Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

This seriesPart1This gives us an overview of the market.Part2We have organized product comparisons by category.
In the third installment, we will discuss "future CRM trends" and "EMOROCO CRM Lite's position in the Japanese market."

The goal of this article is to help you clarify "what your company needs" after reading it, as this will be the final criterion for selecting a CRM system.

Five CRM Trends That Will Accelerate in 2026

Trend ①: The rise of "agent-based AI"—the era of autonomous CRM is upon us.

The most talked-about keyword in the CRM industry in 2025 was "Agentic AI."

Traditional AI focused on "analysis and making suggestions." Agent-type AI, on the other hand, "autonomously makes decisions and takes action."

Salesforce Agentforce, HubSpot Breeze Agents—companies like these are accelerating the development of features that allow AI to autonomously perform customer follow-up without human intervention. Autonomous actions such as "sending follow-up emails automatically when a deal stalls" and "detecting customer behavior patterns and contacting them at the optimal time" are becoming a reality.

Relationship with EMOROCO CRM Lite: The prerequisite for agent-based AI is "the accumulation of high-quality data." The data accumulated by EMOROCO CRM Lite, such as emotional temperature, narrative, and ICX, will be the best fuel for future agent-based AI utilization. The data you input today will determine the accuracy of the agent-based AI.

Trend ②: Commercialization of "emotional AI" - the spread of automated detection of customer emotions.

The Emotional AI market is projected to reach approximately $29 billion in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual rate of 21.7% through 2034. Technologies that automatically detect customers' emotional states from voice, text, and facial expressions are beginning to be integrated into CRM systems.

Gong Chorus analyzes customer emotions from call recordings, and Zoho Zia analyzes email tone—the use of emotional data is becoming a new cornerstone of CRM.

Relationship with EMOROCO CRM Lite: EMOROCO's emotional temperature is designed as "qualitative data that is judged and recorded by the person in charge." The design, which integrates both AI-driven automatic detection (quantitative emotional analysis) and the tacit knowledge (qualitative ICX) felt by the person in charge on the ground, is at the forefront of the era of emotional AI. From "AI that detects emotions" to "AI that resonates with emotions"—the philosophy of CRM 4.0 looks ahead to this trend.

Trend 3: The growing importance of "zero-party data"—information provided by customers themselves.

Due to stricter cookie regulations and tightened privacy laws, the use of "third-party data" (customer data collected from external sources) is being restricted. Instead, attention is being drawn to "zero-party data"—information that customers proactively provide themselves.

Customer portals, surveys, and direct conversations—the desires, values, and lifestyle information voluntarily shared by customers is of higher quality and more resistant to privacy regulations than data collected from external sources.

Relationship with EMOROCO CRM Lite: Customer portal functionality, customer participation in the sentiment temperature field, and narrative recording are all examples of zero-party data accumulation. The design of "systematically managing information that customers themselves provide" aligns with this trend.

Trend 4: "Multimodal CRM" - Integrating voice, images, and videos into CRM.

The trend of integrating non-text data into CRM systems is accelerating, including automatic transcription of conversation recordings, automatic registration of meeting minutes into CRM systems, and recording of video sales meetings with customers.

Conversation intelligence tools such as Gong, Chorus, and Fireflies are integrating with CRM, creating an environment where "the content of phone and Zoom meetings is recorded directly in the CRM."

Relationship with EMOROCO CRM Lite: These voice and conversation analysis tools can be integrated with EMOROCO CRM Lite using the external connector function. The design that "automatically converts Zoom meeting content into narrative notes" is one direction for future use of external connectors.

Trend 5: Accelerated evolution from CRM to SoI (System of Insight)

In terms of the SoR, SoE, and SoI architectures mentioned in the first installment of this DX series , the trend of CRM evolving from "SoR (System of Record)" to "SoI (System of Insight)" is accelerating.

The shift from "managing customer information" to "gaining insights from customer information and generating proactive actions" is the essence of the transition from CRM 3.0 to CRM 4.0.

Six practical criteria for choosing a CRM in the Japanese market.

Based on the previous articles in this series, we will outline six practical criteria for Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises to use when choosing a CRM system.

Criterion ①: Is the primary objective "acquiring new customers" or "deepening existing customer relationships"?

The main objective is to acquire new customers: HubSpot, Clay, Pipedrive
The primary objective is to deepen relationships with existing customers. EMOROCO CRM Lite
both: Salesforce and Zoho CRM (however, they have high costs and learning curves).

Many small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan face the challenge of "increasing repeat business and referrals from existing customers."
In this case, a CRM designed specifically for deepening relationships with existing customers will yield better results than one optimized for acquiring new customers.

Criterion ②: Is the primary method of sales the "door-to-door sales/face-to-face sales" method?

Companies whose primary sales methods involve face-to-face visits, phone calls, and route sales require a CRM system that incorporates GIS maps, visit records, and area management capabilities.

As of April 2026, EMOROCO CRM Lite is practically the only CRM option with GIS mapping capabilities.

Criterion ③: Can the person in charge on-site change the settings using "no-code"?

In small and medium-sized enterprises without dedicated IT staff, a CRM system that requires administrator assistance to change settings will not gain traction.
The minimum requirements are that "on-site personnel can add fields themselves" and "workflows can be configured without coding."

Criterion 4: Is there a design in place to ensure that the relationship continues even after a change in personnel?

Employee turnover and transfers are frequent occurrences in small and medium-sized enterprises. Whether or not there is a design in place to ensure that customer relationships can be seamlessly transferred—including tracking emotional shifts, narrative notes, and a handover plan—will significantly impact long-term customer lifetime value (LTV).

Criterion 5: Can it be calculated using "total cost after 3 years"?

Even with CRM systems that start as free or low-cost, there are cases where the costs of paid features, additional licenses, and implementation support accumulate as you move towards full-scale use.
Make sure the pricing structure is transparent and allows you to calculate the total cost over three years upfront.

Example cost for EMOROCO CRM Lite over 3 years (5 users): ¥7,500/month x 36 months = ¥270,000 (initial cost: ¥0)

Criterion 6: "Can it be used starting today?" — Post-implementation adoption design

No matter how excellent a CRM system is, it's meaningless if it doesn't get implemented in the field.
Is there a plan in place for "what to do in the first 30 days after implementation"?
Is the experience designed from the outset to ensure that "inputting information will benefit you"?

EMOROCO CRM Lite has a user adoption design that includes a "30-day roadmap" and "starting with setting emotional temperature."

Choosing the Right CRM for Your Company – Decision Tree

The significance of EMOROCO CRM Lite in the "CRM market of 2026"

Finally, I will summarize the main points I want to convey throughout this series.

In 2026, the CRM market will be in an era where the question is not "whether or not AI is being used," but "what kind of AI is being used and for what purpose."

Many CRM systems are moving towards "AI for efficiency and automation."
EMOROCO CRM Lite is heading in a direction no one else is going: "AI for emotional resonance and relationship deepening."

The proliferation of agent-based AI, the commercialization of emotional AI, and the increasing importance of zero-party data—all of these trends are moving in the direction of questioning the "quality of customer relationships."
The philosophy behind CRM 4.0 lies at the forefront of this direction.

"Deepening relationships with existing customers using data," "Entering today's emotional temperature to improve AI accuracy one year from now"—companies that start doing these things today will have a gap in accumulated data that cannot be bridged compared to companies that start doing them three years from now.

When comparing the latest CRM tools, choose based on which one best addresses your company's specific challenges, rather than which one has the most features.

[The first step you can take today] Start with a 30-day free trial and begin by setting up emotional temperature for all your customers. Implementing CRM 4.0 begins with that one action.

Digitalization and AI Implementation Subsidy 2026 Compatible Tool Number: DL07-0022934
Product Info:https://www.emoroco.com/

Series Links

• [Part 1] What will happen in the CRM market in 2025-2026? - The overall picture of the tectonic shifts.
• [Part 2] A Comprehensive Overview of the Latest CRM Tools by Category – Criteria for Choosing Based on Use, Scale, and Objectives
• [Part 3] Latest CRM Trends and the Position of EMOROCO CRM Lite (This Article)

Related article

• What is an AI-native CRM? — Why EMOROCO CRM Lite is fundamentally different from tools that "added AI later."
• Don't talk about CRM without understanding the "three-tiered structure" of DX—How SoR, SoE, and SoI are changing customer relationship design (Part 1)
• What is CRM? – A complete explanation of its evolution from "customer management" to "co-creation with customers," up to CRM 4.0.
• Changes after CRM implementation: What happened to companies using EMOROCO CRM Lite after 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year.
• Introducing EMOROCO CRM Lite with the Digitalization and AI Implementation Subsidy 2026: A Complete Guide to Application Procedures, Subsidy Amount, and Eligibility Requirements