10 Best CRM Companies According to Gartner Magic Quadrant Report

Each year, IT industry research firm Gartner releases a Magic Quadrant report on Customer Relationship Management systems. The report examines large and small CRM services ranking them according to whether they’re challengers, leaders, niche players, or visionaries. They’re plotted on a scale that measures their ability to execute in particular market attribute as well as “completeness of vision” in another. Ultimately, Gartner aims at helping corporate users identify the best CRM systems based on how effective they are, how sophisticated their strategies are and how capable they are at implementing strategies. But since not all CRM platforms are equally appealing to all clients, this slide show will look at 10 of the services in the Magic Quadrant and where they rank in Gartner’s study.

Salesforce is by far the leader in the Gartner CRM Magic Quadrant report. The company earned top marks for its “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.” It’s also the top of the heap in Gartner’s “Leaders” category.

Pegasystems was next in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, and like Salesforce, was included  in the “Leaders” category. Pegasystems was topped only by Salesforce for its “ability to execute” and its “completeness of vision,” easily surpassing the rest of its competitors.

Gartner’s lumps all of Microsoft’s CRM services under one banner in the study. Microsoft was also included in the “Leaders” category and its “ability to execute” exceeded most of its competitors in this report. However, it needs to do more work to demonstrate “completeness of vision” in its CRM services, Gartner indicated.

Oracle is in a nearly identical position as Microsoft, but ranked a bit lower on its “ability to execute” on its CRM strategic goals, according to Gartner. However Oracle’s “completeness of vision” exceeds Microsoft and is close to that of Pegasystems.

Zendesk was the fifth and final company to land in the “Leaders” category in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. However, out of the five, it scored lowest in the category with less of an “ability to execute” and a less complete “vision” than Salesforce, Pegasystems, Microsoft, and Oracle.

SAP was notable for being the only company in the Gartner Magic Quadrant report that made it into the “Challengers” category for companies that have a shot at becoming a big, market leader. SAP’s “ability to execute” nearly matches that of Zendesk, but its “completeness of vision” is far behind that of the top five leaders.

Lithium topped what Gartner describes as the “Niche Players” category. Gartner believes Lithium actually has a vision that’s farther along than that of SAP’s, but its “ability to execute” is still far behind the market’s only “Challenger.”

Freshdesk was placed in a rather interesting spot in the list of “Niche Players.” Gartner argues that Freshdesk has the third-highest “ability to execute” in the “Niche Players” segment behind Lithium and ServiceNow. It is in fourth place behind Lithium, CRMNext, and SugarCRM for “completeness of vision.” Still, its collective ratings in each category make it a standout.

CRMNext could be in a much different position in the marketplace if the company could find a way to improve its “ability to execute.” In that respect, it’s near the bottom with SugarCRM and others. However, CRMNext’s “completeness of vision” is just behind Lithium and SAP, giving it an opportunity to perhaps become a “visionary” at some point in the future.

SugarCRM is a popular option in the “Niche Players” category, but Gartner ranked it in third place in that segment for its “completeness of vision.” However, in its “ability to execute” on that vision, SugarCRM has some work to do and is tied for sixth place with CRMNext.