CRM growth prospects in Middle East to remain positive in 2009, says Sage Software

Eyeing the significant potential of the regional CRM market, the company held a unique roadshow under the theme 'Cost of doing nothing during turbulent times', at the Dubai Marine Beach Resort & Spa in Dubai, wherein they highlighted Sage Accpac CRM and its capacity to improve productivity and efficiency to key players from the SMB sector.

Sage Accpac CRM delivers a comprehensive, easy-to-use system, with features that no other software in the market can provide. This includes the capacity to do collection management in CRM with the invoices coming from Accpac; tight integration between ERP and CRM, thereby enabling sales people to get customer details such as order/quotation status, shipment details, stock availability, and pending invoice; and flexibility to let a sales person to create order/quote from the CRM without logging into Accpac.

In addition to its broad range of functionalities, which further includes tools to equip the sales, marketing and customer service teams to grow their businesses, the solution's low total cost of ownership makes it ideal for small and mid-sized organisations across the UAE.

Vikram Suri, Managing Director, Sage Software - Middle East, said:

"With the substantial rise in revenues of the global CRM market, which has grown by 12.5% to hit $19.5bn in 2008, we are optimistic that the same trend will continue on to the present year, and most notably so in regional economies such as the UAE where rising investments in technologies focused on customer retention, analytics and on-demand solutions are continuously being monitored."

"Our goal is to promote the usage of cost-effective CRM solutions, which do not only hold excellent advantages amidst massive budget cuts across regional industries but also in terms of streamlining organisations' processes to help them become more agile to address current challenges, deliver strong results, maximise business opportunities and minimise risk," added Suri.

By combining the benefits of ERP and CRM to support integrated front and back office business processes and workflow, Sage Accpac CRM provides comprehensive business management applications that deliver high performance, advanced functionality, cross-product integration and freedom of choice. It also integrates with 'Accpac Advantage Series' or 'Accpac Pro Series' for efficient access to customer, partner, and transactional data, thereby empowering users with enterprise-wide access to vital customer, partner, and prospect information. Furthermore, the solution can help identify, execute, and replicate effective marketing initiatives across sales channels, which can lead to long-lasting customer loyalty and generate repeat sales from best customers.

"Today, when companies are focusing on finding new customers, closing sales faster and building lasting, more profitable relationships across all channels, the integrated Sage Accpac CRM solution provides organisations the distinctive advantage of seamless, cross-functional integration between CRM and ERP. Our continued effort to generate awareness for this solution through a series of high impact roadshows, which is taking us across the region, underlines our commitment to the regional market and our confidence in the potential of Sage Accpac CRM and the rest of our solutions to drive efficiency within Middle East organisations," concluded Suri.

Listed by AMR Research as one of the top three vendors in the global enterprise applications market, with total revenue of $2.4bn, the Sage Group offers a portfolio of CRM solutions to address the specific management needs of small to medium-sized businesses. Its global success is reflected by its strong leadership in the region, especially in the UAE, where its products are currently distributed through key partners Systronics, Traid, Scan Technology, Pancyber, and Software Solution in the UAE. Sage maintains an impressive line-up of global & regional clients; among its top Dubai-based clients are FedEx, Kinko's, Better Homes, Xerox Emirates, Al Rostamani Group, and Byrne Equipment Rental.