July 09, 2009
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Can small business benefit from CRM?
At Officeexec we have always looked at providing simple and cost effective solutions to small and very small businesses, while remembering that one day they might grow into very large businesses. Our virtual office packages, starting from $149, can span to cover the entire communication needs of an organization of any size - IVRs, soft phones for travelling consultants, plug-and-play VOIP phones that work from any broadband connection in the world, free long distance to specific numbers and more.
Now we are thinking about adding more.
We are focused on relationship and have been using our own custom designed CRM solution for a while. It would be interesting to provide these very same tools to small businesses. Especially, when you are just getting started spending money on an CRM implementation can be costly. Packages such as SalesForce are easy and come with support but the cost can quickly run high. Open source alternatives such as SugarCRM and vTiger are free, but require a steep learning curve and a long implementation phase. The question is can we deliver a hosted CRM solution, that is not managed. Meet half way between SalesForce and open source. We will implement and install it for you. You can make API calls or work directly off our domain - whatever works better for you. Just like Force.com you can integrate into Facebook or any open social platform. The cost would be a fraction of any other solution and our familiar IT team would be there to help you get started.
The real question still to be answered is how important is a CRM solution to a very new business? Is the time spend on entering customer data worthwhile? At what price point does a CRM make sense for let's say a 1 person business with only 1 to 2 new business contacts (not necessarily new customers) a month. And one more question - do CRM solutions make sense? Do we need customer information and a record of what has transpired, or do we need something else to make this work? CRMs are now hitting a decade of mainstream and the question has been asked by scholars "are CRMs doing what they should be doing?".
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An addition to that - what CRM would be useful? Oracle and SAP seem out of the picture. SugarCRM too much to implement. Anyone try Microsoft Dynamics?
Let's go a step further. CRM - this is not just about software. It's customer relationship management. Should you take the time to "manage your customer relationship" - the answer is always yes. Software the can produce stats, send out emails, track marketing response - that's cool, but that's not the core of customer relationship management. Customer relationships are at the core, and whatever helps you manage them is part of CRM
A CRM is always useful. Rather than written the info into your contacts on Outlook or a piece of paper enter it into a CRM. There is no time wasted here.
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There is some affordable solutions out there that give you a hosted and managed CRM for under $300/month. I am pretty sure that they can assist with porting the data when your needs outgrow their reach.