Last year, four out of every ten CRM systems sold were SaaS-based, and the trend is accelerating. A recent Gartner report "Market Share Analysis: Customer Relationship Management Software" showed worldwide CRM market experienced 12% growth in 2012.

Highlights:

• CRM market experienced 12% growth in 2012
• The CRM worldwide market grew from $16B to $18B attaining a 12.5% growth rate from 2011 to 2012.
• The highest growth regions of CRM sales between 2011 to 2012 included Greater China (26.9%) and Latin America (24.3%).

via: www.forbes.com

According to Gartner, total worldwide CRM software revenue was $18 billion in 2012, up 12.5% from $16 billion in 2011. 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.

Highlights:

• Salesforce.com passed German business software maker SAP as the lead vendor in the worldwide customer relationship management (CRM) software market in 2012
• Software as a service (SaaS) represented nearly 40% of CRM total software revenue
• The top five CRM vendors accounted for nearly 50% of CRM software revenue

via: economictimes.indiatimes.com

O2 faced one of those common business glitches that can ruin a PR pro’s week. The UK-based wireless provider experienced a widespread network crash last year that brought down mobile and broadband service for hundreds of thousands of customers.

via: www.chiefmarketer.com

Owners of small and midsize businesses talk about customer-relationship management software that has worked for them.

via: www.nytimes.com

To help you keep that expensive software investment from being a write-off, CIO.com queried dozens of CRM experts on what organizations can do to get employees to routinely enter data into and actually use CRM software. Following are their top 13 tips.

via: www.cio.com

A community, by definition, is a group bound together by common interest. In your case, it’s an interest in your brand, products and services. And as in any relationship, there are steps you need to take to make your community grow and flourish.

via: www.cmswire.com

A new report from Forrester Research suggests that many digital marketers are having trouble with customer engagement because they don’t understand the customer journey.

via: www.cmswire.com

Trust is increasingly becoming an essential quality in business. Apart from expecting great service, customers regularly look out for this differentiator when determining with which organizations they want to conduct business.

via: www.1to1media.com

The number of ultra-connected customers—people who access the Internet multiple times from various devices each day—is growing at a rapid pace, forcing marketers to work even harder in adapting to their habits and expectations, according to a new report released today from Forrester Research.

via: www.destinationcrm.com

The only source of competitive advantage is the one that can survive technology-fueled digital disruption — an obsession with understanding, delighting, connecting with, and serving customers. This means effectively managing the four key areas of customer relationship management (CRM): strategy, process, people, and technology. Reflecting on my client work during the past year - and delving in to Forrester’s most recent research - here are top twelve CRM trends to consider as you finalize plans for 2013.

via: www.customerthink.com