CRM Usage By SMBs Could Be Better

Okay, it's not exactly breaking news, but there are 25.8 million small businesses in America, paying more than 40 percent of the total U.S. private payroll, and the majority are not using CRM. Yeah they're a self-interested business concern, but First Coffee likes how VendorGuru.com, makes it their business to at least get small businesses thinking about strategies and CRM products.

Small businesses are underestimating the importance of customer relationship management in business growth, according to Melinda Nykamp, Vice President of Customer Strategy Integration for Fair, Isaac and Company, Inc., who writes, "Indeed, your customer base has become your key to success in an increasingly competitive business climate. This is one of the primary reasons why customer relationships are making it closer to top of asset entries on corporate balance sheets."

In comments provided by VendorGuru.com, Nykamp says successful CRM initiatives must focus on the customer, include the business strategy, connect customer intelligence about customer needs into the daily operations of the organization, and measure the relationship.

Earlier this month VendorGuru provided the results of studies which show that between 36 and 14 percent of North American companies were using VoIP products and services in 2005, tying the results in to companies' adoption of CRM technology.

Using interviews with 240 companies, Infonetics studies estimate that 36 percent of large, 23 percent of medium, and 14 percent of small North American organizations interviewed were using VoIP products and services in 2005.

Infonetics forecasts "significant increases" in the use of VoIP phone systems across all segments with small business use expected to triple by 2010.

According to Tara Moynihan, managing producer of VendorGuru.com, "We have done exhaustive research on IP Telephony, as well as customer relationship management (CRM) and call center operations vendors."

The Infonetics surveys, conducted over the last three years, also found that in 2005, organizations spent an average of $47,667 on hosted VoIP; a figure that is expected to increase 34 percent to $63,799 by 2007. For managed customer premises equipment during the same period, expenditures are expected to increase more than 160 percent.

Small businesses generated 60 percent to 80 percent of new jobs annually during the last decade, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Small companies with fewer than 500 employees represent 99.9 percent of the 25.8 million of all U.S. businesses. Competition among so many small businesses can be tough, and CRM is a pretty good way to begin to stand out from the pack.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.

Internet Protocol (IP)	X
IP stands for Internet Protocol, a data-networking protocol developed throughout the 1980s. It is the established standard protocol for transmitting and receiving data in packets over the Internet. I...more

Voice over IP (VoIP)	X
A real-time communications system that converts voice into digital packets containing media and signaling data that travel over networks using Internet Protocol....more

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