Siebel, Vignette Answer PeopleSoft

A day after PeopleSoft unveiled its newest CRM and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance applications, rivals Siebel Systems and Vignette have announced their own product refreshes.

Siebel updated its Siebel 7 CRM product line, rolling out Siebel Communications version 7.7. The first Siebel 7 product was released in 2001. Siebel Communications 7.7 is geared for the communications service providers.

“Our goal is to provide solutions that help communications companies to deliver consistently positive customer experiences,” Dan Ford, vice president and general manager for Siebel Communications, said in a statement. “Siebel Communications 7.7 takes the world’s leading CRM platform to higher levels with increased depth of customer order management functionality, enhanced usability, and lower total cost of ownership.”

The new Siebel release is intended to help landline and wireless carriers, cable and satellite operators, and ISPs improve CRM operations.

At the beginning of the month, Siebel was shook up when its namesake, CEO and Chairman Tom Siebel, stepped down from the top job.

Meanwhile, Austin-based Vignette has announced its Vignette Compliance and Corporate Governance offering based on technologies gained though its acquisition of TOWER Technology in January. Vignette is best known for its content management software and application portal (which also received a recent makeover).

The Compliance and Corporate Governance suite is comprised of six different applications that help enterprises comply with Sarbanes-Oxley Act, SEC regulations and other data security and accessibility requirements such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“While organizations may initially take a reactive posture on compliance, Vignette customers increasingly see the opportunity to leverage compliance investments to significantly improve business processes and integrity to achieve both short-term and long-term benefits,” David Shirk, senior vice president of product strategy and worldwide marketing at Vignette, said in a statement.

SAP , perhaps PeopleSoft’s biggest competitor (and arguably industry leader), made its announcements in the CRM space more than a week ago at its Sapphire user conference. SAP announced CRM and ERP initiatives aimed at midsize companies in addition to extending partnerships with Sun and Microsoft .