Article By Jason Barnes, Senior CRM Consultant, Partner, Oasis Solutions Group
According to research giant Gartner, for the first time, CRM software has edged out ERP and other software suites as the top priority for IT spending. Gartner, who recently conducted a survey of 1,523 business professionals in 13 countries, says CRM tops the list for IT spending in 2014.
Currently, more organizations are interested in spending on CRM software because they are "focused on customer retention/satisfaction and attracting new customers," Gartner said. "Mobile and social technology requirements are also driving CRM spending, with mobile devices forcing change even faster than social networks." Oasis CRM Consultant, Seth Howell adds “What we often find is customers wanting way to provide their sales and service staffs real-time information on a customer or prospect anywhere and anyway they need to see it. So mobile is absolutely driving the demand for CRM which can be easily deployed in a mobile friendly cloud environment. “
The survey showed more Eastern European Asia-Pacific businesses listed ERP as their top priority. It is widely known that the CRM adoption rate in those areas of the globe has been on the rise for years. Many of the larger CRM developers such as SugarCRM have strong international business units and continue to add important features such as multi-language and mult-currency support for users in those markets.
In addition, some 60% of those businesses who were surveyed indicated they would increase spending on public cloud services and applications over the next several years. The remaining 40% indicated they would increase spending on single-tenant/private cloud hosting of CRM and ERP applications.
So if you are not already using a CRM system and are not planning to review them in 2014 you might find yourself getting left behind in a world where CRM is apparently on everyone’s minds.
Contact Oasis Solutions Group for more information on building an effective CRM strategy.
