CRM revenues soar to $18bn

Those who claimed CRM was just a fad – much like recent “big data” predictions – must have been gazing into the wrong balls, with the latest figures revealing double-digit growth and global revenues of $18bn (£12bn).
According to a new Gartner report, CRM revenue grew 12.5% last year, a rate three times that of all enterprise software segments on average, as companies strive to acquire more business and serve existing customers better.
Salesforce.com overtook SAP as the largest single CRM vendor in Gartner’s survey, with Oracle, Microsoft and IBM following hot on their heels. SAP remained the top CRM vendor in Europe, however.
The CRM market has been boosted by a wave of acquisitions, particularly in the area of marketing software, with Oracle buying Eloqua, Salesforce purchasing Buddy Media and IBM snapping up both Unica and Coremetrics.
In all, there were more than 50 acquisitions within the CRM market between 2009 and 2012, according to Gartner.
“With corporate cash at all-time highs, many vendors are willing to pay high premiums to acquire specific technologies and expertise in an increasingly dynamic and competitive CRM market environment,” the report states.
The top ten CRM vendors by revenue now hold more than 60 % of the market.
While Salesforce.com has taken the top spot among CRM vendors, rivals are gaining ground. The report adds: “Oracle and IBM are now positioned to take some of the cloud business in the future, especially in the global large-enterprise arena. Microsoft has also started to put pressure in the small or mid-size business for cloud, in which Salesforce.com has not yet had a formidable competitor with deep pockets.”