September 26, 2002

Keys to the CRM Kingdom

News Factor: SSuddenly, mid-tier companies are finding themselves the darlings of the CRM industry. With a projected 20 percent growth rate ñ- once the economy picks up, that is ñ- it is no wonder. Enterprise vendors from SAP (NYSE: SAP) to J.D. Edwards (Nasdaq: JDEC) are angling to tap these companies the moment they are ready to spend.

"The mid-market, particularly the high end of the mid-market and the low end of the large enterprise market, will be the fastest-growing for CRM apps," Gartner analyst Joe Outlaw told CRMDaily.com. "Then there's the fact that the mid-market is very large. There are some 90,000 companies that would fit into this category, and you can include divisions of large companies that have similar requirements."

All told, he said, the mid-market space is just 20 percent penetrated and primarily concentrated in a few industries, such as high-tech and financial services. (full story)

My spin:The CRM drum beat will be an increasingly deafening sound. HOWEVER, I wonder if it will become a "dot-com" bubble that bursts?

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