 "CRM software market grew 12.5% in 2012: Gartner")
“Competition among CRM software vendors really heated up in 2012, as major players continued to vie for broader market penetration internationally and more widespread adoption within midsize to large enterprises,” Joanne Correia, vice-president at Gartner, said in a release on Monday.
According to Gartner, the top five CRM vendors accounted for nearly 50% of CRM software revenue in 2012. While Salesforce.com replaced SAP as the largest vendor in the CRM market as its direct sales pushed its CRM revenue to more than $2.5 billion, the second-place SAP's growth was less than 1% in US dollar terms, largely because currency headwinds were stronger in 2012 and the Euro was weak.
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While SAP was not the worldwide leader in CRM for 2012, it was still the largest vendor in terms of revenue in Western and Eastern Europe. North America and Western Europe remained the largest regions for CRM, accounting for more than 80% of total software revenue, but all regions saw growth.
Western Europe's growth was less than 1%, due in part to the strong dollar, which made overall comparisons with prior years difficult. Overall spending in the IT market in Western Europe has been muted because of economic reasons. Areas of growth continued to be in Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and West Asia and Africa, which saw IT spending for the modernisation of countries' infrastructure (utilities, telecommunications, banking and government), Gartner said.
The research firm said the wave of consolidation activity that began flowing through the market in 2009 continued throughout 2012, with more than 50 acquisitions, resulting in increased competition at the top end of the market, with the real start of the global sales forces kicking in some sales.
“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,” Correia said.