Gartner predicts that mobile customer relationship management (CRM) apps available for download on app stores will surge to more than 1,200 by 2014 from just 200 in 2012.

According to Gartner, over 50% of total CRM software revenue for certain types of applications will be delivered as software as a service (SaaS) by 2016.

From a vendor perspective, salesforce.com surpassed SAP to become the No. 1 CRM vendor by revenue in 2012. Salesforce.com reached $2.5 billion CRM revenue in 2012, a 26 per cent increase from 2011, while SAP grew 0.1 per cent year-on-year and totaled $2.3 billion in CRM revenue.

Gartner vice president and analyst Ed Thompson said that CRM continues to be high on CIOs’ agendas. "As salesforce.com has achieved this milestone it will gain more support from Tier 1 system integrators (such as Accenture, IBM, Deloitte and Capgemini), which already conduct 16 percent of their CRM project work with salesforce.com," Thompson said.

"Additionally, salesforce.com will attract more interest from buyers in the many geographies where it does not hold the No. 1 spot."

Citing a CIO survey of over 2,000 people, Gartner said that customer experience management is emerging as a business discipline for marketing, sales and customer service leaders.

The research firm predicts that by 2014, the number of mobile CRM apps available for download from app stores will have grown by 500% and during 2016, over 50% of total CRM software revenue will be delivered as SaaS.

Gartner said that to develop a successful mobile CRM apps, IT leaders need to consider four areas, which include demand, supply, control and risks.

Gartner research director Johan Jacobs said that many organisations want to extend their customer service to the mobile platform market. "However, the reality is that not all good applications make a good mobile application," Jacobs said.

Gartner predicts that the worldwide CRM software market forecast, which includes both SaaS and on-premises, is on pace to grow 9.7% in 2013, while SaaS-delivered CRM will increase almost 18% during the same period.