CRM Market Declines In 2001: Five-Year Rebound Forecast

Compiled ByFrank R. Chloupek In a reversal of its growth in the late '90s, the global customer-relationship-management (CRM) market fell in 2001, with revenues only reaching $6.75 billion, says consultancy ARC Advisory Group. The decline was estimated at about 10%. According to a recently issued forecast, this decline will flatten in 2002, with a growth rate of less than 1%, but will rebound to $7.3 billion in 2003 and grow to $10.4 billion by 2006. "The global economies and the fear of humongous CRM implementation -- costly and time-consuming -- caused the CRM market to slow in 2000 and then actually decline in 2001," says Steve Clouther, ARC CRM analyst. "The concept of modular applications, integration to other applications, demonstrable ROI, vertical industry solutions, the extended enterprise and e-collaboration, coupled with fast-track implementations, will be key elements in the recovery." CRM supports customer relations through applications in the areas of marketing automation, sales force automation, customer support automation and knowledge management. ARC Advisory Group is based in Dedham, Mass.