Founded in California in $1987,$ Peoplesoft claims to be one of the biggest providers of CRM software in North America. One of its key selling points is its ability to customize its CRM applications to the needs of individual customers, thus making it more than just an off the shelf solution. The company specializes in a number of market sectors including the energy industry, financial services, government departments, high technology sectors$,$ and univer$-$sties. Today PeopleSoft has grown so big that it has developed its own consultancy arm to help clients with CRM issues.ProspectSoft is a UK$-$based operation concentrating on supplying CRM software to small and medium$-$sized enterprises $($SMEs$).$ Its programs are unusual because they can be integrated with existing accounting software such as Pegasus, Sage, or Exchequer in order to provide a seamless link between the firm's customer facing and back office operations.Additionally, the systems are modular, which means that they can be built up or added to in stages, thus enabling the firm to build up its CR activities over time rather than going for a big bang 'all at once. ProspectSoft offers a wide range of different applications including B$2$B and B$2$C $($or a combination of both$),$ customer help$-$desk management systems, call$-$centre management, mobile CRM$,$ and integrated telephony systems.Epicore CRM software solutions are aimed at 'mid$-$market' companies. They too offer modularized systems and claim to serve over $20,000$ customers in $143$ countries. Like PeopleSoft, Epicore offers supporting business consultancy services and full integration with other office$-$based systems$-$ indeed, the company is a Microsoft Gold Partner in Europe $($see Opening Case in Chapter $4).$Examples of other popular CRM software suppliers in the UK include Saratoga CRM; Onyx Customer Management; Microsoft Dynamics CRM; SuperOffice; and Goldmine.Questions$1.$ Why might integration with other office software packages be significant for a company hoping to implement CRM$?2.$ What do you understand by the term 'off the shelf solution'? How practical do you think it would be for a firm to buy an 'off the shelf' CRM software package?