Report:
The Forrester Wave™: Financial Services CRM, Q3 2023
How does Forrester define the Financial Services CRM market in 2023?
A CRM system purpose-fit for financial services businesses to engage, attract, acquire, and retain customers and to create insights into financial services customers' activity and behavior. Financial services firms face increasing pressure to acquire new customers, deliver better customer experiences, and lower costs. Financial-services-specific CRM functionalities from major vendors provide a faster path to business value by offering workflows, user experience, data models, AI and analytics, and compliant infrastructure purpose-built for retail banks, insurers, and investment and wealth management firms.
Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Financial Services CRM, Q3 2023 in 2023
- Publication Date: 14-Aug-2023
- Document ID: RES179315
- Summary: In our 39-criterion evaluation of financial services customer relationship management (CRM) providers with retail banking, insurance, as well as investment and wealth management solutions, we identified the most significant ones and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps technology professionals select the right one for their needs.
- Authors: Alyson Clarke, David Hoffman, Sohm Gough, Kate Leggett, Lok Sze Sung, Kara Hartig
How did the Financial Services CRM market evolve in 2023?
- Financial services firms face pressure to acquire customers, deliver better experiences, and lower costs
- CRM purpose-fit for retail banks, insurers, and investment/wealth management firms can drive business value
- Financial-services-specific functionalities from major vendors are now commonplace
- Solutions provide faster path to value with pre-built workflows, UX, data models, AI/analytics, and compliant infrastructure
- Market includes 10 major providers evaluated across 39 criteria
- Evaluation covers retail banking, insurance, and investment/wealth management solutions
- Vendors classified as Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders, and Challengers
- Customer feedback indicators include Outstanding (double halo), Above Average (single halo), and Average (no halo)
- Minimum inclusion criteria: $50 million in financial services CRM revenue
- Evaluation materials cutoff date: May 12, 2023
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- A minimum financial services CRM product revenue of $50 million. Each vendor has CRM available in the market that generates $50 million or more in financial services CRM product revenue.
- A financial services industry focus. The evaluated vendors cover at least two of three financial services subindustries on which we focused: retail banking, insurance, as well as investment and wealth management.
- Relevance to Forrester clients. To ensure relevance to Forrester clients and the quality of the references being provided, Forrester considered the level of interest from our clients based on inquiries, advisories, consulting engagements, and other interactions.
What are the common features of top products in the Financial Services CRM space?
No common features specified.
Scope Exclusions
- Vendors with financial services CRM product revenue below $50 million
- Vendors that cover fewer than two of the three financial services subindustries (retail banking, insurance, investment and wealth management)
- Vendors with limited relevance to Forrester clients based on inquiries and engagement levels
- Solutions not purpose-fit for financial services businesses
- Generic CRM solutions without financial-services-specific capabilities
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- A minimum financial services CRM product revenue of $50 million
- A financial services industry focus covering at least two of three subindustries: retail banking, insurance, and investment and wealth management
- Relevance to Forrester clients based on inquiries, advisories, consulting engagements, and other interactions
Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting
- Prospecting and outreach — 15%
- Lead generation and prioritization — 15%
- Customer insight and 360 view — 15%
- Account opening — 15%
- Customer self-service/engagement — 10%
- Knowledge management — 5%
- Client goal tracking — 5%
- Profile and role support — 5%
- Integration tooling — 5%
- Employee collaboration tools — 5%
- Extensibility — 5%
Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting
- Vision — 15%
- Innovation — 10%
- Roadmap — 15%
- Partner ecosystem — 10%
- Adoption — 10%
- Pricing flexibility and transparency — 10%
- Community — 10%
- Talent strategy — 10%
- Global delivery strategy — 10%
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research provides a comprehensive evaluation of 10 financial services CRM providers across 39 criteria, focusing on solutions for retail banking, insurance, and investment/wealth management. It analyzes vendor current offerings, strategy, and market presence to help technology professionals understand how each provider measures up in delivering CRM systems purpose-fit for financial services businesses.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: Technology professionals at financial services firms (retail banks, insurers, investment and wealth management firms) should use this research when selecting a CRM provider. It helps evaluate vendors based on their ability to support customer acquisition, engagement, retention, compliance, and business value delivery. The research is particularly valuable for firms seeking prepackaged solutions, AI-driven automation, and partners specific to their financial services business type.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: To be included in this evaluation, vendors must have: 1) A minimum of $50 million in financial services CRM product revenue, 2) Coverage of at least two of three financial services subindustries (retail banking, insurance, and investment and wealth management), and 3) Demonstrated relevance to Forrester clients based on inquiries, advisories, consulting engagements, and other client interactions.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Financial services CRM product revenue below the $50 million threshold
- Limited financial services industry focus covering only one or none of the three subindustries
- Insufficient relevance to Forrester clients based on low levels of client inquiries and engagement
- Lack of purpose-built capabilities for financial services businesses
- Vendors that declined to participate or contributed only partially to the evaluation process
Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?
A:
- Offer prepackaged solutions and partners specific to their business type - larger CRM vendors offer financial-services-specific solutions, use cases, and accelerators that may not be equally mature across all financial services business types
- Optimize customer value and ROI across the entire customer journey - solutions should maximize customer value across the lifecycle from lead generation to offer optimization, product origination, journey orchestration, and intelligent insights
- Deeply embed automation and AI - intelligent automation drives improved CX, revenue, security, and compliance with prepackaged AI scenarios and tools to define new AI models and automate workflows
- Ensure partner ecosystem alignment - financial services CRM systems can have small ecosystems of trained partners, marketplace add-ons, and packaged integrations that may not align with vendor strategies
- Support both human-assisted and digital interactions - simpler products can be delivered through self-service while complex products require human assistance
- Verify financial services maturity - vendors may have mature offerings for one type of financial services (e.g., retail banking) but less developed solutions for others (e.g., investment and wealth management)
Q: How has the Financial Services CRM market evolved in 2023?
A:
- Financial services firms are under increasing pressure to acquire new customers, deliver better customer experiences, and lower costs
- Financial-services-specific functionalities from major vendors are now commonplace, providing a faster path to business value
- CRM solutions offer workflows, user experience (UX), data models, AI and analytics, and compliant infrastructure purpose-built for financial services
- Vendors offer prepackaged solutions and partners specific to business types (retail banking, insurance, investment and wealth management)
- Intelligent automation drives improved CX, revenue, security, and compliance through AI and insights
- Solutions must support both human-assisted and digital interactions across the customer lifecycle
- Vendors are deeply embedding automation and AI to increase productivity, uncover insights, find anomalies, and prescribe the right actions
Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?
A: Current Offering evaluates the strength of vendors' existing product capabilities and features across key CRM functions like prospecting, lead generation, customer insights, account opening, and integration tooling (weighted 50%). Strategy evaluates vendors' future direction and execution capabilities including vision, innovation, roadmap, partner ecosystem, adoption, pricing, community, talent strategy, and global delivery (weighted 50%). Current Offering focuses on what vendors deliver today, while Strategy assesses their ability to maintain market leadership and meet future customer needs.
Reference
- Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Financial Services CRM, Q3 2023, 14-Aug-2023, ID RES179315
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