Organizations to Focus on Marketing Component of CRM Through 2005

http://www.crmmanager.net/magazine/article_508_organizations_to_focus_on_marketing_component.html

META Group announced the availability of its newest METAspectrum In Depth Report, covering the enterprise marketing portfolio management (EMM) market. This market comprises the processes involved in planning, executing, monitoring, and managing an organization's marketing efforts, and therefore is a critical component of the CRM technology ecosystem. Through 2005, META Group expects Global 2000 organizations to focus on the marketing component of CRM and to begin consolidating stovepiped marketing functions into marketing technology portfolios.

"The EMM market will continue evolving to support the customer as the CRM design point," said Elizabeth Roche, vice president with META Group's Technology Research Services and lead author of the report. "A well-constructed and channel-integrated EMM suite will reduce the risk of customer attrition. At the same time, it will increase flexibility to respond to the nascent strategy of providing segment-specific CRM treatments based on the segment's value proposition to the organization."

During the next year, organizations will seek to mitigate the lost leverage associated with the lack of visibility into customer interactions across all channels and lines of business. Organizations will be further challenged by new regulations such as the National Do Not Call Registry. By 2006, marketing application vendors will expand their footprints to incorporate marketing portfolio concepts, placing a high premium on integration with the rest of the CRM technology system.

"Organizations must rationalize the expanding importance of EMM suites within their CRM portfolios and to the extended enterprise at large, while gaining a clear understanding of market dynamics, economic impact, and an evolving vendor landscape," said Steve Bonadio, senior program director with META Group's Technology Research Services.

Key Findings and Guidance

The Enterprise Marketing Portfolio Management report evaluates 16 vendors. The EMM market is well distributed among leaders, challengers, and followers. The analysis found:

Leaders exhibit excellence in several key areas: EMM vision and core competency, mind share, business model support, feature/function, depth of marketing knowledge in professional services, technology/architecture, and viability.

Challengers are divided into three distinct clusters. The first cluster shows special strength in presence criteria. The CRM suite players in the second cluster have continued to invest in enhancing their EMM capabilities, improving their offerings, and generating positive momentum. Vendors in the third cluster have all enhanced their EMM capabilities via recent M&A activity.

Followers include vendors that may have sufficient products in one or more application domains, but do not have the needed breadth and depth across all EMM domains.

About the Report

META Group's Enterprise Marketing Portfolio Management report helps organizations reduce the risk of customer attrition. Providing comprehensive, side-by-side vendor comparisons and research, the report helps users evaluate the overall performance of IT vendors and their competitive market position as well as compare and contrast the strengths and limitations of each vendor's product offerings. The report is based on META Group's METAspectrum methodology, which provides a framework for evaluating or selecting an appropriate IT vendor or product, simplifies the decision process, and enables more effective technology investments. To learn more about META Group METAspectrum In Depth Reports or the METAspectrum methodology, call (800) 945-META [6382].

Click here for more information about the Enterprise Marketing Portfolio Management report

Published: 05/2004
Author: META Group