Global CRM Software Market Research Report Forecast: (2022-2027)

Market Definition

Digital transformation is the new norm globally. Organizations are now optimizing & automating the processes associated with customer management to provide unique & seamless customer experiences. Hence, the relevance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is growing manifold. Not just restricted to customer services, the CRM software is now being adopted increasingly by organizations to map sales & business development activities on a real-time basis. The data-driven insights provided by CRM software facilitate quick decision-making while helping organizations identify key opportunistic areas in terms of geographical expansion, strengthening or product portfolio, developing customized solutions for customers, etc.

Market Insights

The Global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 14.8% during the forecast period, i.e., 2022-27. The global market has observed noticeable growth during 2017-20, owing to growing efforts towards automation of marketing & sales activities and reducing the overall cost of delivering services like complaint management, customer helpdesk, and other service requests.

As a result, organizations are focused highly on adopting CRM software equipped with AI capabilities. Moreover, the introduction of flexible pricing models, such as spot pricing, volume-based, value-based, etc., are also contributing to the rapid adoption of CRM among small & medium enterprises (SMEs).

The introduction of voice-based CRM tools is gaining tremendous traction across North America & Europe. A PEW survey cited that around 45% of the US population were using voice assistants in 2021, i.e., an increase of nearly 3% over the previous year. Hence, voice assistants in CRM software are being increasingly adopted by companies in insurance, e-commerce, financial services, etc., in the US to provide enhanced customer experiences.

Moreover, the integration of immersive reality, i.e., augmented & virtual reality, into CRM solutions has also gained immense popularity across the BFSI sector in Asia-Pacific & Europe. Hence, these strategic developments are likely to boost the penetration of CRM software and drive the global market during the forecast period.

Key Trends in the Market

• Rising Use of Social CRM Solutions

Social CRMs for customer communication is the key emerging trend in the Global CRM Software Market. It lets an organization monitor and benchmark its social media communications using various tools, dashboards, and metrics. Hence, organizations leverage the social data of customers to provide them with personalized products. In addition, these tools also help organizations develop data-driven marketing campaigns, simultaneously measuring their success using social media analytics and building better relationships with customers. ITeS, BFSI, and e-commerce are the prominent sectors found to be the front runners in this area, followed by healthcare, hospitality & tourism, and education in 2022.

• According to Hootsuite, around 70% of banks & financial organizations leveraged social media CRM tools to survive the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring an improved relationship with customers during 2020-21. 
• Putnam Investments survey revealed 74% of the financial advisors used social media CRM solutions to ensure better client connect. Around 94% of these financial advisors gained new business opportunities from their clients in 2021. 

Covid-19 Impact on the Global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market

In 2020, the demand for CRM software significantly surged across BFSI, e-Commerce, & Healthcare sectors worldwide. It was primarily due to the increased consumer awareness about virtual healthcare systems and digitalization of banking & financial activities on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, in turn, boosted the Global CRM Software Market amidst the crisis. The enforcement of social distancing norms amidst the crisis led to the less physical interaction of patients with physicians, which surged the adoption of tools for remote patient monitoring. Hence, with the introduction of features like appointment scheduling, remote communication, etc., in CRM solutions, the global market witnessed significant growth opportunities across the healthcare sector amidst the pandemic.

Market Segmentation

Based on End-Users:

• Healthcare
• E-commerce & Retail
• BFSI
• IT and Telecom
• Government
• Others (Media, Energy and Utility, Transportation, etc.)

Here, in the healthcare sector, CRM solutions provide numerous services & tools that help improve & optimize communication between healthcare providers & patients. They ensure correct information & services to the patients, by automating billing, optimizing resource management, improving overall customer experience, etc. The rising shift toward online product ordering and the increasing demand for CRM software across pharmaceutical companies have positively impacted the market growth in the healthcare sector in the previous few years. As a result, the healthcare industry captured a significant market share during 2017-2020.

Furthermore, an increasing number of digital applications, including remote consultations, treatment & medication management, the provision of online information about drugs, etc., are other crucial aspects expected to contribute significantly to the overall market growth across the healthcare sector during the forecast period.

Based on Enterprise Size:

• Large Enterprises
• Small & Medium Enterprises

Of both, Large-scale enterprises held a considerable share in the Global CRM Software Market during 2017-20. It was primarily due to their higher IT expenditure than Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are anticipated to experience robust growth in the forthcoming period owing to their significant contribution to the country’s overall economy.

According to the Office of Advocacy, SMEs accounted for 44% of the US economic activities in 2020. Moreover, SMEs play a vital role in the economic growth of the EU. Hence, in order to track customer details & personalize the company’s interaction with them, SMEs are projected to increasingly integrate CRM software into their operational activities in the coming years.

Based on Application:

• Salesforce Automation
• Customer Service
• Marketing Automation
• Social Media monitoring
• Others (Lead Generation, integration, etc.)

Amongst all applications, Customer Services dominated the market in the previous few years. It owes to the growing importance among brands & organizations of understanding consumer buying behavior & preferences, which has encouraged them to adopt various strategies to deliver the best customer service performance in real-time. The software real-time analysis enhances the customer service and contacts central capabilities in handling the clients. Moreover, the growing use of digital channels among consumers to engage with brands is another crucial aspect projected to propel the overall market growth in the coming years.

In addition, CRM software helps improve customer services through the help desk ticketing system that allows internal teams to prioritize customers. Here, managers can assign accounts to team members & improve customer interaction, increase the profitability of businesses, and resolve consumer queries. Hence, the mounting demand for CRM solutions for customer services has led the leading companies to launch new products.

For instance:

• In 2021, Really Simple Systems launched a new CRM customization service to provide tailored CRM software to meet the needs of its larger customers. The service asks customers to discuss their unique and, often complex, requirements with a technical expert to design the perfect system for their team, streamlining their processes to allow business efficiency & growth.
• In the same year, Aurea Software Inc. announced its plans to integrate three new CRM products, i.e., Onyx, Saratoga, & Pivotal n its product portfolio. It would enable & enhance B2B personalized & buyer-centric experiences.

Based on Deployment

• Cloud
• On-Premise
• Hybrid

Here, the Cloud-based deployment of CRM solutions is projected to hold a considerable market share during 2022-27, owing to the rising awareness about its various benefits like low latency, fast data retrieval, minimized overall operational costs, etc. In addition, the increased demand for cloud-based CRM software by SMEs is primarily due to cost-efficiency, accessibility, & virtually no equipment costs, which, in turn, is contributing to the overall market growth.

Hence, the benefits of cloud services are enabling SMEs and large enterprises to adopt cloud-based CRM software, which has been boosting the innovation in overall product development, efforts towards greater agility in client operations, etc. For instance:

• In 2019, Infor, a leading provider of cloud applications, announced Infor CloudSuiteTM CRM, which comprises sales, customer services, marketing analytics, & reporting tools.
• In 2020, Exotel, a cloud telephony platform in Asia, announced its partnership with Syrow, a Customer as a Service (CaaS) company, to help its clients avail services of Syrow for providing excellent support 24*7 to their end customers.

Regional Landscape

Geographically, the Global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market expands across:

• North America
• South America
• Europe
• Middle East & Africa
• Asia-Pacific

Of all regions globally, Europe showed significant market growth during 2017-19, prominently due to the growing digital transformation of the business operations supported by various government initiatives & massive investments by the UK, Germany, Spain, etc., in the deployment of CRM solutions for providing better customer experiences. Furthermore, considerable investments by governments across these countries in digital transformation across industries like banking, healthcare, logistics, retail, etc., acted as a game-changer to combat the pandemic. The lockdown imposed by governments of Italy, the UK, etc., shifted customers toward online platforms to avail the services from various sectors like healthcare, banking, e-commerce, etc. Hence, this encouraged companies to boost their efforts in enhancing the customer relationship & providing efficient services to them, for which they initiated the extensive adoption of CRM solutions.

• In 2021, the Scottish government introduced its aim to provide a fund of around USD 26 million to small and medium sized enterprise to help them integrate digital technologies. This initiative is projected to positively impact the adoption of CRM software by the companies.

With the advancement in the IT sector, the adoption of new technologies such as EHR systems, telemedicine, VR systems for surgery, etc., in the healthcare industry has increased rapidly in Europe. In addition to this, the increased demand for CRM solutions across the region during 2017-20 enabled healthcare companies interact with patients & address their requirements with a customized health plan.

Across the region, the UK witnessed a modest market growth during 2017-19. The growing awareness about the implications of CRM software among SMEs has fueled the demand for CRM software in the country. In addition, the rising inclination toward cloud computing solutions among businesses has led to the burgeoning adoption of cloud-based CRM software. It was promoted further by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 since most employees have been working remotely, which surged the need for CRM solutions to maintain the data & churn out insights from it.

• According to the UK government statistics in 2018, the UK economy constitutes about 5.7 million private sector businesses, of which 99.9% were classified as SMEs and represented over 50% of the UK’s economy. Of these SMEs, 31% of companies in the UK used CRM software to understand their customers better and capture more insights into their businesses.

Moreover, various initiatives led by the UK government toward digital transformation, coupled with policies & schemes like Cloud First Economy, G-cloud, Innovation strategy, etc., to promote digital transformation, have also contributed to the market growth in the country.

For instance:

• In 2021, the UK government and Microsoft signed an MoU, “Digital Transformation Agreement 2021,” to provide public sector organizations with discounts and other benefits of Microsoft’s services. The agreement would be for three years, from May 1, 2021, to April 2024.
• In 2020, another MoU was signed between the UK government & IBM for three years to increase the accessibility of cloud technology and CRM services for the UK citizens by breaking down the barriers with the transformation of their work, the establishment of a cloud system in the country, and the adoption of digital solutions.

Market Dynamics:

Key Driver: Integration of AI into CRM Software

The burgeoning demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based CRM software is due to the rapid adoption of SaaS-based solutions and the rising number of AI-based product offerings by technology providers globally. Integrating AI into CRM solutions helps improve customer engagement, sales insights, and social networking. In the aftermath, it results in the increased adoption of point solutions, expansion in computing & analytical abilities, & the surging adoption of the SaaS delivery model. Furthermore, advancements in AI, such as Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Deep Learning, are some techniques contributing to the Global CRM Software Market growth.

In addition, AI-based CRM solutions eliminate repetitive & unproductive tasks, including data entries, and other time-consuming administrative functions, since they offer greater bandwidth for customer services & support functions. Likewise, AI-enabled chat & email bots ensure that customers get quick responses & directions. The increasing advances in AI have paved the way for technologies to analyze voice & text in real-time, which helps agents effectively serve prospective & existing clients.

Recent Developments in the Global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market

• In 2021, Salesforce launched Health Cloud 2.0, designed to empower businesses & governments to deliver better health & safety to their employees, customers, & communities. Furthermore, as part of Health Cloud 2.0, the company introduced Dreampass to help provide safer events.
• In 2021, Oracle announced the launch of Fusion Marketing, the first solution to fully automate lead generation & qualification, where the AI engine in Fusion Marketing predicts when customers are ready to talk to a salesperson & automatically generates a qualified sales opportunity in any CRM software system.
• In 2020, SAP SE launched the SAP Customer Data Platform that enables organizations to create individual but anonymized 360-degree customer profiles using data from multiple sources within & outside of a company, including online sources & social channels.

Key Questions Answered in the Market Research Report:

1. What are the overall statistics or estimates (Overview, Market Size- By Value, Forecast Numbers, Segmentation, Shares) of the Global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market?
2. What are the region-wise industry size, growth drivers, and challenges?
3. What are the key innovations, opportunities, current & future trends, and regulations in the Global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market?
4. Who are the key competitors, their key strengths & weaknesses, and how do they perform in the Global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market based on the competitive benchmarking matrix?
5. What are the key results derived from surveys conducted during the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Market study?