Hosted application providers cash in on the OnDemand sales pitch

The demand for hosted applications or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) started out as an attraction for small and medium-sized companies. However, in recent times, SaaS has seen a significant shift in demand; large enterprises are beginning to show interest in this form of CRM management.

Salesforce.com has been around for several years, and is familiar with the dynamics of the market. Already a leading provider of hosted applications, Salesforce.com has built its customer base to 22,000 customers. One of its clients has a whopping 7500 individual users.

Not to be outdone, other hosted CRM vendors are pitching in for their share of the pie. SAP announced a new hosted tool earlier this year, as did Oracle and its subsidiary Siebel. The Redmond giant Microsoft is also making efforts to have an impact on the hosted CRM market.

Taking note of the increasing demand by large companies for hosted applications, Research Analyst firm Forrester Research has called for a further improvement in the hosted CRM packages on offer, so that large enterprises have many more options.