CRM Software

Social media has become an inescapable fact of life in the past 5 years and more frequently businesses are incorporating it into their overall strategy. In a recent study Gartner (News - Alert) has determined that social media’s penetration will totally change the CRM landscape in the years immediately following 2011.

“Over the next three years, social CRM will continue its exponential rise, software as a service (SaaS (News - Alert)) will become routine, salesforce.com will reshuffle the market order, and consultants and system integrators will sell their own CRM software,” said Ed Thompson, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

The survey suggested that by 2013, spending on social software to support sales, marketing and customer service processes could exceed $1 billion globally. The $1 billion prediction for spending on social CRM compares with Gartner’s forecast of more than $12 billion for overall spending on CRM software in 2012, means that social CRM will encompass approximately 8 percent of all CRM spending in 2012, up from approximate 4 percent in 2010.

Salesforce has been at the forefront of the social CRM movement and seen tremendous success with it.  The utility to include and target individuals based on information they’ve provided voluntarily on social media sites will likely be necessary to compete in the very near future.

According to the PR, “In 2009, 24 percent of the CRM software market was delivered by SaaS, and this rose to more than 26 percent in 2010, up from virtually zero in 1999. By 2015, Gartner forecasts that 32 percent of the CRM software market will be delivered by SaaS.” If CRM software is being hosted regardless than integration with Social media will be that much easier, and will be innevitable by most standards.

Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco