Small and midsize companies will be a critical driving force in the growth of the enterprise software market in North America, according to a report released yesterday by Jupiter Media Metrix.
The Jupiter MarketAccess Report, “Enterprise Software Adoption in the SMB Market,” found that the North American market for enterprise software applications, such as customer relationship management software, and related services sold to small and midsize businesses will grow from $971 million in 2001 to $3.4 billion by 2006.
Small and midsize businesses will invest the most dollars in tools for e-commerce/Web presence and CRM. Spending on CRM software by these companies will reach $651 million and make up 19 percent of the market by 2006, up from 10 percent in 2001. As the relationships between small and midsize businesses and their customers become more complex and as the number of customer touch points increase, Jupiter analysts expect that SMBs will increasingly look to software and services to help manage these relationships.
“Despite continued economic difficulties and dot-com fallout, Jupiter data indicate that SMBs still see the Internet, and their presence in it, as an essential element of their overall strategy. There is a sizable market opportunity, to the tune of 3.4 billion dollars by 2006, for vendors selling enterprise-grade applications to SMBs,” said Marc Harrison, Jupiter senior analyst and research director.
