cheap, around 300-400 euros—and use it on all your brands. It's a very easy product to use."

"We rarely had issues with Zendesk."

"I love how the tickets would auto-populate very quickly in Zendesk, especially when a call comes in."

"The feature to move over my customer experience team tickets for different specialists is very valuable for my team."

"Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls."

"The stability has been very good."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"The problem with Siebel is that everything is customizable in it. It's probably over-engineered, which makes it difficult to use, and it makes it difficult for the users to get started with the system."

"Siebel is pricey compared to other CRM tools. That's the problem. Although it's a highly stable and functionally rich application, customers are not willing to pay that price for it. Customers can find CRM software that gives them similar functionality at a lower price. There are so many others on the market like Salesforce."

"Siebel CRM can improve as an ERP and for a few corporate business workloads."

"Siebel is not user-friendly."

"I want Oracle to improve the tool’s UI with a vanilla application. I would also like to see an insurance broking vertical in their future releases. There are thousands of brokers who look for an insurance broking solution."

"Currently, Siebel CRM is not helping the agent provide faster feedback to the customer."

"The user interface, mobile application, and support could be improved."

"The backend performance of Siebel could be improved as it is often slow. In addition, the Open UI is not that responsive."

More Siebel CRM cons

"It needs to improve in terms of its flexibility, price, and installation."

"The support team is time-consuming, and they don't find the answer to our problem."

"There is always a network issue with Zendesk. But we don’t know whether it is managed. The network issue is that when I call, it does not let us."

"There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier."

"You couldn't give administrative access to new hires."

"The price of the solution should be reduced."

"One of the drawbacks of Zendesk is that it doesn't provide a secure way for us to send data. So, we usually use a secure SharePoint folder link. We put that in the Zendesk ticket so that the requester has a secure way of getting to their data."

"Zendesk Guide could be improved by allowing us to put our assets in one location. What happens now for each article, for example, is we have to upload the images for that article to that location, so the image reuse is still not something that they have perfected. If they could allow us to update all the images in one location, and then pull the image from there, it would be easier when working on Multibrand projects. There are no Multibrand updates available—we have to update each brand manually. For my company, I have come up with an API tool which allows me to push the content to multiple brands together, but if you don't have something like that, you have to manually do it."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Siebel CRM depends on the usage of the business requirement. For large enterprises the price it's very good but if you are using it for medium scale enterprises, the price is very expensive."

"I think the tool’s pricing is exaggerated. Once you do the price sizing as per your business needs, you would find that the price of other solutions like Zoho CRM, HubSpot CRM, Salesforce CRM, etc. would be always the same."

"The product is expensive."

"Its licensing is yearly."

"This solution is expensive compared to other solutions in the market. This makes it difficult to convince our customers to use it. The customers who are already using Siebel have thought about moving to Velocity or Salesforce."

"There are different plans that are offered. We are using the entry-level plan. The overall price of the solution should be reduced. The price is too high."

"Zendesk's licensing is not cheap. For Enterprise, we are paying $200 per agent. It's a per-month cost, so it's pretty steep. There are some services you need to pay extra for. For example, with Zendesk Guide, we had to buy the most expensive offering in order to get Multibrand and everything. We also had to pay a lot of money for themes."

"The price is very competitive."

"From what I hear, Zendesk's pricing is a little expensive."

"You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well."

"We pay for the solution on a yearly basis and my understanding is that the cost is about $30,000. That's the cost for 24 to 25 agents."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

24%

Educational Organization

11%

Financial Services Firm

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Siebel Sales?

Siebel CRM has enhanced customer engagement for our organization, particularly through its robust data model and flexible features. One specific scenario where Siebel CRM excelled was in addressing...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Siebel Sales?

I do not have any information on pricing, setup cost, or licensing.

What needs improvement with Siebel Sales?

What do you like most about Zendesk Support?

I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?

Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier ( /products/zapier-reviews ). However, easier integration could enhance the usability. Multilingual ...

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Product Reports

Siebel CRM

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Download Zendesk product report

Also Known As

Siebel Sales

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

Siebel CRM is a comprehensive customer relationship management solution that helps businesses streamline their sales, marketing, and service processes. With its robust features and user-friendly interface, Siebel CRM enables organizations to effectively manage customer interactions and enhance customer satisfaction. The solution offers a wide range of modules, including sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service management, allowing businesses to automate and optimize their customer-facing activities.

Siebel CRM also provides advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, enabling businesses to gain valuable insights into their customer data and make informed decisions. With its flexible deployment options, including on-premises and cloud-based solutions, Siebel CRM can be tailored to meet the unique needs of any organization.

Oracle

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

Sample Customers

Hover Automotive India Pvt. Ltd., Lawn Tennis Association, Tªrk Telekom, Bouygues Telecom, City of Atlanta, IGEPA IT-SERVICE GmbH, ec4u expert consulting AG, Salud Responde, Sascar, Banca Transilvania, UL, Ingersoll Rand, The Royal Dutch Touring Club ANWB

Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber

Siebel CRM vs. Zendesk