CRM Software Vendors Are Changing Their Focus

Agencies that monitor the CRM software market report that spending on CRM is showing an increasing trend. These agencies also seek to identify the top CRM software vendors, both in the enterprise and the SMB - small to medium business - sectors.

Little change has been reported in the list of top players in the CRM software market from last year.

According to CRM consultancy agency ISM, the top CRM software vendors for 2007 were:

Top 15 CRM Enterprise Software Vendors:

• Amdocs CRM v. 6 - Amdocs Limited
• C2 CRM v. 8.0 - Clear Technologies, Inc.
• CMS/Oncontact V, Version 5.2 - Oncontact Software Corp.
• ExSellence 5.0 - Optima Technologies, Inc.
• Firstwave CRM v. 3.1 - Firstwave Technologies, Inc.
• growBusiness Solutions v. 3.1 - Software Innovation ASA
• Infor CRM - Infor
• mySAP CRM - SAP AG
• Onyx v. 6.0 - Onyx Software Corporation
• PeopleSoft CRM - Oracle/PeopleSoft, Inc.
• Pivotal v. 5.9 - Pivotal Corporation
• Salesforce.com - Salesforce.com
• Saratoga CRM 6.5.3 - Saratoga Systems, Inc.
• Siebel 8.0 - Oracle/Siebel Systems, Inc.
• Tibco Process RM v. 9.0 - Tibco
• update 7.0 - update software AG

Top 15 CRM SMB Software Vendors:

• Ardexus MODE v. 5.5 - Ardexus, Inc.
• C2 CRM v. 8.0 - Clear Technologies, Inc.
• CMS/Oncontact V, Version 5.2 - Oncontact Software Corp.
• Goldmine v. 7.0.3 & HEAT - FrontRange Solutions, Inc.
• Maximizer Enterprise 9.5 - Maximizer Software Inc.
• Microsoft CRM 3.0 - Microsoft Corporation
• NetSuite CRM v. 11.0 & NetSuite v. 11.0 - NetSuite, Inc.
• Powertrak v. 8.02 - Axonom, Inc.
• Relavis CRM - Relavis Corporation
• RightNow CRM v. 8.0 - RightNow Technologies, Inc.
• Sage CRM 100/200 v. 6.0 - Sage Software
• Sage SalesLogix v. 7.0 - Sage Software
• Salesforce.com - Salesforce.com
• Salesplace 2006.3.2 - Interchange Solutions
• SalesPage CRM- SalesPage Technologies, LLC
• Siebel CRM OnDemand - Oracle/Siebel Systems, Inc.
• StayinFront CRM v. 9.3 - StayinFront, Inc.

CRM Software Trends

Certain trends were noticed in the CRM software market. In addition to the increasing focus on small and medium industries, other significant trends included:

• Greater use of CRM as SaaS offering, i.e., Software as a Service, under which model the software is not bought by users. Instead, the software resides on the Web and users pay a fee to use the software.
• Increasing focus on analysis, i.e., more attention is being paid to analyzing the data gathered by the CRM system. It is analysis that provides actionable information about customers.
• More mobile offerings, i.e., CRM software vendors are catering to the increasing use of mobile devices including mobile phones
• Incorporating search engine marketing and Web 2.0 into CRM offerings. Search engine marketing and Web 2.0 are generating millions of sales leads, and CRM software cannot but use their power for rendering an essential CRM service
• More attention to customer feedback technology, particularly at call centers. It is customer feedback that provides real insights into the market.

How to Select a CRM Software Vendor

The basic criterion is whether the software meets your particular industry’s unique requirements. Generic CRM software that needs a lot of adaptations to meet your requirements is likely to prove difficult to implement and use.

Second in importance will be your own IT infrastructure. If you don’t have skilled IT staff, it would be better to go for a Web based CRM software vendor who will configure the software to meet your requirements.

Other CRM Software Vendors

Oncontact CRM Software provides a customer relationship management (CRM) system for mid-market companies to track all critical business information in sales, marketing and customer service departments.