If the $10.9 billion marketers spent on customer management applications in 2004 didn't sate the appetites of vendors, fret not: By 2009, this market will grow to more than $15.7 billion, according to a report from AMR Research Market Analytix.
The big winner will be price-management systems. The market for these is forecast as growing from $127 million in 2004 to $802 million in 2009. Why? Because online shopping has enabled customers to become much more price sensitive.
Marketing automation systems, which fuel lead generation, marketing campaign management and similar functions, generated $436 million in 2004. This figure is expected to grow to $1.26 billion by 2009. And sales of channel-management systems, which hit $273 million in 2004, should climb to $786 million.
So what product areas aren't going see the same expansion? Those on which a lot of money has already been spent.
Customer service systems — customer support, knowledge bases and work force management — should generate $2.43 billion in 2005, and are the largest single spending area. But sales will slip to just under $2.2 billion by 2009.
When that happens, contact center investments will claim the top slot. In 2004, DMers shelled out $2.07 billion for call routing, customer queuing and interaction management. By 2009, this may reach just under $2.8 billion.
