CRM for SMEs: How does the propagation of CRM affect your results
In a not-too-distant past, CRM solutions were reserved for medium and large organisations. They were the only ones that could afford to acquire licenses for CRM solutions, as well as the fees of the consulting firms that implemented and maintained the projects. CRM was almost beyond the possibilities of SMEs.
Today, we can consider CRM software solutions as a commodity, as a basic and necessary product for any organisation. However, many companies have not realised this yet (one-third, as we will see later). There is a good reason: gaining customers is becoming increasingly difficult because not only do we compete with the other players in our environment, but with all those who are present on the Internet, a place where we all meet.
According to the latest e-Pyme 2015 Report, which studies the implementation and use of ICT in Spanish companies (Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism), the percentage of companies with 10 or more employees that use CRM type software tools stands at 36.5%. A similar figure to that for the implementation of ERP solutions in these environments.
Analysing the use of this type of tool by industry, we find that it is most widely used in the fields of retail and motor vehicle repairs (63%), as well as in computer sciences, telecommunications, and audio-visual services (61.7%).
There is no longer any real excuse for not using a CRM solution. Intelligence Partner, with its “star” solution, Sugar, is committed to introducing CRM to all its users. Sugar has a clean and attractive interface, which makes browsing and learning how to use it very easy. This is an essential factor for it to be adopted by users.
You must also add mobility: information can be accessed from any mobile device, provided you have access to the Internet. And what is better: its capacity of integration allows you to display contextual information on a dashboard by combining both in-house and external sources. You can merge marketing and customer service information with all your email or ERP data, or even from social networks.
Answering the question posed at the beginning, how can an SME benefit from implementing CRM? Here are five ideas:
- It provides a work method that coordinates the efforts of all the departments and that may not be available in the organisation.
- It saves valuable time when interacting with customers: you only have to sign-in to the system and you have all your information at hand.
- It allows you to schedule and automate management and follow-up tasks.
- It allows you to analyse interesting KPIs: conversion ratios, reasons for loss of customers, etc.
- It opens the door to a multichannel system: customers interact with many channels and you should be aware of all of them: the web, social networks, telephone.
If you are one of those 2/3 of Spanish SMEs that do not apply CRM systems and you are interested in implementing new resources to attract customers and enhance customer loyalty, why not allow Intelligence Partner, one of the leading specialised providers in this field, to introduce you to SugarCRM?
If you decide to implement a CRM solution, we recommend reading our post ‘3 red lines you shouldn’t cross when implementing a CRM solution in your business’.
Contact us and our CRM implementation experts will be happy to provide all the information you need. Don’t fall behind in innovation: the sooner you start, the better.
