Almost a third – 30% – of UK SMEs still do not have any CRM technology in place, according to research by Workbooks.

The survey showed the UK small business market (those with £5-£250 million revenue) have seen an increase in CRM deployment in recent years, but nearly a third are lagging behind, still using spreadsheets rather than more sophisticated technology.

According to the research, the primary drivers for CRM adoption are to improve the productivity of customer-facing employees (66%), enhance customer experience (62%), and reduce operational costs (49%).

Obstacles to CRM adoption

Looking at the barriers to implementing a CRM system, the survey found for more than half of respondents the greatest obstacle is migrating and integrating data. Other obstacles deterring SMEs include lack of resources (40%), lack of IT skills (38%), cost (38%) and resistance to change (34%).

Some 89% of SMEs are looking for contact management functions from a CRM system, according to the report, along with dashboards and reporting. Customer service is also a rising priority for 43% of small businesses, but only 11% look for social media functionality.

John Cheney, CEO of Workbooks, said: “The results of the survey show that we have come a long way in the past few years. But there are still too many SMEs that consider CRM to be too expensive and too complicated to implement.”