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Jun 29

What’s Hot In CRM 2013: Strong Interest In Mobile For Streamlining Sales And Service

Gartner published the report What’s Hot in CRM Applications in 2013, by Ed Thompson on June 20, 2013. The report covers areas of interest by clients in the four areas of marketing, sales, customer service and e-commerce.

The report states that “the 2013 What’s Hot list was compiled after examining Gartner inquiry volumes by topic. It was then supplemented by asking all Gartner CRM analysts to offer their opinions on what has been generating the most interest during all the client inquiries they have taken since the end of 2012 and in the beginning of 2013.”

Big data, cloud, social, mobile and the Internet of Things are the five catalysts that are driving inquiries in the hottest areas of interest. Gartner’s Ed Thompson, author of the report, states that “this is where our clients’ interests lie, although not their current CRM spending.” Technologies highlighted in red are the hottest in terms of interest, shown in the following table Highest CRM Application Priorities for 2013.

What This Says About the Future of CRM

Mobility is just one part of delivering an excellent customer experience.

It is surprising that Gartner clients aren’t looking to create a more unified strategy to customer experience across all channels at all times. As the report states, “The refreshing of an aging agent desktop with a new, more intelligent and unifying user interface has shot to the top of the heat charts once more.” The findings of this Gartner analysis make the highly promoted claims of usability by many CRM vendors look overly hyped. I think usability is the fastest path to greater system adoption of any CRM system, and that has to include mobile. It is surprising that a related technology in this area didn’t rise farther in the rankings.
Second, mobile sales on smartphones and tablets dominate, followed immediately by Social – Internal Collaboration and Social – Integration with Social Data. What is fascinating about this group of four top items in Sales is the indication that the behavior of how sales teams work individually and together is changing fast. Collaboration is a strong catalyst for Return on Investment (ROI) from social technologies and the sequence of these priorities in Sales underscores that.
Third, the vision of the mobile-enabled support representative able to be autonomous yet fully supported to solve customer problems is rapidly approaching. Of all patterns emerging from this data, this is one shows the greatest profit potential. Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) and the many forms of service management all have very significant profitability associated with them for manufacturers. The quicker this area of mobility moves, the faster SLM and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) strategies will grow – giving manufacturers and service providers the ability to mine their installed bases for more profits.
Fourth, predictive analytics and big data are reordering how marketing strategies are designed, implemented and managed. Given the increasing complexity of marketing automation systems and the strategies they support, predictive analytics and big data are starting to dominate the conversations I’ve personally had with Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and many demand generation professionals. I expect the predictive analytics aspects of marketing, combined with big data, to accelerate quickly over the next year.
Fifth, the rapid adoption of mobile-based platforms including the Apple iPad in the Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) continues throughout the professional services, discrete and process manufacturing companies I often visit. One manufacturer I often work with on their CPQ strategies has the ability today to present a completed 3D model of the proposed product, embed it in a quote and e-mail it to the prospect all from an iPad. The future of CPQ is going to be dominated by mobility and enterprise support for key order management, pricing and product configuration options.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Jun 20

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North Bridge Venture Partners Future Of Cloud Computing Survey: SaaS Still The Dominant Cloud Platform

North Bridge Venture Partners and GigaOM Research released the results of their third annual Future Of Cloud Computing Survey today, providing a glimpse into cloud computing adoption trends, inhibitors and drivers of long-term growth.

This year’s survey included 855 respondents selected across business users, IT decision makers and cloud platform and application vendors. North Bridge and GigaOM Research report that a third of respondents are C-level executives in their organizations.

You can view a copy of the report results here from SlideShare.

The following are key take-aways from the report:

Cloud adoption continued to rise in 2013, with 75% of those surveyed reporting the use of some sort of cloud platform – up from 67% last year. That growth is consistent with forecasts from GigaOM Research, which expects the total worldwide addressable market for cloud computing to reach $158.8B by 2014, an increase of 126.5% from 2011. The survey also shows significant growth is yet to come in SaaS adoption for business systems and IT management.

63% of those surveyed report Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is in use in their companies, growing 15% over 2012. 45% are using Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) today, attaining a growth of 29% from last year. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is expected to grow the fastest over the next five years, with 72% of respondents saying they expect to use PaaS in their organizations.

The survey results also included cloud segments and overall growth analysis forecasts from 451 Research Market Monitor Report. The graphic showing CAGRs by IaaS, PaaS and SaaS is shown below, with comparisons of 2012 results and 2016 market forecasts.

52% of organizations are using cloud-based applications to advance business priorities, compared with 36% that use applications that advance IT initiatives.

CRM, marketing (including marketing automation) social business & collaboration and file sharing cloud-based applications are in use by more than 50% of all organizations in the sample.

North Bridge Venture Partners reports that cloud investments by venture capitalists totaled $1.6B in 2010, increasing to $2.4B in 2011. Investments in 2012 dropped to $1.8B and through May, 2013, venture-based investments in cloud computing application and services providers totaled $281M. Subscription fee-based business models dominate with 77% of cloud vendors relying on this strategy.
Gaining greater business agility (54.5%), scalability (54.3%) and cost (48%) are the three main drivers of cloud adoption today according to the survey results. Mobility was mentioned by 25% of respondents as a major driver for adopting cloud applications and platforms, behind cost.

Security concerns (46%), vendor lock-in (35%), interoperability (27%), concerns over reliability (22.3%) and complexity (21%) are the top inhibitors to cloud adoption. Regulatory compliance (30%) and privacy (26%) are he next most frequently mentioned inhibitors to cloud computing adoption according to the survey.

39% expect to increase training, and 17% expect to hire outside resources as a result of increased cloud adoption.

Amazon (14.3%), Microsoft (10.96%) and Google (7.88%) are the three most used cloud platforms by the organizations who responded to the survey.

Jun 18

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Gartner Predicts CRM Will Be A $36B Market By 2017

The latest enterprise software forecast from Gartner shows Customer Relationship Management (CRM) increasing to a $36.5B worldwide market by 2017, a significant increase from the $20.6B forecasted in Q1 of this year. CRM also leads all enterprise software categories in projected growth, showing a 15.1% CAGR from 2012 to 2017, also revised up from 9.7% in the Q1 forecast.

The latest round of forecasts published in the report, Gartner Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2012-2017, 2Q13 Update shows CRM eclipsing ERP in worldwide market size in 2017. The following graph compares the relative growth of CRM, ERP, Business Intelligence (BI), Supply Chain Management and Web Conferencing, Collaboration/Social Software Suites. Source: Gartner Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2012-2017, 2Q13 Update. Please click on the image to increase its size for easier reading.

Key Take-Aways

Comparing Gartner’s Q1 and Q2 CRM forecasts shows just how fast CRM growth is accelerating, netting a 56% increase in CAGR in the forecast period (2012 – 2017) from 9.7% in the Q1 forecast to 15.1% in the latest Q2 forecast. Sources: Gartner Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2012-2017, 2Q13 Update and Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2012-2017, 1Q13 Update. Please click on the image to increase its size for easier reading.

Worldwide enterprise software spending is projected to be $304B in 2013 in the latest forecast, up from $279B in the Q1 forecast. Gartner claims stronger demand for CRM, supply chain management and security are leading to accelerating market growth.
ERP spending worldwide is projected to grow from $26.03B in 2013 to $34.3B in 2017, attaining a CAGR in the forecast period 2012 – 2017 of 7%.
Business Intelligence (BI) worldwide is projected to grow from $14B in 2013 to $18.6B in 2017, attaining a CAGR in the forecast period 2012 – 2017 of 7.3%.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) worldwide is projected to grow from $9.16B in 2013 to $13.6B in 2017, attaining a CAGR in the forecast period 2012 – 2017 of 10.4%.
Data Integration Tools and Data Quality Tools worldwide are projected to grow from $4B in 2013 to $6B in 2017, attaining a CAGR in the forecast period 2012 – 2017 of 10.3%.

Bottom Line: Gartner’s latest forecasts show that enterprises are realizing the most valuable assets they have are solid, long-term customer relationships. Trust really is the new currency, as my friend Michael Krigsman often says.

Jun 9

Roundup Of Mobile Apps & App Store Forecasts, 2013

Faced with shorter time-to-market schedules, challenging cost constraints, and ever-increasing customer expectations, manufacturers are accelerating their use of mobility applications. They’re also using them to galvanize production, finance and selling strategies into a unified direction so customers’ expectations can better set and exceeded.

One manufacturer’s CIO summed it up well when he said they hit an inflexion point when their marketing analytics showed over 60% of dealers were looking up product and pricing data on their smartphones and tablets instead of their laptops, a 4X increase in just five months.

The following is a roundup of mobile apps and app store forecasts reflects the urgency all enterprises, including manufacturers, have to get results from their mobility strategies:

Email and calendaring (46%), Instant Messaging (IM) (37%), and office & personal productivity (26%) are the three most popular uses of mobile applications today according to a recent Gartner survey. CRM, at 19%, and ERP, at 17%, have been predicted to grow the fastest of all enterprise applications on the mobile over the next three years. The following is a table showing mobile application usage by software segment. Source: Gartner User Survey Analysis: CRM, Cloud and Mobile Dominate Application Software Spending Trends Published: 6 March 2013.

Mobility solutions (SMS, Mobile apps, Mobile Web) are the most used and planned for self-service channel (29.3%) according to a recent Gartner survey. This is followed by Web Chat (25%); Social CRM (25%); Virtual Assistants (23.6%); Collaborative Browsing (21.4%); Video Services and Video Chat (18.6%); Web-Based Self-Service Supported by Knowledge Engine (15.7%); IVR Self-Service (10.7%) and e-mail response management (9.3%). For the fully survey results please see Gartner Market Trends: Customer Management BPO Matures With BPaaS and Multichannel, Analytics, Marketing and Mobility Services Published: 8 April 2013.

84% of smartphone shoppers use their phones while in a physical store and 30% use their smartphones to find information instead of asking store employees. according to a study released this month from Google. The study, How Mobile Is Transforming the Shopping Experience in Stores, can be downloaded here. The study also found that 65% prefer mobile sites and search, and 35% prefer apps, not surprising for a study sponsored by Google. There are several interesting findings in the report, including the finding the in-store price comparisons are the most common mobile activity across the eight categories included in the study.

Google’s Android operating system is dominating mobile operating systems shipments according to both Gartner and IDC and will continue to lead the market through 2016. The following graphic shows Gartner’s analysis of 57.9% of all mobile devices globally running the Android operating system in 2012. Source: Gartner: Bring your Own Device (BYOD): Mobility Trends and Securing the Transition. Lawrence Pingree, Research Director. Also see my previous post, 2013 Roundup of Smartphone and Tablet Forecasts & Market Estimates.

IDC’s prediction of how mobility will drive intelligent systems adoption, in addition to device management research on smartphone and tablet adoption is covered in the presentation, The Mobility Game Changer; Why The Workplace Will Never Be The Same. The following graphic shows IDC”s forecast of mobile-based intelligent device shipments by market and industry.

The value of mobile payment transactions will reach $721B in 2017, attaining a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 35% for the period 2012 to 2017. The volume of transactions will be $23.2B, attaining a 33% CAGR in the same forecast period. Source: Gartner Forecast: Mobile Payment, Worldwide, 2013 Update Published: 15 May 2013.

The value of Mobile Payment Transactions on Mobile Web platforms globally is forecast to increase from $86.1B in 2013 to $320B in 2017 attaining a projected 38.8% CAGR. Source: Gartner Forecast: Mobile Payment, Worldwide, 2013 Update Published: 15 May 2013.

Global mobile payment transaction value is projected to grow from $235B in 2013 to $721.3B in 2017, attaining a projected 32.4% CAGR. Source: Gartner Forecast: Mobile Payment, Worldwide, 2013 Update Published: 15 May 2013.

The fastest growing types of mobile payment transactions globally as measured by projected CAGR from 2012 to 2017 include ticketing (51%); airtime top-ups (40%); merchandise purchases (38%); bill payments (35%); and money transfers (33%). Source: Gartner Forecast: Mobile Payment, Worldwide, 2013 Update Published: 15 May 2013.

Mobile App Store Forecasts

Gartner predicts that by 2016, there will be 310B downloads with an estimated value of $74B in revenue from app stores. Gartner has also predicted that by 2017, 25% of all enterprises will have an app store. This includes both new application purchases and recurring revenues form subscription pricing models. Source: Gartner Market Trends: Mobile App Stores, Worldwide, 2012.

90% of global mobile app store downloads in 2013 are forecast to be free, increasing to 93% in 2017. 73.2B free downloads will occur in 2013, increasing to 287.9B by 2017. Paid-for downloads will increase from 8.1B in 2013 to 21.6B in 2017. Source: Gartner Market Trends: Mobile App Stores, Worldwide, 2012.

In-app purchase will drive 41% of the store revenue in 2016. While the market is moving toward free and low-priced apps, in-app purchase will increase in both the number of downloads and in the contribution to the store revenue. As a result, we see a shift in user spending from upfront purchases to in-app purchases. Source: Gartner Report Market Trends: Mobile App Stores, Worldwide, 2012.

99% of the paid-for app store downloads cost less than $3 each. Similar to free apps, lower-priced apps will drive the majority of the downloads. We estimate that apps between $0.99 and $2.99 will account for 87.5% of the paid-for downloads in 2012, up from 86.8% in 2011. That percentage will further increase to 96% by 2016. Source: Gartner Report Market Trends: Mobile App Stores, Worldwide, 2012.

Global mobile app store revenue is projected to reach $24.5B in 2013, increasing to $74B in 2017. Paid-in downloads (69%); in-app purchase (17.3%) and advertising (13.7%) are the three revenue sources in 2013. In 2017, revenue shifts significantly to paid-for downloads contributing 45.2% of revenue, in-app purchases, 40.9% and advertising, 13.9%. Source: Gartner Report Market Trends: Mobile App Stores, Worldwide, 2012.