CRM to move into social networks, research predicts

Posted by Jessie Richards

Social networking platforms are expected to play a greater role in customer relationship management (CRM) systems, IT outsourcing users have heard.

Research carried out industry analyst Gartner found that 80 per cent of businesses' use of social applications will focus on improving relationships with customers, rather than facilitating collaboration between colleagues.

In addition, the organisation claimed that marketers will have to focus their CRM strategies on the most popular social media networks, rather than attempting to cover them all.

The group predicted that Facebook will become the leading social network in all countries of the world bar 25, creating opportunities for marketing and CRM campaigns.

"It is reasonable to assume that it will attain a membership of 600 million (including inactive accounts and a small number of users with multiple accounts) by the end of 2010 based on the trajectory in 2009," commented Ed Thompson, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Last month, Gartner predicted that revenues for CRM software will experience 0.7 per cent growth during 2010, while other enterprise software applications suffer.