The CRM Series – CRM #5 – Primary Investors | Panamoure Consulting

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Simon Farrell

Underpinning all this is, of course, technology. Technology has played a pivotal role in the development and expansion of CRM and CRM-related services and it is for this reason that many of the long-standing tech giants are responsible for much of the merger and acquisitions for CRM and CRM-related services activity in the contemporary marketplace.

The economies of scope offered to companies in the tech market by acquiring CRM and CRM-related services is demonstrated by the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp by social media giant Meta, formerly Facebook. Although Facebook was already one of the primary sources of data related to social marketing, it understood that there was much synergistic value to be gained by acquiring other data platforms.

In the same way, other tech-related investors and companies have been shaping the M&A CRM and CRM-related services landscape for some time. Big name investors like Microsoft, IBM, Google and Cisco accounted for almost a third of merger and acquisition transactions in 2019 and 2020.

There are also big-name players from IT consultancies whose investment is down from previous years, but this is simply because of their early recognition of the value to be gained from holding such assets in increasingly data-rich marketplaces and from having secured a great deal of CRM collateral almost a decade ago.

Similarly, businesses from consumer-facing sectors also comprised around a third of CRM-related acquisitions within the same time frame. Businesses with consumer-facing operations clearly stand to benefit from the increased customer engagement and proactive customer interaction offered by CRM-related services.

Private equity investors have also shown a trend for growing interest in more established CRM-related businesses, not just because of the opportunity to improve the management and to simplify the vast quantities and complexity of consumer data in a tidy, efficient structure but also for the all-important improved customer insights and customer experience it can deliver to consumer facing investors upon exit to strategic acquirers.

There is no immediate indication to suggest the high value offered by and placed upon CRM-related services will decline. Indeed, with the ever-increasing volume of data being generated running into measurements calculated in ‘zettabytes’, the 26% increase in data that can usefully be captured each year should ensure continued development of CRMs’ offerings and of the value they are perceived to hold.

To experience the benefits and value a well-integrated CRM platform can offer your business, get in touch with Panamoure today.

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