Factors affecting the selection and implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) process

Abstract

The situation of Hungarian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises has become very difficult as the result of the economic changes of the recent years. The open European market, the economic crisis and the ever increasing competition demand fast reaction, creating a serious challenge for these enterprises coping with a lack of capital and other resources. Therefore, companies in the SME sector pay an increasing attention to serve their customers at a high level. In order to achieve this, they often seek an IT solution. Owing to these circumstances it is extremely important for the enterprises coping with harsh economic conditions to choose and implement the most suitable CRM IT solution quickly, efficiently and at the lowest risk of possible failure. This requires, however, the thorough knowledge of competencies of the organization, the wide range of solutions available on the market and adequate methodology which offers success for them. The present research aims to explore the factors affecting the decision-making process in the course of which the SME heads select and implement a CRM system. As the result of our research, the specification defined by experts and heads of user companies could be determined and classified.