Gartner puts the share of enterprise applications with task-specific AI agents at fewer than 5% in 2025. Its projection for the end of 2026 is 40%. That jump is the backdrop to a reassessment now under way among Australian companies that run customer relationship management software, according to a June 25, 2026 report in IBTimes Australia.
The report’s argument is that CRM is changing from a place where records are kept into a system that acts. Traditional platforms hold a database of contacts, deal histories and communication records for sales, marketing and service staff to query. AI-native platforms, by contrast, are built to raise insights unprompted, automate routine exchanges and, in some set-ups, respond to a customer signal with no human starting the process.
Too much data, too little action
Australian businesses are gathering more customer data than ever, the report says, from sales calls, support tickets, marketing touchpoints and e-commerce behaviour. Many struggle to act on it fast enough. Buyers in financial services, retail and manufacturing expect timely, personalised replies that reflect their history.
Agents embedded in a CRM can qualify and prioritise leads, schedule appointments, sequence follow-ups and route cases. Those jobs used to eat hours of skilled staff time.
The money is following. IDC projects that spending on artificial intelligence will grow 31.9% year on year between 2025 and 2029, reaching $1.3 trillion globally by the end of that period. Gartner’s 2026 CIO and Technology Executive Survey found that only 17% of organisations had deployed AI agents so far, while more than 60% expected to within two years. Gartner also estimated that more than 40% of agentic AI projects risk cancellation by 2027, citing unclear business value or inadequate risk controls.
The Australian market
IMARC Group values Australia’s CRM market at about USD 2 billion and expects compound annual growth of around 10% through to 2033. Financial services, retail and manufacturing are moving fastest.
Banks and insurers face regulators who want accurate, auditable records and customers who want quick, tailored service. Retailers have a shorter window in which a follow-up can sway a purchase. Mid-market manufacturers and distributors, long overlooked by vendors aiming at either large enterprises or small firms, are gaining no-code tools that let them change workflows without specialist developers.
One vendor in focus
The report singles out Creatio. Gartner named the company a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for B2B Marketing Automation Platforms for the fifth straight year in 2025, and a Visionary in the Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation Platforms. Nucleus Research interviewed Creatio customers and found a 37% reduction in total cost of ownership, a 70% cut in implementation time and a 61% drop in lead response time for sales teams.
Creatio reported 40% year-on-year revenue growth in 2025. Nasdaq, Allianz, MetLife and E.ON Next are among its customers. BSN Sports, a US distributor serving more than 150,000 institutional customers, reported a 60% rise in sales book size per representative over five years, with 100% adoption across its sales organisation.
What buyers are told to weigh
The report lists four criteria for companies shopping for an AI-native CRM. The first is integration with the ERP, marketing automation and data warehouse systems already in place, including native connectors and open APIs. The second is no-code configurability. Third comes governance: visibility into how agents decide, audit trails, and controls over which tasks they may carry out alone. Last is total cost of ownership over three to five years, which it says often looks different from the headline subscription price.
