Customer Relationship Management software has come a long way in the past 30 years. From enterprise contact databases and early sales force automation systems, to the emergence of cloud CRMs and surviving the dot com bubble burst, CRM technology has had a long history (at least in comparison to other software solutions). Today, with the rise of social CRMs, marketing automation solutions, Big Data, and mobile CRM apps, the industry continues to evolve and cater to new business needs of the 21st century.

Predicted to be a $36 billion market by 2017, the CRM market is on pace to surpass Enterprise Resource Planning as the largest grossing enterprise software sub-segment, and it is already the fastest growing type of business software.

Because CRM software is fundamental to the growth of the software industry as a whole and one of the most ubiquitous types of business software, it’s important to understand how businesses actually use this technology, and where CRMs could stand to improve in the coming years.

That’s why CRM users to get an overview of exactly how businesses find, buy, and use their customer relationship management software . Whether you’re a current CRM user, considering a CRM for your company, or a seller of CRM technology, read on to learn the latest trends from our CRM software research report.