Few companies operating in the Asia Pacific region are also challenged by local laws that require them to host data locally. Australia, China, and India regulate where firms can locate their customer data to maintain the privacy and security of customer information.

The Reserve Bank of India has made it mandatory for all banks in India to ensure that all local regulations and cross-border regulations are clarified at the outset of an outsourcing agreement, including data centre hosting.

All these factors have driven companies to choose CRM systems that support cloud-based delivery, integrate with social technologies, support mobile access, and provide analytics to improve engagement with customers.

Paint manufacturing company Asian Paints has integrated SAP CRM with its dealer management system, which was further integrated with social media tools like Twitter and blogs to help dealers improve their insights into customers in their local area.