CRM market to grow to £3.65bn

Take-up of "software as a service" is fuelling rapid expansion in CRM sales, says Gartner

The CRM market is set for rapid growth

The market for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is expected to be worth more than $7.4bn (£3.65bn) by the end of the year.

The forecast predicts a growth of 14 per cent on the $6.5bn (£3.2bn) value recorded at the end of 2006, according to analyst firm Gartner.

The CRM market is benefiting from the growing success of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, where applications are hosted by an independent third party and accessed in real time using the internet.

The SaaS sector is expected to be worth $1bn (£493m) by the end of the year, and is forecast to grow at twice the rate of the total CRM market.