According to newly released data from analyst firm Gartner, CRM (customer relationship management) software will be the top priority for additional spending on enterprise applications in the global world*.

Second place is ERP (enterprise resource planning), and Office Suites coming in third.

According to the Gartner report, organizations are most interested in increasing spending on CRM software now because they are "focused on customer retention/satisfaction and attracting new customers.  Mobile and social technology requirements are also driving CRM spending, with mobile devices forcing change even faster than social networks."

This report is timely considering just a week ago, Marc Benioff hosted an exclusive event in New York, where he discussed why it is more important than ever for businesses to connect with their customers. 

His message was crystal clear: “How to Become a “Customer Company”. 

(NOTE: They are no longer longer using the tag lines “social enterprise” as they withdrew their application for trademark back in September 2012)

Salesforce’s theme of "customer companies" showcased new technologies to help its clients develop a more meaningful ongoing relationship with their customers, rather than traditional CRM software where you track ongoing sales leads and run marketing campaigns.   For example, one of their keynotes and demos included the Service Cloud coupled with social listening in a mobile world.  Imagine running your business anytime, anywhere.

While ERP is in second place globally*, ERP is ranked 1st place for IT spending in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.  This is driven by an increase in new users as well as the fact that ERP is closely associated with manufacturing, a key part of those areas’ economies.

For 2014, the IT budget is predicted to be the dame or even lower.  However, they did not specify the budgets for the CMO, because another study predicted the CMO budget wiil be larger than the CIO budget in a few years!

*Gartner surveyed 1,523 people in 13 countries, including Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the U.S. Organizations had at least 500 employees and covered a wide variety of industries, excluding government entities.