Expect Change in the CRM Industry in 2025 and Beyond

If there’s one thing that we know for sure about the CRM industry, it’s that evolution is a constant. We’ve also seen that CRM software is one of the fastest-growing and most valuable forms of technology in the business world today, regardless of geography, industry vertical, company type and size, and deployment type.

As we near the end of one year and the start of another, we can’t help but look toward the future. I can say with undying certainty that the long-term outlook for the CRM software market remains positive, with businesses continuing to recognize the importance of effective customer relationship management.

Virtually every industry analyst firm agrees. Fortune Business Insights expects the worldwide CRM market to reach a value of $262.7 billion by 2032, up from $91.4 billion in 2023 and $101.4 billion this year, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of 12.6 percent. Statista Market Insights valued the worldwide CRM software market’s revenue at $89.3 billion this year and expects it to reach $146.1 billion by 2029, growing at a compound annual rate of 10.4 percent. Precedence Research expects the CRM market to hit $248.1 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 13.5 percent. Many other firms have released similar numbers.

Almost universally, these industry pundits have credited the rising popularity of artificial intelligence, mobile, and multichannel capabilities for this growth, specifically highlighting the ongoing contributions of AI-driven chatbots, predictive analytics, and personalized recommendations.

In our next issue, we will again be presenting what dozens of industry insiders lay out as their visions for the CRM industry in 2025, highlighting the technologies and strategies that will be important as we move into the new year.

But before we do that, it is helpful to see what many of them said at the start of 2024. Surprisingly, most of their predictions came to fruition this year. Among them, they said that the generative AI hype would come to an end and the technology would move into the mainstream; that the use cases for AI in marketing, sales, and customer service would expand; that privacy and data security concerns would dominate the headlines; that virtual assistants and avatars would become standard business offerings; that cloud migration would pick up; that companies would look to consolidate their CRM tech stacks; that CRM spending would be much more targeted; and that video would have a much greater role in customer outreach, service, and support.

As we move into 2025, I have for the past few weeks been receiving dozens of emails with predictions for the coming year. I haven’t had a chance to go through them all in depth, but a cursory peek at some of them reveals an expectation that the same trends that emerged in 2024 will continue to advance in 2025. Some of the new ideas include the notion that advertising will shift fully to digital channels; that customer service operations will shift to a revenue driver; that voice will come back as the preferred channel for customer interactions; that traditional interactive voice response systems will sunset; that store-level CRM technology deployments will give way to centrally managed tech stacks; and that targeting will become much more personalized and contextual.

To be clear, none of these trends are overwhelming or out of the blue. Most of these have been in the works for years; the foundations have been in place for some time, and the time has come for the finishing touches to be applied.

And, as I said earlier on, the CRM world is no stranger to evolution. Change has been quick and extensive. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that the main CRM tool companies used was the Rolodex. Through the years, huge technological advancements impacted the CRM market as new devices and new channels came into use.

Today, the market for CRM products is nowhere close to a saturation point. New companies continue to come to market with new, highly innovative products, while more established vendors continue to broaden their road maps and grow the market.

The pace of change in the CRM industry is so rapid that keeping abreast of the latest developments can seem daunting. Whatever comes next, you can be sure that we will continue to bring it to you.

Leonard Klie is the editor of CRM magazine. He can be reached at lklie@infotoday.com.

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