Customer relationship management (CRM) is an approach that enables an organization to diversify its relationship with the current and future customers. Undeniably, this marketing tool has revolutionized the industry with customer-centric and innovative business solutions. At present, CRM software is as crucial as any other core business operation such as marketing or sales as it provides a 360 degree view of each customer that a business connects with. More importantly, CRM has helped businesses develop an understanding of customers' needs and behaviours in order to create stronger relationships with them. The benefits associated with CRM software are many ranging from improved decision making, effective lead generation, availability of reliable pipeline reports, and so on. Thus, over the years, adoption of CRM software among businesses has witnessed significant year-on-year growth. As reported by Gartner, worldwide customer relationship management (CRM) software totalled to $26.3B in 2015, 12.3 percent up from $23.4B in 2014. Another survey reported that the overall CRM usage increased from 56 percent to 74 percent in 2015. The growth attained by the CRM industry in the last few years has been noteworthy and as per Capterra survey, it’s predicted to be a $36 billion market by 2017. Data also indicates that one third of CRM users use Salesforce, while other software industry leaders Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP combine with Salesforce to dominate 75 percent of the CRM market.
The current edition of APAC CIOoutlook brings a list of “25 Most Promising CRM Solution Providers.” The list envisions helping businesses reach out to reliable CRM service providers, who bring along an assurance of efficient solutions and a faithful relationship. The CRM vendors listed here possess the skills, experience and technological capabilities to help businesses make the most of the available CRM technologies.
