Can Fujitsu’s CRM take on the cloud big shots?

This is the second issue Fujitsu has. With CRM being such a popular pursuit for software companies heading to the cloud, have they arrived too late to the party to make a grand entrance?

“They are late, absolutely,” added Lachal. “However, I think it is still a relatively small market.”

“[CRM] is low hanging fruit… and Fujitsu is an awfully large company,” he said, adding this amount of power could propel them to the top of the game.

Little has been said so far about the pricing, which could become the third issue for Fujitsu if it is not as competitive as other vendors. However, during discussions with the company at the Munich event, Lachal seemed to think this possible problem could become its CRM’s strong suit.

“Fujitsu is [focusing] on its pricing being more flexible than its competition,” the analyst said.

“SaaS has always been a rigid subscription [model]. Moving the model closer to a pay as you go [structure] could validate its position.”

Until it has been fully unleashed on the market – due to happen in early 2012 – Lachal thought it was “anybody’s guess” as to whether this “outsider” could prove to be a real threat.

“It has everything to prove but it is a big company,” he concluded. “Why not?”

We will have to wait and see if the adoption figures and the final pricing can put the wind up the sails of the likes of Marc Benioff, but there is no question the CRM market will remain the starting point for many a firm entering the cloud service provider game and more battle lines are sent to be drawn in the coming months.

Here Lachal speak at our upcoming Cloud Summit 2011. For more details click here. Only a few places remaining!