Gartner Says Customer Experience Enters Top 10 CIO Technology Priorities for 2012
Gartner Says Customer Experience Enters Top 10 CIO Technology Priorities for 2012
Analysts to Explore Customer Engagement, Mobile and Social CRM at Gartner Customer Strategies & Technologies Summit 2012, June 11-12, in London, U.K.
Egham, UK, April 24, 2012— CIOs ranked customer relationship management (CRM) as their No. 8 technology priority for 2012, according to a global survey of CIOs by Gartner, Inc.'s Executive Programs*. CRM moved up from the No. 18-ranked technology in 2011.
Additionally, Gartner’s 2012 CEO Survey** found that CEOs cited CRM as their most important area of investment to improve their business over the next five years.
“The focus on the customer is increasingly important for business leaders, despite times of continued economic uncertainty and government austerity,” said Jim Davies, research director at Gartner. “Effective leaders use technology to strengthen the customer experience regardless of the economic environment, and they see customers as the key factor in helping their business deliver growth and operational efficiency in 2012. They also understand that a new strategy is needed to embrace social and media trends.”
As competition intensifies, service providers will either have to grow their own CRM practice to incorporate cloud computing, social CRM, digital media and mobility – or they will have to form partnerships with specialist vendors. Service providers that are still focusing on traditional on-premises CRM solutions today will gradually lose out to the competition during the next one to two years.
“We recommend organizations view 2012 as a year to revisit their CRM strategy.
Gartner analysts will further discuss the development of customer experience and service, mobile and social CRM at the Gartner Customer Strategies & Technologies Summit 2012, held from June 11 to 12 in London, U.K. For further information about Summit, please visit www.gartner.com/eu/crm.Information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Gartner_inc using #GartnerCRM.
Notes to editors:
* The worldwide CIO survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2011, and included 2,335 CIOs representing more than $321 billion in CIO IT budgets and covering 37 industries in 45 countries.
**The Gartner CEO and senior business executive survey of more than 220 CEOs in user organizations from more than 25 countries was conducted in November and December of 2011. Qualified organizations were those with annual revenue of $500 million or more.
About the Gartner Customer Strategies & Technologies Summit 2012
CRM is entering a new era where the focus is much more on the relationship and less on its management. With organizations balancing growth and retention objectives organizations, they need to get smarter, think socially and be mobile-oriented. The Gartner Customer Strategies & Technologies Summit will help organizations gain a more complete understanding of the technological, social and economic trends influencing the next generation of CRM.
Gartner
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About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is a valuable partner to 60,000 clients in 11,500 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,500 associates, including 1,250 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.