CRM in 2009: Personal, Social, Mobile, Adaptable 

By John K. Higgins
CRM Buyer 

Making sure that every customer gets the personal touch may be fairly easy for the owner of a neighborhood bakery, but in a mass market of millions, making each customer feel like an individual is a formidable challenge. In the information age, tools like customer relationship management software make it possible for companies to apply a personal touch to the mass market -- and that's golden.

The drive to personalize mass marketing has spawned a big business, and it's getting bigger. Companies spent US$9.15 billion on CRM software and services in 2008, a 12.5 percent increase from 2007, Gartner (NYSE: IT) reported in July.

An even more favorable estimate of the global CRM market came from Forrester Research, which pegged it at $11.7 billion in 2008.

While CRM's rate of growth may cool during 2009, experts foresee the market expanding by more than 5 percent annually for the next few years. Click here to read more about 2009 CRM trends to include social media