CRM technology has become the critical 'go-to' tool for the whole business - accessed and employed by all functions of the organisation in order to use intelligence about the customer's overall 'experience' to deliver stand-out customer service.
This is according to a recent Maximizer report: Maximizer SME benchmark study 2017, which surveyed 300 small and medium enterprises (SME) customers of CRM solutions in the
Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
The study notes businesses are re-thinking their growth and customer relationship management (CRM) strategy in light of today's self-educating and empowered customer. Customers increasingly expect high-value experiences and are becoming more inclined to change suppliers if the business does not deliver their expected quality of experience, it adds.
As a result, organisations can no longer implement their customer relationship management (CRM) solution in a stand-alone fashion, says the report. Increasingly, CRM is becoming the central hub to which all decision-driving company information is relayed, it adds. The report says a third of companies surveyed are placing their CRM solution at the very heart of their business. They view their CRM as fundamental to driving growth, customer satisfaction, loyalty, and revenues, it notes.
However, Mike Richardson, MD EMEA at Maximizer, says too little is yet understood about the return on investment that SMEs are actually gaining from their CRM. "There could not be a more appropriate time than the present to establish a success benchmark for SMEs - the sales techniques of the past have rapidly changed; nowadays customers embark on a new 'journey' where they start with their own research."
This means businesses need to be seen as informative and helpful as the customer progresses along their journey to purchase, he adds. CRM solutions have become the critical tool for understanding the customer and is the new hub to which all decision-driving company information is relayed, notes Richardson.
By linking in the activities and the performance measurement of all aspects of a business to a central CRM hub, then every element of the customer relationship can be enabled, measured and improved, says the report.
The majority of SMEs however have yet to set such objectives or reach this level of maturity in deploying their CRM solutions, it adds. They are more focused on process and productivity objectives, says the study.
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