0CU5. The Global CRM Market Continues its Growth Streak C R M T he Customer Relati onship Management (CRM) mar- ket continues to weather the economic storm as it has generated growth for a fifth consecutive year. The CRM market across the world generated revenue o f $9.15 billion in 2008, a 12.5 percent increase from the S8.13 billion revenue of 2007, reports Gartner, an informa- tion technology research and advisory company. The report, "Dataquest Insight: CRM Software Mar- ket Share Analysis, Worldwide 2008," reports that th e growth is lower than 2OO7's 23.1 percent explosion. However, as Sharon Mertz, Research Director, Gartner says, "Despite financial market volatility, the worldwide CRM market enjoyed it s fifth consecutive year of dou- ble-digit growth as businesses continued to invest in so- lutions across all sub-segments." Software as a Service (SaaS), analytics, and customer retention technologies continued to drive the market for- ward, with Saas representing nearly 2 0 percent of total CRM software market revenue i n 2008, up from over 15 percent in 2007. Interest in social networking and social software also escalated i n 2008 as businesses were con- fronted with the sales, marketing, and serviceability impact of increasing consumer participation in online forums. SAP continued to be the market leader accounting for 22.5 percent (although down from its 2007 share of 25.5 percent) of worldwide CRM software revenue in 2008, followed by Oracle and Salesforce.com with 16.1 an d 10.6 percent respectively. Microsoft recorded a good growth accounting for 6.4 percent, followed by Amdocs with 4.9 percent. While the CRM market remains highly concentrated in western economies, emerging markets are growing rapidly and now collectively account f o r nearly 16 percent of the worldwide market, up from approximately 13.8 percent in 2006. Gartner states that the Indian CRM market size is about 1 5 percent of the overall APAC market. Between 2008 and 2013, CRM i n India is expected to grow a t a CAGR o f 1 2 percent. In fact the research firm has predicted that Indian CRM market may reach $80.3 million in 2009. Gartner also observed that most vendors remain cau- tiously optimistic over the continued growth of the world- wide CRM market. Mertz says. "Investment in technologies, which enhance productivity, provide better visibility and insight into customer behaviors and growing online commerce. Sales and marketing activities are ex- pected to grow through 2010." But will there be a saturation point i n this growth? "However, while we expect overall CRM growth prospects to remain positive in 2009 we do anticipate them declining to mid single-digits due to continued economic uncer- tainty," says Mertz. E 3 for Education HELP EMPOWER. WORK AN HOUR. Prepare. Educate. Empower. Work An Hour is based on a simple concept. W e ask tkat you symbolically contribute to tke cause oí Ckildren s Education in India by donating an kour s wortk or more o í your salary. 15 Projects. 4 2 Students. 0 Sch ools. $200,000 Target. Take a minute, learn more about you can make a difference. http://www.WorkAnHour.org «••••I III!
