Approaching half of the companies in the US are now using CRM applications, according to the 'CRM Application Spending Report, 2002-2004' from AMR Research.
Of the 57% that are not using customer relationship management (CRM) applications, around one-third plan to implement some kind of customer management software within the next year.
On average, companies allocate 19% of their current enterprise application budget to CRM. According to the report, today's CRM users are focused on incremental investments to improve efficiencies and cost savings - without sacrificing customer satisfaction. AMR predicts that, as companies begin to realise measurable success from such tactical investments, they will continue to build and expand their CRM initiatives.
Highlights of the report
The annual report is based on detailed interviews with Information Technology (IT) leaders from 509 companies, in 14 vertical markets. Key findings from the latest edition include:
- Half of CRM spending comes from manufacturers who are now investing in incremental projects.
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors are advocating their CRM products to their installed bases. Interest in vendors with vertical products, and software from smaller speciality players, is also becoming more popular. Meanwhile, CRM deployment is expanding into new vertical industries as well as small and midsize businesses (SMB).
- Automation, productivity, and efficiency are the primary driving forces behind CRM investments.
- Although the CRM market continues to mature, opportunities for future growth in the market still exist. Drivers for CRM spending in 2003 include scaled-down, department-specific investments, and increased spending by B2B companies (rather than B2C companies).
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