CRM Software Adoption by Small Enterprises

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business approach which can provide a competitive advantage to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). To deploy a successful CRM strategy, SMEs need to invest in a CRM software but unfortunately, the adoption rate of such software is very low compared to large companies. This study is trying to identify the main reasons for not using CRM software and how adoption rate can be improved. In-depth interviews with marketing managers and business owners were conducted to investigate the types of relationships the organizations have with various stakeholders and find out the technical solutions used to implement CRM strategies. Several reasons were mentioned for not using, or using in a limited way, CRM software: they are not trusted, they do not work, they are too complicated or they are not needed because SMEs have a limited customer base and managing customer relationships is performed using simpler tools. The main problem is that respondents do not see the strategic importance of CRM software. As long as most respondents consider only the operational role of CRM software - which can be replaced with some success by other applications they already use - the adoption rate will continue to be limited.