Successful CRM relies on the use of technology, while successful CRM implementation is more of a business philosophy than a technical solution. Thus the most successful ones see CRM not as application to be deployed but as a framework for how their organization interacted with customers. Only through the cooperation and coordination between the management personnel of the company, daily users of the system, and the provider of the system can the managing concept and method integrate in the company, thus improving benefits and core competence of the company.

 Adrian Payne (2002): Customer Relationship Management, www.crm2day.com, 2002.
 Adrian Mello. (2002): Six Mistakes that will sink your CRM. www.zdnet.com, March 18, 2002
 Terry Murphy (2004): In Search Of CRM Success, http://creditunionmagazine.com/story.php?doc_id=107, September 1, 2004

How might a typical service sector SME implement a CRM system?

To survive in the global market, focusing on the customer is becoming a key factor for companies big and small. It is known that it takes up to five tim英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】es more money to acquire a new customer than to get an existing customer to make a new purchase. (Adrian Payne, 2002) Managing customer relationship is important for all businesses, but is critical for service businesses who rely on repeat customers, ongoing contracts and referrals. Therefore, customer retention is particularly important to SME’s because of their limited resources. With limited resources of finance and people, how might a service sector SME go about implementing a CRM system?

My research indicates that:

- SME’s do not always have the IT infrastructure or knowledge to implement many CRM systems
- SME’s need / want simpler integrated business systems, not lots of different complex systems
- SME’s want realistic IT investment in line with achievable business returns.