CRM - not just a Boon to SME's

Let's take a look first at what an SME is. In all truth there is no real definition of what an SME is actually. The SME market is generally an immense market that currently constitutes almost 20,000,000 businesses in the U.S. alone. CRM as a customer strategy has slowly found its way into the small and medium industry sector. Despite the fact that there are several advantages, CRM can prove to be a bane as well. SME's have found themselves facing several problems with CRM implementation. One of the main hassles that SME's face is the lack of a proper link between vendors and the SME sector. Most vendors traditionally used to focus only on large corporations and seldom paid as much attention as they do now to the SME sector, although this sector is now being recognized as one of the most productive sectors.

Disadvantages of CRM for SME's

Unhealthy Attitude

SME's tend to often refrain from encouraging CRM implementation because they are unable to afford the high costs involved in the projects and the volume of effort and time that is required. This is probably the biggest inhibition SME's face- the apprehension about the success of the CRM implementation. This more often than not serves as a blockage to the adoption of CRM. Large enterprises on account of the additional resources at hand find the risk factor a lot easier. In order to overcome this additional and sufficient knowledge about the risks involved should be gained from experts. This again may be time consuming and expensive.

Exorbitant Costs

Cost factors play a considerable role in SME choice of CRM implementation. More often than not vendors seldom cater to the cost requirements of small and medium sized industries. They fail to realise that the budgets that small companies adopt may not be adequate enough to cover the huge costs that are involved in the implementation of CRM. Another factor is that CRM implementation has failed in many cases. When this happens SME's find that the ROI has been insufficient to cover costs and end up facing huge losses. The money involved is more often than not more than what they can afford. Many SME's view CRM software packages as being overpriced and of not much value to them. This is easily one of the problems of CRM software that serve to prevent SME's from implementing it.

Time Constraints

Time restraints place yet another problem on SME's. Most of them do not have the liberty to implement CRM projects that require lengthy periods of time .CRM projects from its initiation to results extends over a period of years during which considerable time and effort is involved. Most SME's refrain from adopting CRM as they feel they will not be able to spend that amount of time and effort. SME's only need certain requirements and are reluctant to pay for additional costs. Another dilemma is that they seldom have the time or resources to customize the CRM solution to their needs.

Uncertain Needs

Another problem is the fact that most SME's themselves are unaware of what they require. They are unsure of what they need and most often than not find themselves choosing a solution that does not fulfil their needs. They seldom conduct client/customer interviews and rarely know what their customers require. This lack of knowledge about their customer needs often has disastrous results.

Improper Planning

Yet another shortcoming is the fact that SME's seldom plan their CRM implementation properly. Implementing and leaving it to fate is what is done mostly. However this is insufficient. Meticulous and minute planning of each step involved in the CRM implementation is required. They lack a proper planning strategy and this in turn has detrimental affects. They are not aware of their actual and intended goals and objectives. SME's fail to set out clear, concise and decisive goals and find themselves working towards unclear objectives with the result that their true objectives are most often lost.

Inadequate Attention

CRM just another software ? SME's for sure treat it that way. The biggest mistake SME's make is treating CRM as they would any other of their software installations. Regarding it as something that does not require additional attention is foolhardy and should not be followed. They need to realise that they have to pay more attention to the dilemmas involved in the implementation.

Insufficient Technology

Let's look at the technology involved in the implementation of CRM. Do SME's possess the required technology? More often than not they do not. And when this happens it indirectly affects the CRM processes. In addition to this most SME's do not have the required expertise that is needed to manage the business processes efficiently. They lack the resources needed to purchase the required technology as well. most SMEs do not have the expertise needed to manage CRM packages and wind up increasing their IT costs . Vendors instead of informing them that they need additional expertise more often than not refrain from doing so.

No Customization

As most CRM systems were developed for larger organisations and have subsequently been adapted for the small / medium sized users or are traditional contact management packages that have been re-branded CRM systems, these findings are not surprising. Another distinct disadvantage that most small and medium sized businesses face is that very few CRM products have been specifically developed for them alone.Microsoft CRM packages for instance tend to assume that SME's do possess the required technology. The answer-a definite no. Less than 15% of them actually possess the required technology needed to support CRM packages.

Despite the fact that CRM can prove to be detrimental at times, there are several advantages that it offers that are absolutely mandatory for SME success, making the problems that SME's face with CRM minute in comparison to its advantages.

Big Corporates Turn to CRM
CRM has Universal Application - Find out How
Crossing SME CRM Pitfalls - How should it be done?
CRM's Challenges - What's going wrong?
Phased CRM Implementation - Is it the Right Choice?
The Secret is Out - CRM is SME's Best Option
SME's Boom Thanks to CRM

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