Scribe Software (News - Alert) has completed a new industry study, and has found some new information about the state of CRM, mainly in the SMB sector. Having received over 300 responses from its channel partners, systems integrators, customers and prospects, it compiled the data to find some interesting insights into the industry.

First and foremost, the report found that small and mid-sized businesses are growing smarter in their use of marketing, analytics, and forecasting, using CRM to manage customer contact information, nurture relationships, forecast sales and use e-mails for marketing. They’re also using CRM to share data between departments, run marketing reports and more.

However, there are still challenges that SMBs face, such as data quality and integration. Many have trouble sharing data properly, with very few having fully automated marketing data integration. This, however, is a problem that CRM can help face, if used properly.

It also found that SMBs use a variety of sources for keeping up with news on the IT and CRM front. There are a variety of magazines that take the lead, followed by vendor sites, newsletters, social media, and more.

For the most part, CRM deployments remain on-premise, with 66 percent of them remaining safely off the cloud. There are a good 34 percent that are cloud-based, though, and as the cloud continues to grow and become more affordable, it’s likely that these numbers will change in the coming years.

Those interested in seeing the full report can request it from Scribe’s website. From what has been released, though, it’s clear that CRM has proven helpful in the SMB market, providing reporting and management that make it easier than ever to help reach customers and manage their information.

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