U.S. small businesses adopting CRM but not buzz words 2 April, 2007 By Liam Lahey

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That report stated U.S. small businesses are more likely to take a wait-and-see attitude with ERP/CRM implementations. Although almost three quarters of SMBs use business accounting software, just 12 per cent of small businesses currently use and 11 per cent plan to use ERP/SCM solutions in the next 12 months, AMI-Partners said. CRM adoption is low as well, with one out of six small businesses currently using and the same percentage planning to use CRM solutions in the next 12 months.

Hank Barnes, vice-president of marketing and product management, for Raleigh, N.C.-based Visitar, said while he didn't disagree entirely with the report's findings, insofar as CRM goes, small businesses are just as interested in the technology as larger companies provided they're not bombarded with industry buzz words.

"If you drill down, are small businesses looking at ERP or CRM? No. But if you ask them are they looking to find ways to more affordably sell over the phone, or to improve customer service and retention rates, they're interested," he said. "Software-as-a-service is interesting because it is a space that got its' start with small businesses. Vendors selling into that market are now abandoning their small business customers.

"Companies such as NetSuite and Salesforce.com are all about Oracle, Siebel, and SAP. They sell direct so they're wanting bigger deals and thus small businesses are being ignored."

That's where Visitar comes in, Barnes said. Through Visitar's network of channel partners, the firm aims to embrace the small business community with its' solutions.

"When you get into using industry buzz words, you scare small businesses to some extent," he added. "It makes them think they need to make an expensive and dramatic change as to how they do business in order to adapt the solution . . . it's the fear factor for small businesses."

Visitar, founded a year and a half ago and targeting SBs exclusively via channel partners, recently announced the implementation of its' flagship product, the "360° Care viaVisitar" solution with the Durham Bulls Baseball Club (a Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays) to track and forecast ticket sales.

The Durham Bulls draw more than 500,000 fans in paid attendance each year to its home stadium, in Durham, N.C. With its previous sales tracking system, each sales rep managed sales activities independently, with management having little insight into the ongoing relationship that the organization had with the customer and little chance to leverage opportunities to increase sales. One other issue within the Bulls was internal turnover and there was no good mechanism to get new reps up to speed or to pick up where their predecessor left off in the sales cycle.

By deploying Visitar's solution, the Bulls have linked their sales team into a common system to gain visibility and enhance overall productivity.

360° Care viaVisitar is a web-based solution that provides complete CRM capabilities to manage contacts, sales efforts, and service activities. Integrated with existing phone systems, Visitar software enables inbound and outbound connections with prospects and customers from home or on the road.

"Until recently, sophisticated customer interaction applications were exclusively found within the largest of organizations," he said. "With 360° Care viaVisitar, businesses of all types and sizes now have access to a highly efficient model for driving new sales and customer retention."