Worldwide customer relationship management (CRM) software totalled USD 26.3 billion in 2015, up 12.3 per cent from USD 23.4 billion in 2014, according to research firm Gartner.
CRM software helps businesses manage customer data and interaction, access business information and automate sales and marketing.
"The merger and acquisition activity that began flowing through the market in 2009 continued in 2015, with more than 30 notable acquisitions," Gartner Research Director Julian Poulter said in a report.
This has resulted in increased competition at the top end of the CRM market, he added.
"CRM growth is driven by cloud service revenue, which, in the application space, uses SaaS as the major delivery model," Poulter said.
SaaS revenue grew 27 per cent year over year, which is more than double the overall CRM market growth in 2015, the report said.
On-premises new license revenue declined 1 per cent for the same period, it added.
Overall, the top 5 CRM software vendors accounted for more than 45 per cent of the total market in 2015.
Salesforce led the market with 19.7 per cent, followed by SAP (10.2 per cent), Oracle (7.8 per cent) and Microsoft (4.3 per cent).
Adobe (3.6 per cent share) jumped into the fifth position, displacing IBM, as it continues to lead the CRM marketing segment with a focus on marketing agencies and the chief marketing officers (CMO), the report said.
Spending in North America continued in double digits as this market continued to generate the bulk of revenue (55.7 per cent) in the overall CRM market.
Emerging Asia-Pacific grew the fastest with growth of 21.9 per cent in 2015, closely followed by greater China with 18.4 percent growth.
Middle East and North Africa and mature Asia/Pacific both achieved double-digit growth at 10.7 per cent and 10.2 per cent, respectively, the report said.
