The market for customer relationship management software (CRM) is booming on the back of continued development and flexible deployment models such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), according to research firm Gartner.

Worldwide CRM revenue is expected to top $8.9 billion this year, a 14% increase on last year’s figure, and is forecast to reach $13.3 billion by 2012.

“The composition of the worldwide CRM market is evolving as vendors continue to extend regionally, increase penetration within existing accounts and gain new clients, offer flexible deployment models, and continue to develop the channel,” said Gartner research director Sharon Mertz.

The SaaS delivery model will pay a key role in the healthy growth enjoyed by the industry, she said. “We expect SaaS to continue to gain popularity as an increasingly critical element of buying sourcing strategies and will continue to drive growth through 2012.”

Spending on CRM software will double in the Asia Pacific region over the next four years, predicts Gartner, while specific industries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East will also show growth.

But despite developing economies contributing greater revenues to CRM developers over the next few years, Gartner expects most vendors will continue to concentrate on tried-and-proven Western economies.

The largest market for CRM remains the US, which currently accounts for half of all CRM revenue and will contribute three quarters by 2012.

Further reading:

Salesforce.com on track to break $1 billion barrier Plus, the fortunes of HP and Dell continue to diverge

Cultivating CRM The customer relationship management market is the testbed for new application paradigms

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