Title:
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The implementation of information technology and customer relationship management systems in small and medium-sized interprises
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This research is infonned by two areas of study, customer relationship management
(CRM) and infonnation technology (IT) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It
investigates the behavioural and psychosocial aspects of people within an SME's
environment, and their perceptions of the IT and CRM adoption environment.
The first major development in this study is a survey instrument, called the b~formatioll
Technology and Customer Relationships Management Adoption Inventory (lTCRMAI).
The instrument has five scales, which measure the factors of the IT /CRM adoption
environment in SMEs. They are Information Technology Resources, Customer
Relationships, Organisational, Networking and Barriers to Adoption. This instrument is
now available for use in different settings. The other major development is a framework
for IT/CRM adoption called the Information Technology/Customer Relationships Adoption
Framework. It illustrates the overall adoption process with factors that could influence the
outcome of an implementation in SMEs, in this case, is the Perceived Success.
The major findings from the study suggest that, in SMEs, various factors influence the
CRM/IT adoption environment and these factors are Customer Relationships,
Organisational, Networking, Infonnation Technology Resources and Barriers to Adoption.
Most of these factors are associated with each other except for Barriers to Adoption, which
only associates with the Organisational and Customer Relationships factors. The
Infonnation Technology Resources factor has direct contribution to the outcome called
Perceived Success of the implementation, whereas other factors have significant
associations with this outcome. A more detailed assessment of the Information
Technology Resources component found that for SMEs to have a successful
implementation, organisations should focus on strengthening their information tcchnology
capabilities and abilities. Personal factors of age, gender, education and profession.
business factors of size, position in industry and type of industry, and CRM-relatcd factors
such as frequency of customer contact and the use of CRM also show signi ficance
association with the adoption environment and thc perceived success. The results from this
study suggest some guidelines for SMEs when it comes to IT and CRM adoption.
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