Is CRM now a "must have" for firms of all sizes?

While many large private sector companies have long realised the need for effective customer relationship management systems, smaller mid-market and public sector organisations are now realising they must also invest in CRM - and they have the budget to do so.

Although the scale is different the challenges are the same and with a host of CRM vendors targeting these organisations with on-demand solutions and promises of lower total cost of ownership, it seems the message is getting through and the need recognised, according to UK CIOs interviewed by silicon.com.

David Jemitus, head of IT at the UK government's Planning Portal, told silicon.com he has recently invested in an on-demand hosted CRM service from RightNow.

He said this was a reaction to increasing need "as the Planning Portal's activities have grown and become more complex in the relationships with clients".

And, Jemitus added, the investment may not be over. The implementation is nearly complete and will be reviewed in three months, he said, to "see if it is delivering as expected and whether we need to make further investments".

Gavin Whatrup, IT director at advertising agency Delaney, Lund, Knox, Warren & Partners, told silicon.com he will definitely be reviewing his use of CRM services in the coming year.

Whatrup said: "It is a growing consideration but not something that has been assigned too much importance to date. Advertising is relationship-based business where the client is king. Having systems to assist and add value to existing and new client relationships, in such a competitive environment, is gradually being seen as a necessity."

A major factor in this is the fact CRM is increasingly being understood at board level.

Whatrup told silicon.com: "It is gradually seeping into the board consciousness. Personal client relationships and the provision of unbeatable service levels are the main areas of focus, and anything that can assist at the personal level, through the use of systems, is slowly being seen as a must-have."

Jacques René, IT director at Airclaims, told silicon.com the Microsoft CRM product he uses is a growing part of his overall IT strategy and is now seen as being so indispensable to staff that it has been rolled out on company BlackBerrys.

And the have-nots are also looking to get up-to-speed with their CRM strategy.

David Supple, head of IT at Ecotec Research and Consulting, told silicon.com: "We currently don't have a CRM system in place and we are suffering somewhat for the lack of it."

Supple agrees with vendor sentiment that the mid-market is now a hotbed of CRM sales activity.

He told silicon.com: "Most CRM systems have been targeted at very large enterprises to date but consideration is now being given to smaller companies such as ours."

One reason is because smaller companies often have more personal contact with customers and feel the bumps in the road far more dramatically when those relationships are mismanaged. As such, effective technical support for sales teams and customer service teams is becoming more essential as well as guaranteeing greater scalability.

Supple added: "Over the next 12 to 18 months we need to be putting together a strategy for an integrated knowledge management system and CRM system. We have far too much intellectual capital and customer affiliation focused around individual employees and we obviously need to protect this for the good of the business without sinking it under a supremely complex and expensive software system."