Recent studies predict the global CRM market will double within six years and CRM adoption across every segment will continue to rise mostly fueled by the explosiveness of on-demand CRM delivery models.  

"CRM Market Fertility" - the percent of companies deploying or planning to deploy CRM - stands at 38% compared to 18% to 25% historically. On-demand CRM offerings with a rich functionality set is making it possible for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) to afford and implement a CRM solution.  

CRM needs for SMBs have become increasingly sophisticated over the years. 87% of SMBs are driving towards CRM deployments that are on-demand versus premise based. While there are some CRM solution providers that cater to this segment, they have been typically underserved and their needs have often been ignored by some of the larger enterprise CRM providers. Most enterprise solution providers offer SMBs a skinny-down version of their enterprise solution which doesn’t meet the needs of a SMB. As a result we see some SMBs developing an in-house customized CRM solution to meet their unique business needs, objectives and budget, or they are reverting back to spreadsheets and applications to help them manage their customer and partner relationships. 

So what are SMBs looking for in a CRM solution? Increasingly, SMBs are looking for a solution to help with front to back office integration of customer data, business process mapping and ease of use for non-technical or non-CRM administrators. With the rise of the mobile CRM market, SMBs have increasing expectation to integrate accounting / ERP systems with PDAs or Blackberries. Two challenges that most SMBs face in their CRM initiatives are the lack of IT staff to assist in the development and implementation of CRM solutions, and failing to plan for an implementation. SMBs desire a simple interface for their user community. In a recent survey of SMB customers conducted by AMI-Partners, nearly 83 percent said that getting staff to use the software was their biggest CRM challenge, and the critical driver behind this was the complexity of the user interface. 

Like enterprise CRM deployments, SMBs should focus a lot of their efforts planning their CRM or SFA implementations. Gaining executive support, creating a CRM vision and road map, conducting a needs assessment, benefits rationalization, defining or standardizing their processes, training and change management programs are still core essentials for any CRM initiative regardless of segment. Most CRM failures are attributed to buying technology without the up front effort and planning required to make the initiative successful, and hoping the technology selection is a panacea for their business. 

Bottom line – the SMB market is ripe with opportunities and with the emergence of on-demand CRM delivery, this undeveloped segment will become more competitive in the near future.