European CRM Services Forecast & Analysis, 2000-2005

The customer-relationship management (CRMCRM) services market in Europe continues to undergo robust growth, despite the influences of the turbulent economic environment. IDC believes that demand for CRM services will continue, although the complexity and maturity of the market will require new forms of approaches and delivery models. The need for external service providers will grow as organizations realize the depth and complexity of integrating fully-fledged eCRM solutions at an enterprisewide and collaborative level. Alles zu CRM auf CIO.de

The European CRM Services Market

IDC defines CRM services as consulting, implementation, operations management, support and training services that help clients expand, retain, improve or leverage relationships with customers to generate more business benefits. These services include both traditional and Internet-enabled tools and devices for such CRM segments as customer interaction, sales automation, marketing automation, field service/support, customer knowledge management/customer data integration. Using heritage as a guideline, IDC groups CRM service firms into the following seven categories: management consultants, technology owners, telecom providers, system integrators, CRM outsourcing, training providers and emerging players.

Market Trends, 2000-2001

IDC believes that for the past two years CRM has largely been focused on the deployment of point (standalone) solutions. Recently, CRM solution providers have developed Web-enabled applications or Internet architected solutions. These Internet-based offerings continue to emerge, placing pressure on traditional client/server architected solutions. Increasingly, many organizations include Web-enabling CRM as part of their overall CRM engagement. Additionally, the market is witnessing the emergence of a new breed of service providers, which IDC refers to as xSPs. In the past, SMEs that have often been hindered by a lack of capital investments or staff with CRM skills have been at a disadvantage in terms of executing effective CRM strategies. This is becoming an attractive option and an area that needs to be watched closely.