R E PO RT

Measuring Value & Success from CRM
MAXIMIZER SME BENCHMARK STUDY 2017
PART I: KEY BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND
OPERATING BENEFITS

An annual study of the value and successthat SMEs are gaining from CRM in
Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Published By

Management Summary• There is a lack of research-based literature on the
genuine value and success that small to mediumsized enterprises are achieving through use of
Customer Relationship Management(CRM solutions)• In order to help fill this gap, Maximizer is publishing,
for the first time, its annual research into the subject– the Maximizer SME Benchmark Study.

31%

Companies placing
CRM at the heartof their business to
support overall growth• The study examines research undertaken with
300 SME customers of CRM solutions in the
EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa).
The study outputs include 2 publications,focused on particular elements that contributeto delivering CRM value and success:o Part I: Key Business Objectives andOperating Benefits - examines tacticaland strategic approaches in addressing
the new customer journey.
o Part II: Key Product Features and BusinessOutcomes - examines the more practicaluse of CRM with reference to gaining
CRM mastery.
• The Maximizer report reveals that just under athird of SMEs studied are putting their CRM at thevery heart of their business, deploying it as thecompany’s wide repository for customer
intelligence, available to all departments, and usingthat intelligence to drive the company’s growthstrategy.
• The larger proportion of respondents, however, ismeasuring CRM return-on-investment on
individual factors such as process efficiency andproductivity.

Any SME CRM user who wishes to take partin the annual benchmarking research should
contact customersuccess@maximizer.co.uk
If you wish to receive any of the above publications
or require additional help or support regarding theBenchmark Study or CRM Mastery, please email:marketing@maximizer.co.uk

R E P O R T Measuring Value & Success from CRM Maximizer SME Benchmark Study 2017 - PART I

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Introduction
Many organisations have invested in CRM solutions with the intention of managing theircustomer relationships more effectively – better service for their customers, combined withincreased business (revenue and profit) for their company.
Yet very little is understood about the successfactors and return on investment that small andmedium-sized organisations (SMEs) are actually
gaining from this outlay. There is a great dealof opinion on the subject, but it appears little isfounded on a published factual basis.
The situation is starting to change, notably withpublications such as that recently from a Forrester
analyst, which offers an approach to building an ROI
calculation methodology1. Even such good work,
however, needs to be complemented with better
information on precisely what benefits and value
businesses are gaining from their CRM investments.

o Part II: Key Product Features and BusinessOutcomes - examines the more practical use of
CRM with reference to gaining CRM mastery.

5.6%
18.9%

United Kingdom
Europe53.5%

South Africa

22%

Other

This is particularly important for SMEs who do nothave the resource or time to devote to the subject.
For companies of this size, simply to know what
their peers are doing with their CRM, and which
benefits they are achieving as a consequence,
would be extremely useful.
As a result, Maximizer has commissioned
independent analysis on the experience of its
customers in obtaining business value and successfrom their CRM solutions. The result is benchmark
data derived from in-depth research with 300 SME
CRM customers within the EMEA region (Europe,
Middle East and Africa).

by Geographic Breakdown

by Industry Sector

18%

17%

Manufacturing

69%

24%

IT & Communications
Other Industries

26%

Consultancy

54%

38%
54%

The ‘Annual Benchmark Study 2017 – Measuring
Value and Success from CRM’ consists of:Finance
Administrative
Education
Constructiono Part I: Key Business Objectives andOperating Benefits - examines tacticaland strategic approaches in addressing
the new customer journey.

Forester: K Leggett, S Powers, M Cain, P Harrison,
Quantify the Business Value of CRM

1

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CRM Value – Why is it important right now?
It is a particularly topical time to establish a
CRM Value and Success Benchmark for SMEs.
The sales techniques of the past have rapidly
become outdated. Customers and prospects nolonger interact with salespeople as the ‘expert’source of information. Nowadays, customers
embark on a new kind of ‘journey’ where they
start with their own research. Their behaviour,
their expressions of interest in a subject, now
indicates when THEY are ready to buy. People
are less and less receptive to being sold to.
This means into today’s climate, a business thatis seen as informative, expert and helpful as
the customer progresses along their ‘journey’towards purchase, puts itself in a leading
position to be considered as a favoured supplier.
Employing a CRM solution to track, inform,
guide, manage and measure the customer
experience allows a business to spot when aprospect or customer might be in ‘buying mode’.
CRM solutions also provide a crucial tool to help
manage any danger points along this journey,
for example, when a customer service failure
is undermining the customer experience andmay cause that customer to take their businesselsewhere. In point of fact, every department of
a company’s operations needs to be responsible
for creating a positive customer experienceand to help generate enhanced revenue andprofitable growth.

more inclined to change suppliers if the businessdoes not deliver their expected quality ofexperience.
As a result, organisations can no longer
implement their customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) solution in a stand-alone
fashion. CRM technology has become THE
critical ‘go-to’ tool for the whole business –accessed and employed by all functions of theorganisation in order to use intelligence about
the customer’s overall ‘experience’ to deliver
stand-out customer service.

By providing access to customer intelligence
for all departments, CRM ensures value from
customer data is multiplied several times overwithout disrupting existing operating systems
and technology. More and more, CRM is
becoming the central hub to which all decisiondriving company information is relayed.

Businesses are re-thinking their growth and
CRM strategy in light of today’s self-educatingand empowered customer. The new resulting
buyer-seller relationship has put increased
pressure on businesses. Customers increasingly
expect high-value experiences and are becoming

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The Starting Point - Business Objectives
The first area examined in the study focuseson the principle business objectives that
SMEs typically have for their CRM investment.
What are the main hard business outputs thatcompanies expect their CRM to help achieve?
The results show a range of ‘maturity’ in the useof CRM by small and medium-sized enterprises.

The majority of SMEs however, according to
the Maximizer Benchmark Study, have yet to set
such objectives or reach this level of maturity
in deploying their CRM solutions. They are still
carefully extracting return on investment fromtheir CRM, but are more focused on process andproductivity objectives.

The study reveals around a third of companies– are placing their CRM solution at the very
heart of their business. They view their CRM
as fundamental to driving growth, customer
satisfaction, loyalty, and revenues. Their
whole set of decision making processes acrossthe company – whether company-wide or
department by department – draw on thecentral customer knowledge hub that the CRM
solution has become.

This is a natural fundamental starting point for
CRM deployment. Efficiency and productivity
gains are relatively easy to measure. And
any CRM solution that does not first deliver
against such goals has not been effectively
implemented, adopted nor measured.

This highly ‘mature’ proportion of SMEs may beseen as those who have not only recognised the‘new customer journey’, but are also harnessing
the power of their CRM solution and processes
to make every customer touchpoint, every
customer interaction, more intelligent andinformed.

Top 6 CriticalBusiness
Objectives for CRM
Improve Process Efficiency

84%
Increase Productivity

75%

By linking in the activities and the performancemeasurement of all aspects of a business toa central CRM hub, then every element of thecustomer relationship can be enabled, measured
and improved.
The result is happier customers, reduced
defection rates, more informed leadershipdecisions and ultimately greater revenues, profit
and growth.

44%

Increase Customer
Loyalty and Satisfaction

41%

Increase Revenue

Improve Decision Making

37%

31% Increase Growth

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The Key Returns - Operating Benefits
When evaluating either the strategic or the processcontribution that CRM is making in an SME, research
respondents were asked which Operating Benefits
were being measurably gained from their CRM solution.
Respondents identified five key operating benefits
that result from successful CRM implementation, as
examined below.
Centralisation of Customer Data
Data centralisation addresses the very common
problem of ‘data silos’ that are often and continue tobe created and used within businesses, not only at
departmental, but frequently at individual level as well.
Centralisation of data is an essential first building blockfor CRM if it is to be deployed successfully throughout
the organisation, either immediately or in the future.
Commentators have called this creating ‘a single
version of the truth’.

where a culture of data silos has become entrenched in
the organisation.
By working from a central repository of customer
intelligence, there is no reason for data inaccuracy.
Moreover, centralised data held in the CRM also helps
to give a more comprehensive view to all of the various
interactions and experiences a customer is having withthe business. So focus on data quality is as much aboutcomprehensiveness, as it is about its accuracy andcurrency.

Top 5 Operating Benefits
Realised from CRM

87%

Centralisation of Customer Data

If all aspects of the business – sales, marketing,customer service, operations, product development,
finance, etc – are working from the same datum, then
all are equally enabled with customer intelligence.

Improved Data
Quality and Value

Each can be expected to bear responsibility for building
a good customer experience, and thereby contributing
to company growth.

60%

Centralisation necessarily improves collaboration
across teams, especially when implemented througha ‘cloud’ deployment3 to enable remote access.
Information is shared in a way that makes it easier forteams to interact and assist each other.

70%
Improved Visibility ofCommunication & Activites

52%

29%

Improved Customer Segmentation

Increased Productivity with Reduced Manual Admin

Improved Data Quality & Value
Customer data needs to be up-to-date and accurate to
be useful – in effect, avoiding the premise of ‘garbage
in, garbage out’. However, this is a substantial challenge
for any business to successfully achieve, especially

See, for instance: McKinsey, Big business in small business: cloud services for SMBs, February 2014; BCSG,
The small business revolution: trends in SMB adoption,
2015; eWeek, CRM adoption to reach $24 Billion in
2014: Gartner, February 2014

3

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Certainly, in the majority of cases, this kind of
improvement has involved a re-examinationof business processes and activities to ensure
successful buy-in and application by all departments
and individuals in adopting data inputting andupdating habits. The ongoing use and monitoringof Key Performance Indicators, training and data
management practices will also be critical to thecontinued delivery of such benefits.
Improved Visibility of Communication & 			
Activities (Business Intelligence)
Improved visibility of communications and activities
suitably demonstrates the progressive improvements andvalue that can be obtained from successful CRM adoption
and application. Ensuring the precious two benefits arebeing accomplished automatically results in this third
benefit and more being realised.
Instantaneous visibility of all customer actions andinteractions provides an important resource for both staff
and managers, allowing for better quality and improved
customer engagement. Points of customer experience
failure can be spotted and resolved quickly before theycause too much damage to the customer relationship.
Transparency reveals success and failure levels
in every part of the business. Moreover, precious
resources can be applied where they are most
likely to produce a measureable return, or create aplatform for future growth.

Within marketing, segmentation is a necessary practicein delivering more effective messages and campaigns
to specific groups of people or companies with acommon attribute or behaviour such as industry sector,
geographic location or buying behaviour, this allows
for resource to be directed to the most definable,
accessible, actionable, and profitable audiences withgrowth potential. In other words, a company will findit impossible to target the entire market effectively,
because of time, cost and effort restrictions.
However, a common misconception for SME businesses
is to think that segmentation is only of concern tomarketing. Fundamentally, businesses need to know
who their customers are, how they behave, how muchattention and resource they consume, and ultimately
the overall revenue and profit they generate. As theaccountants say, ‘goodwill equals profit’.
Yet, many organisations have little idea about theindividual profitability of each customer.
Segmentation allows resources to be applied toeach client in accordance with their real value tothe business. Accordingly, marketing, sales efforts,
delivery and customer support efforts can be tailored
to meet different groups of customers based on theirprofitability and growth potential.

In the here and now, management has access to upto-date information and analysis on deals and deal
conversion metrics at their fingertips, through tools
such as Dashboards and automated reporting.
Better Analysis and Segmentation
Another powerful benefit that can be realised from Data
Centralisation and Improved Data Quality is the ability
to analyse and segment your prospects and customer
database. Some 52% of respondents confirmed thatthrough the use of CRM, they actively benefit from thisactivity.

How often does business find itself spending
valuable hours on a challenging situation or customerthat in reality brings little value to the business?
Segmentation and having this greater understandingof your customer’s value can help eliminate such
misguided efforts to more profitable growth activity.

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Increased Productivity with Reduced
Manual Admin
Many businesses want to achieve more without
increasing (or even reducing) the cost base.
One such way of achieving this is with improved
processes leading to increased productivity, as
reflected in both these elements being ranked 1st
and 2nd in Key Business Objectives.
Respondents’ CRM solutions are enabling identificationof inefficiency bottlenecks, refinement of existing
business processes, automation of routine tasks andbetter personal organisation/prioritisation of staff.

What is clear is that focussed objectives
and deeper investment in CRM brings wider
progressive benefits and value across the business,significantly contributing to its strategic growthand levels of customer engagement and service.
If you wish to receive any of the publications mentioned
in this or require additional help or support regarding
the Benchmark Study or CRM Mastery, please email:marketing@maximizer.co.uk

The gains can be considerable, including more
responsive customer service, better use of sales
people’s time, closer measurement of productdevelopment cycles and marketing campaigns. The
efficiency element is also evident at a more seniorlevel through the use of automated reporting and
Dashboards.
Having clear KPIs and reporting mechanisms to capture
statistical evidence of such improvements provides agood basis for measuring CRM value and success andultimately understanding your CRM ROI.

Conclusion
Maximizer has published the key findings from its
SME Benchmark Study for the first time to givesmall to medium-sized companies and autonomous
departments of larger enterprises a clear
understanding of how their peers are deploying
CRM, what objectives they are setting for their
CRM investment, and what main benefits they are
gaining and measuring. It is hoped that this annual
publication will be an important first move in fillingthe information gap for SMEs on evaluating an
accurate return-on-investment from CRM solution
deployment.

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About Maximizer
Maximizer CRM is fueling the growth of businesses around the world.
Our CRM solutions come fully loaded with the core Sales, Marketing and Service functionality
companies need to optimize sales productivity, accelerate marketing and improve customer service.
With flexible on-premise, our cloud and your cloud deployment options, tailored-to-fit flexibility,
state-of-the art security infrastructure, industry-specific editions and anywhere/anytime mobile
access, Maximizer is the affordable CRM solution of choice.
From offices in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and AsiaPac, and a worldwide networkof certified business partners, Maximizer has shipped over one million licenses to more than
120,000 customers worldwide.

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