CRM (customer relationship management) solutions have been around for some time and are often associated with large corporate IT solutions including substantial databases and complex software technologies. It is often felt that such an advanced application can only be of benefit to businesses with a vast customer database but this could not be further from the truth.

One of the key aspects of any business, regardless as to its size, is the time and effort it puts into dealing with its customers. This includes interactions with the sales team, calls taken by the support team or any one of a number of marketing campaigns. The common thread in all of these activities is the data the business holds on each customer.

Large companies have customer records - but so do small and medium sized businesses. A small company may think that maintaining its customer records in an Excel sheet or in a filing cabinet is sufficient, but this limits the effectiveness of a number of business processes and implementing an entry-level CRM solution could make a significant difference.

One of the core concepts of a CRM solution is the ability to create one, simple, flexible location for customer data. The benefits are obvious for a large business but there are considerable benefits for small businesses as well.

At a minimum, a centralised customer database reduces repetition – customer data is entered once and once only – and eases the retrieval of data relating to a particular customer. In addition, a central database makes it easier for sales people to access customer data and order history which makes for a more customer-focused sales process and a sales force that is better equipped to generate sales from an opportunity.

Many small businesses find that they benefit from running marketing campaigns but getting a campaign off the ground when customer data is not readily accessible can be very time consuming. CRM software greatly eases this burden and is one of the most obvious ways in which CRM can aid a small business. Having easy access to customer lists, filtered according to previous purchase history or recorded preferences facilitates the creation of a targeted campaign, regardless as to the communication channels to be used.

Small business owners sometimes assume that the management of data security is the preserve of larger organisation. However for small businesses, the customer database can be a make or break factor. Should the company lose its customer database, this may turn out to be crippling at best or at worst a fatal blow for the business. With increasing regulatory governance relating to personal data, businesses of all sizes must plan for data security.

CRM software, because of its centralised approach to dealing with customer data, reduces the effort associated with backing up and protecting data, whereas it is all but impossible to make sure disparate data locations are backed up if customer data is spread across the organisation in documents of various forms.

Clearly businesses both small and large can benefit from a decent CRM implementation. The good news for smaller companies is that CRM solutions specifically designed for smaller applications are readily available and affordable.