CRM, etc.

My company, Software Advice, is a free online resource for software buyers. We literally spend over 10 hours a day talking to software buyers on the phone, helping them sort through the thousands of systems on the market to identify a short list. After we help them decide on what systems to research, the vendors take over and our job is basically done. However, many customers that we speak with are not only looking to buy software, but also for some additional help along the way.

Within the enterprise, gamification - the process of adding gaming elements to a non-gaming activity to encourage action and participation - has gone from being a faux pas to an accepted growing trend. Currently, many software vendors are experimenting by adding gaming elements to their software. I decided to do some experimenting of my own, focusing on help desk software.

Here is the reality marketers face today: reduced budgets, fewer resources and hardened C-level execs who are unlikely to invest in any new technology. However, marketing automation has proven itself to be a powerful tool for marketers. In fact, Focus Research said that marketing automation software has seen the fastest growth of any CRM-related segment in 5 years. Clearly, this is a tool that smart marketers will be looking to add to their arsenal in 2012. There's just one problem...

How do you justify the value of MA software in the reality we mentioned above?

Check out this infographic from InsideView: http://cdn.insideview.com/images/social-media-infographic.png. It illustrates the growth of social media usage in the B2B space. Though the data is, well, dated, it’s less about the numbers and more about the overall trend.

One the reasons the world of enterprise software is so interesting is that it is continually evolving. This quote from Box.com CEO Aaron Levie communicates this point quite eloquently: “Almost everything about this category—from how software is built to who’s buying it—is undergoing massive change, and many longstanding assumptions no longer apply.”