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CRM providers gain by investing in usability and functionality

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Soma Tah
New Update

BOSTON, USA: In its H1 2014 Technology Value Matrix for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Nucleus Research finds those providers investing heavily in usability and functionality are breaking out a sizeable lead over the competition. Quadrant leaders maintaining and improving their positions are simplifying user interfaces to drive greater productivity, as CRM becomes a more critical enterprise application.

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"While the accelerated cadence of releases from most cloud CRM vendors and continued acquisitions in this space have driven some significant shifts in positioning since the last CRM Value Matrix, the real stand out this half is usability. Providers focusing on real usability improvements and following the dark cockpit principles of simplify, focus, and automate are starting to widen the gap, challenging others to play catch up," said Rebecca Wettemann, vice president at Nucleus Research.

Vendors are also investing in functionality, both organically and by acquisition. Nucleus expects this will continue to enable those with resources to leapfrog competitors by bringing "edge" CRM capabilities such as territory management, configure-price-quote, and performance management into their core product offerings.

As CRM grows in importance as an enterprise application of record, CRM upgrade or switching decisions at organizations of all sizes are becoming more important, with customers taking more time to perform due diligence. They are evaluating not just product roadmaps but the overall commitment and ability of vendors to be a trusted partner to help them maximize value from CRM over time.