What do you think the marketing automation market will look like in 3 years?

Personally I think there will be massive consolidation through M&A. Also CRM systems will incorporate more into their platforms, providing a bigger marketing/sales system footprint to help manage steps in the full buying and customer lifecycle. Some analysts claim marketing automation currently has less than 10% market penetration. One area I will be keen to watch is how Microsoft impacts this space as they roll more marketing capabilities in MSCRM. (Which is what they are doing.)

For comparison, I would look at the Workflow software market. For years there were the big stodgy players ruled the market with massively expensive systems that were only attainable by big enterprise. Microsoft came to market with their .NET framework and SharePoint and they acquired a CMS platform. The missing piece on this cpntent and collaboration platform was workflow. Small ISV vendors came to market to fill that white-space for Microsoft. There was love in the universe and some small vedors built a decent business. Some of the small vendors were acquired. Then, as they almost always do, Microsoft came out with their own workflow platform effectively freezing the market for small third party software vendors. For what it's worth, with my 3 year crystal ball, I think a similar "event" will happen in marketing automation. Small vendors will die or be acquired and ultimately a bigger CRM/Marketing Automation "category" will emerge.

Just my two cents. What are your thoughts?

Cheers,
Brian Hansford
President
Zephyr 47
www.Zephyr47.com