Companies keep it simple for customer management

According to a report entitled "The ERP and CRM market in Poland 2005-2006" by market research firm PMR, only 12 percent of Polish companies employing more than 50 people use CRM software. Although this accounts for 2,100 firms, the market is still undeveloped.

Out of this 2,100, only 500 firms have advanced CRM packages, with the remaining part using simple solutions. In most cases companies create CRM applications themselves, instead of using professional services.

"The small demand for advanced CRM in Poland has many reasons," says the report's author, Wojciech Szajnert from PMR. "Most companies do not need solutions supporting customer service. Moreover, the Polish market is very much price-oriented, with smaller pressure on the quality of service. From the point of view of many companies, investing in expensive solutions to improve customer service does not make sense."

The report estimates that in 2006, 300 firms that employ more than 50 people will implement new CRM programs. This is not much, especially considering that there are 17,800 such firms in the country. CRM software producers and suppliers will be involved in just 220 of these implementations, out of which only 60 or 70 will be on a large scale.

Still, some CRM producers are optimistic about their sector. "We are satisfied with our sales results. Companies have become mature enough to employ CRM [and] the sector of small and medium-sized companies is waking up and growing," says Michał Lipiecki, CEO of Polish CRM producer Bs4 Internet, which records 40 CRM implementations a year in the SME sector at an average cost of zł.10,000. At the same time, Lipiecki admits that some CRM producers are unsatisfied with the market, especially at the top end, which is already saturated.

According to Lipiecki, the market will become polarized in the future. "Companies running typical, commercial activities will continue using basic CRM modules [and] companies, which will aspire to generate added value, will decide on advanced CRM solutions."

Lipiecki claims that this is the last possible moment for companies to implement CRM: "The competitors lacking proper tools will be left behind."