- Savvy firms are still investing in CRM technology
- Spending needs to be justified and ROI examined
- Priorities are shifting from long-term to short-term projects
- Technology advancements mean expectations have increased
- The five largest CRM application vendors make up almost 60% of the market
While the economic chaos of the past year or so has taken its toll on many aspects of the IT budget, one area that has managed to escape relatively unscathed is CRM. Indeed it can be argued that far from cutting back on CRM spending, the savvy organisations, those with an eye on the day after the recession, will be the ones who invest as much, if not more. They are the ones who recognise that the customer experience is one of the last remaining competitive weapons left in the arsenal.
With that in mind, research firm Gartner suggests that those companies who put off investing in CRM will delay realising the benefits until a year after the recovery kicks in. "Just because times are tough and budgets are being cut, companies should not think that means no CRM investment,” says Scott Nelson, managing vice president at Gartner.
But of course the trick is to spend more wisely. The economic realities are such that all spending needs to be cost justified and return on investment needs to be examined very closely before there's any parting with money. The days when unused Siebel licences sitting on shelves in the IT department could be regarded as an irritating fact of life are long gone – and hopefully never to return.