CRM To Lead SMB Enterprise Software Spending

[mazzy]

Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) still view cost-cutting as their primary reason for making enterprise software purchases. But customer acquisition and retention ranks second, and for that reason they will spend more on CRM functionality than any other enterprise software area this year, according to data gathered by Aberdeen Research.

The SMBs surveyed by Aberdeen identified insufficient funding for corporate initiatives as their top-ranking challenge, followed by a lack of clearly defined corporate goals.

Smaller companies continue to undertake development of their own enterprise systems, according to Aberdeen. Companies indicated that they had developed 17 percent of their own manufacturing applications and 12 percent of their own human resources systems.

Financial Apps Lead

Nearly all companies surveyed had deployed financial enterprise software. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) products led the pack in this area, with just over 20 percent of SMBs indicating that they had installed Microsoft applications for financials.

Many companies reported that their spending on financial applications will not change this year -- 42 percent. However, nearly one-third indicated that it will increase.

CRM Close Behind

Interestingly, CRM software was the next-most-adopted product category. Still, 23 percent of respondents said that they plan to make significant investments in CRM software this year. Another 37 percent reported that they expect to see their CRM spending increase slightly.

Again, SMBs have deployed Microsoft CRM applications more than any other vendor -- 29 percent. CRM software developed in-house, though, was the third most-popular, with 10 percent of companies saying they had built their own systems.

Подробнее...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...79&sid=95573658

[mazzy]

мдя... Fighting start!
Можно сказать, что mortal combat и здесь начался.

Браузеры победили.
На фронте поисковиков бьются.
Теперь вот "официально" открывают второй фронт - SMBs...