ERP and CRM: More mainstream for the medium-sized

A fat new report put together by AMI-Partners has the consultancy and industry news wires proclaiming that both ERP and CRM are increasingly becoming mainstream applications for medium-sized enterprises in America.

The study is entitled “AMI-Partners’ 2006-2007 U.S. Small and Medium Business Applications & Solutions Market Overview” and the sales pitch for the 124-page behemoth promises to answer questions like “What does the U.S. SMB landscape for business applications solutions look like now, and how is it evolving? What are the hottest opportunities for growth…? [W]hat do you need to do to gain market share in a highly fragmented and underserved SMB market?”

Based on AMI’s 2006-2007 U.S. Small and Medium Business end-user surveys, the report supplies in-depth information, broken down by company size and vertical industry for SMB adoption, plans, spending forecasts, drivers and inhibitors, and channels in accounting, ERP, CRM, SaaS, PC OSs, and network operating systems. The report also examines key related trends, including SMB demographics and attitudes; adoption and future plans for internet-related technologies; and IT and business process outsourcing services.

Vendors highlighted in the report include Intuit, Sage, Microsoft, SAP, Salesforce.com, NetSuite, IBM, Google, ADP, and Intacct. Some key statistics presented in the framework of the analysis include:

• Over one-third of survey respondents are currently using ERP/SCM solutions, and another one-quarter are planning to deploy such in the next 12 months.

• Almost 40 percent of medium-sized businesses use CRM solutions today, and almost one-quarter plan to adopt CRM in the next two months.

• Although almost three-quarters of SMBs use business accounting software, just 12 percent of small businesses currently use ERP/SCM software with 11 percent further expecting to do so within the next 12 months.

• 75 percent of those surveyed use an accounting/financials module that is part of an integrated suite.

• U.S. small businesses are “more likely to take a wait-and-see attitude, especially when it comes to ERP/SCM.”

In summation, AMI-Partners analyst Sau Lam says that “This data indicates that U.S. MBs have made the connection between streamlining and automating business processes, and maximizing productivity and value in the market.”

Last week, AMI-Partners released their study on the Voice over Internet Protocol market, entitled “Making the Move to Hosted VoIP or Premise-Based IP-PBX: Different Approaches to SMB VoIP Implementation."

“AMI-Partners’ 2006-2007 U.S. Small and Medium Business Applications & Solutions Market Overview” is available at the Access Markets International website.

New York City-based AMI-Partners specializes in IT, internet, telecommunications and business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market intelligence, with emphasis on global small- and medium-sized business enterprises.