A tale of three studies

Search CRM tells a tale of contrasting outlooks today, summarizing the findings found in two forecasts of the CRM software and services market. Studies undertaken by Forrester Research and AMR Research both see growth – and lots of it – but just how much is a matter of contention.

Forrester researchers state that “The market for CRM software and services will continue to grow but at a slower pace, particularly spending on new CRM licenses.” Both reports work from the same premise, figuring total CRM revenue for 2006 to be around $8.4 billion, a seven percent increase over 2005. This is where the brains separate. Forrester sees this growth rate holding, for the market to eventually reach $10.9 million by 2010. AMR Research reckons the market at that time will be worth some $18 billion.

A third study from Access Markets International in New York City calculated that businesses of 100 to 999 employees will spend over $1 billion on CRM applications this year; all three studies reportedly agree that the biggest growth in the market will come from the midmarket: Access also states that “35 percent of the midmarket is currently using CRM applications and spending will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nine percent.”

“Additionally,” reports the Search CRM article, “companies are trying to boost productivity of their customer-facing employees, according to the report. Accordingly, vendors have begun focusing on improved user interfaces, as SAP has shown, bringing its popular on-demand interface to the on-premise version of mySAP CRM. The forthcoming release of Siebel 8.0 from Oracle is also expected to have an improved user interface.”

Barney Beal’s “CRM market to grow steadily, Forrester study says” can be read in its entirety at Search CRM.