The 2016 CRM Market Leaders: Enterprise CRM Suite

THE MARKET

Three major trends are shaping the large enterprise CRM suite market, according to Leslie Ament, senior vice president and chief research officer of the Hypatia Research Group. First, a greater emphasis on analytics means more intuitive and visually appealing dashboards. This has translated “not necessarily [into] an increase in insights, but definitely [into] an increase in the ability to visualize and play with data in a way that’s easily consumable,” Ament says.

Second, workflow configurations have been simplified so that employees can interact with customers more consistently and provide them with similar experiences across the board.

Third, result-oriented outcomes such as commerce and conversion are receiving a greater focus, Ament says. Salesforce.com, for instance, recently acquired Demandware for $2.8 billion, helping it catch up with IBM, SAP, and Oracle, which have also invested in this area.

And all three of these trends are driven by the desire to reduce friction in a customer’s journey.

THE LEADERS

Microsoft has been bumped from the top, but it posted the highest score for cost (4.1) and remains strongly functional. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM now provides customers with a fully integrated (converged) suite of products to enhance customer engagement via multiple touch points and to do so with enterprise-wide intelligence supported by [its] Business Analytics platform,” Ament says via email. Jim Dickie, a research fellow at CSO Insights, a division of MHI Global, lauds the company for “integrating tools that salespeople need to be effective.”

Oracle continues to offer a broad range of tools, analysts agree; the vendor posted a score of 4.3 in that category. The company’s “functional sophistication and vertical versions guarantee Oracle a spot on enterprise shortlists,” says John Ragsdale, vice president of technology research at the Technology Services Industry Association. But it’s held back a bit by its high cost and comparatively low customer satisfaction rating (3.6).

SAP, like Oracle, earned points for the range of its products’ functionality (4.1), but it also struggles with cost and customer satisfaction (a 3.3 rating in the latter). Dickie notes that for SAP, it “sometimes seems like CRM is a stepchild to ERP.” Ament says the vendor’s customer engagement and commerce solutions have “feature-rich functionality for sales, service, and marketing that are designed for omnichannel customer engagement journeys with a bias towards results-oriented outcomes such as commerce.”

SugarCRM returns to the leaderboard, thanks to high scores for cost (4.0) and functionality (3.8). According to Dickie, it’s not often seen as a large enterprise option. But Ament notes that SugarCRM has received a big boost from its partnership with IBM, adding that “SugarCRM is positioned as part of IBM PureSystems Centre offerings and as aligning with IBM ExperienceOne/Smarter Commerce, IBM Collaboration Solutions, IBM Analytics, and IBM Infrastructure.”

THE WINNER

Salesforce.com reclaims the title this year, after falling behind Microsoft in 2015. One reason: The company continues to rate highest overall in depth of functionality (4.4). According to Ragsdale, Salesforce.com has seen major improvements in customer satisfaction over the past year or two, as it continues to improve features and invest in its user interface. This could also be due to the willingness of customers to speak up: “Salesforce customers are vocal, responsive, and loyal to its brand promise and delivery on social responsibility, highly graphical user interface with intuitive dashboard, and workflow visualization and ease of use,” Ament says. “The company listens to customer demand and offers a robust set of features and functionality with various pricing options.” Dickie lauds the company’s addition of configure-price-quote (CPQ) capabilities and deeper analytics support. 

One to Watch

NetSuite loses its spot on the leaderboard this year, but not due to cost issues; the company rated an impressive 4.0 in that category, tying SugarCRM for the second highest overall. The company also scored well in functionality (3.8). Dickie calls NetSuite’s solution a “good full-company tech suite,” and points out it is moving upmarket to reach larger customers. 

---

---

Related Articles

Oracle Buys NetSuite to Bolster Cloud Operations

The $9.3 billion acquisition could herald more deals involving the industry's big players, experts say.