We included 11 vendors in the CRM Forrester Wave™ for midsize organizations. These 11 vendors reported a total of about 200,000 midsize customers. Compared to CRM vendors tackling the enterprise space, these vendors typically offer more streamlined – and sometimes simpler – capabilities. We saw some similar – and some strikingly different trends in this market segment. Midmarket customer demand:

  • Great user experiences that are affordable. These two factors are paramount for midsize organizations who don’t have large budgets, yet require the power of CRM. CRM must also be simple: simple to learn, simple use, simple to configure.
  • Single platform. Midsize organizations do not have the breadth and depth of IT and administrator resources that enterprise organizations have. They expect unified business and administrator tooling for their CRM. 
  • Cloud CRM. Midmarket organizations demand cloud as their primary deployment model. We expect that newer cloud solutions will replace most on-premises installations in the next five years.
  • Prescriptive advice over raw analytics. Midsize organizations manage large volumes of data. CRM users – whether in sales, marketing or customer service – all struggle to take the right next best step for the customer – for example to pinpoint optimal offers, discount levels, product bundles, and next conversation for better customer outcomes. Midsize organizations are increasingly using prepackaged analytics within CRM to prescribe advice in the flow of their work. 
  • Vertical editions. Midsize organizations demand vertical CRM editions with industry-best practices baked into them. They want industry specific templates, common process flows, data model extensions, and UI labels. Vendors are responding. In our Wave, we found that all vendors either offer a broad range of vertical solutions or have invested in deep domain expertise and a vertical go-to-market approach.
  • Packaged front- and back-office integration. Midsize organizations demand pre-integrated front- and back-office solutions from a single vendor to help with time-to-value and help manage the 360 degree view of the customer.

Have a look at the full CRM Suites For Midmarket Organizations, Q4, 2016 for more information about our research and analysis of midmarket CRM vendors.