CRM, e-commerce solutions will be fastest-growing enterprise application: says Ovum

Customer-engagement systems will be the fastest-growing enterprise application between 2013 and 2018, signalling that competition for customers is hotting up, says Ovum. According to the global analyst firm’s newly-launched software forecasts, e-commerce and CRM solutions will see compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) of approximately 10% for the 2013–2018 period, followed closely (8%) by enterprise applications that support innovation, such as product lifecycle management (PLM) and innovation management platforms.

Ovum’s Enterprise Application Software Market Forecasts, illustrate businesses’ interest in strengthening customer engagement capabilities while reducing costs. This trend is corroborated by Ovum's ICT Enterprise Insights, where growth was the top priority, followed by greater customer focus, compliance, cost reduction, and innovation, across a global population of 6,698 enterprises.

“Globalization and disruptive technologies – particularly social networks, cloud computing, and mobile – have had a massive impact, raising customer, consumer, and citizen expectations and giving them greater power. This, plus a strong focus on cost reduction through IT modernization and fierce competition for customers, is leading organizations to invest in their ability to adapt quickly enough to remain relevant to consumers,” says Jeremy Cox, Principal Analyst, Customer Engagement, Ovum.

Ovum’s new forecasts show that manufacturing and healthcare verticals will be the biggest spenders by 2018, driven largely by the need to innovate. Healthcare investment will nearly double between 2012 and 2018 from US$12.2 billion to US$22.9 billion, while manufacturing investment will grow from US$14.6 billion to US$23.9 billion over the same period. By region, the rapidly-evolving economies of China, India, Brazil and the Middle-East and Africa show the highest CAGRs (between 13% and 16%). Predictably, Europe and the US show the lowest (between 7% and 8%), albeit from a much higher base.