In July, nFold conducted a telephone survey to find out what CRM software is being used by the institutional marketing teams in South Africa's asset management companies. To conduct this survey, nFold contacted 14 asset management companies telephonically and asked to speak to the institutional marketing manager (or the person responsible for managing bulk communication with institutional customers). Amongst other questions, we asked them what methods they use to communicate with customers, conduct marketing campaigns and manage customer details.

nFold wanted to determine whether CRM software has come of age for asset management companies, and the answer seems to be a resounding "YES". The 14 asset managers surveyed are familiar with 9 CRM systems; by which we mean they are either currently using the CRM system or will be using it in future. Some companies are already implementing their second CRM system. Only three of the fourteen companies surveyed do not have a CRM system yet, and two of them are currently looking for one.

Having said that, there's more manual intervention and reliance on in-house systems than expected. It's interesting to note that no more than half of the respondents used software for bulk communication, marketing or customer information. So there is still room for growth.