Leaders of the CRM Pack

Welcome to CRM magazine's special Market Leaders issue. The editorial staff dove deep into the corners of the CRM market to compile lists of the leading CRM vendors, the best and most innovative uses of CRM technology, and the 20 most influential executives leading the CRM industry. First, the people. CRM's editorial staff spanned the globe considering vendor executives, financial analysts, consultants, research analysts, and industry association executives, then narrowed the list to those we believe are the 20 most important people driving the CRM market today. When they speak, customers, analysts, vendors and, yes, even shareholders listen. They are the A list of who's who in CRM. They have the power to make or break companies or markets and are all respected, or feared, by their peers. You may not like all of them, but you cannot deny the impact any single one of them has. Now let's get into specific companies and their markets. For clarity purposes we divided the CRM market into two classes: true global enterprise vendors and midsize enterprise vendors. We looked solely at CRM-related revenue for this ranking. There are some surprises, such as SAP's rapid market-share gain to the number-two spot. It is no wonder PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway thinks of SAP as his closest rival. In addition to ranking the leading CRM vendors in terms of sales, we also selected a company to watch within each market. These are up-and-comers making waves with either new product releases, a new market approach, or significant customer wins. Chordiant, for instance, is one company analysts keep pointing to as making the right moves and gaining mind- and market share. Then we split the market further and addressed some of the specialty CRM players. We ranked the leaders in business analytics, partner relationship management (PRM), and call center software. Although overall some of the leading CRM vendors play big in the call center and PRM spaces, there are smaller companies making headway, showing there is plenty of opportunity for specialty players. Finally, CRM magazine chose to highlight five innovative uses of CRM technology. This was not easy and, admittedly, somewhat subjective on our part. These are by no means the largest per-seat CRM rollouts or the biggest CRM contracts, but rather what we determined to be the best uses of CRM our staff came across. I am sure there are others and we welcome you sharing your stories with us. So here you have it, CRM magazine's first Market Leaders report. We are anxiously awaiting your feedback. And if you feel you or your company was neglected this time, you now have a year to convince us for next year's rankings. Happy reading.