European CRM investments under the spotlight

New research from the analyst group, IDC, predicts 20 percent compound growth in European CRM spending, estimating that the market will be worth $15.5bn by 2006. These figures represent the entire market (planning, implementation, and operations management) and IDC expects to see strong uptake of hosting services "as many companies do not want to take the responsibility of implementing and maintaining a CRM package." The Nordic and Southern regions are expected to see the strongest growth, with certain vertical markets (transportation, travel, retail, manufacturing and communications) spearheading European growth of CRM. Introducing the report, (European CRM Services Forecast and Analysis 2001-2006) Rasika Versleijen-Pradham, senior analyst for IDC's European CRM services research, said, "The benefits of CRM investments are even more difficult to predict and capture, because many of them cannot be expressed in tangible returns alone." Identifying the incremental costs and benefits will help determine the value-add and business potential, says IDC. "Therefore, it is important that service vendors are able to develop the appropriate methodologies and tools prior to large CRM investments, and to check the viability of the ROI parameters throughout the implementation."

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