Service Providers Lack Companywide Definition of Superior Customer Experience
A new global study of service providers in the wireless, wireline cable and satellite markets found that although service providers are transforming their business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS) to address the obstacles they believe are preventing them from delivering a differentiated customer experience, nearly 50 percent do not have a clear definition of what the customer experience should be. In addition, the study identified the top obstacles for delivering a more personalized customer experience: the lack of an integrated view of the customer; business process inconsistency and disconnects across multiple business lines, and internal information silos.
The study, sponsored by Amdocs and conducted by the Yankee Group, an independent technology research and consulting firm, also revealed that while 70 percent of service providers believe that business processes have a direct impact on the customer experience, nearly one third (28 percent) do not have dedicated resources to manage their internal business processes or customer-focused key performance indicators to measure the customer experience.
Worldwide Customer Relationship Management Market Grew 23 Percent in 2007
Worldwide customer relationship management (CRM) software revenue totaled $8.1 billion in 2007, a 23.1 percent increase from 2006 revenue of $6.6 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. SAP was the No. 1 vendor in worldwide CRM software revenue in 2007, accounting for 25.4 percent of the market . Oracle maintained the No.2 spot with 16.3 percent of the market. SalesForce.com and Microsoft registered the highest growth rates of the top vendors with 49.8 percent and 88.6 percent growth, respectively.
SaaS continued to drive the market forward, representing more than 15 percent of total CRM software market revenue in 2007. Growth in SaaS resulted from gains by SaaS pure plays, traditional on-premises vendors offering on-demand solutions and vendors transitioning their installed base from on-premise to on-demand. Though the sales segment still represents the largest contributor to SaaS revenue, demand is increasing for marketing automation and customer service and support solutions. Vendors that offer both on-demand and on-premise solutions are acquiring new customers and shifting their customer bases and revenue models to a greater proportion of SaaS in response to market demand.
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