The CRM industry will be worth an estimated $36.5 BILLION worldwide by 2017 surpassing ERP and growing significantly faster than the Business Intelligence, Supply Chain Management and the Web Conferencing industries.
Most Popular CRM Vendor
With an expected 77% growth from the release of the report to 2017, which company is positioned to benefit the most? In other words — who is the CRM industry leader?
With the most customers worldwide, Salesforce is the most-popular CRM when looking at that metric.
The pioneer* jumped on web-based CRM back in the 1990’s (okay it was 1999) when your IT department went around the company installing software onto every desktop computer.
As one of the earliest cloud companies, Salesforce established themselves as a leader. In 16 years, Salesforce has remained as a leader in the industry through acquisitions, product diversity, innovation and bold leadership from CEO and Co-Founder Marc Benioff.
As far as overall customers are concerned, Salesforce has an estimated 104,000 companies (customers) using their products. Their six-figure customer number is by far and away the most in the industry — leading the second place ACT! by more than 30%.
CRM Market Share
Which CRM product has the most market share? According to Gartner, Salesforce captured approximately 14 percent of the CRM market; surpassing SAP in 2012. That market just isn’t enterprise customer, which Salesforce is known for, but CRM for all business sizes including small business and mid-market.
What Does the Industry Think of Salesforce
So not only does Salesforce dominate the industry in terms of overall customers and market share; backed up by highly-respected research firms Gartner, but their CRM solutions are rated and reviewed favorably across the ‘net.
Salesforce is considered the best CRM on several popular and well-respected third party CRM review sites. Salesforce is G2 Crowd‘s Highest Rated CRM, SoftwareAdvice.com‘s Most Recommended CRM, Reviews.com Editor’s Choice, ranked #1 on Top Ten Reviews and consistently brings home trophies during CRM Magazine’s annual Market Awards.
The reviews speak to the quality of the product and are well-supported. Salesforce is not just the #1 rated CRM, but they have the most quantity of reviews and recommendations (when the site counts votes from users).
When it comes to the best product, many times the most popular choice is also the most recommended. With CRM, that’s no difference. With a customer diversity across small and large companies, Salesforce is the most popular and best CRM software.
*Disclosure: I work for Salesforce




