Social networking, ROI, pricing among '09 CRM trends

Big changes are coming to the CRM (customer relationship management) application market this year, with significant financial, strategic and technical implications for customers, say analysts who track the space.

By Chris Kanaracus

PAGE 2

Martens is expecting that customers will demand more clarity on pricing from vendors, especially ones with SaaS (software as a service) products. Vendors will also experiment with unique pricing models, such as connecting the application's cost with a customer's profitability, and more companies may go with open-source products like SugarCRM in an effort to reduce costs, she predicted.

Price cuts could also be on order from the likes of NetSuite and Salesforce, but expect a number of skirmishes among rivals, rather than "an all-out pricing war," she said.

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