Talisma tweaks CRM for SMBs

BANGALORE, INDIA: Entering the SMB market recently, Talisma Corporation Pvt. Ltd. plans to provide CRM solution which would make sense and bring business advantage with cost benefits. Sudhir Shetty, vice president, International Services and Implementation Services, Talisma in conversation with V. Sudhakshina, discusses the adoption of CRM solutions in the SMB segment and its recent trends.

What kind of packaging are you offering for the SMB customers?

Traditionally we have been very strong in the BFSI sector and have been playing on the mid-to-large enterprise market. We do see a lot of growth in the SMB sector, but it a small section in our overall pipe. Primarily our focus is on mid-to-large, which might change this year.

Last year we decided to focus a lot more on SMB segments, not from developing a different solution but trying to give an offering which makes sense to the SMB customers. We tried to explore different kinds of options in terms of how do we deliver the solution with feasible TCO and what offerings would make sense to SMBs.

We have basically defined a solution which takes best practices from our existing ones, which we have been offering to the mid and large markets. Then we consolidated those best practices into a solution which gives benefits to the SMB in a SaaS model. So they get the advantage of our experience and also get the benefit of low cost services and other things. They get everything bundled into a solution.

So basically we have brought the same solution but tweaked specifically for the SMB market.

Hosted or on-premise, What is more preferred by SMBs?

As now what we are looking is a mix of both. Predominant side of ones, who want to try solutions start off with hosted models and could move into on-premise solution. But typically they want to start with hosted models.

We have been offering both options, hosted and on-premise models. Our philosophy is that we don't give the difference in solution. There are other vendors who give difference between hosted v/s on-premise. But, we want to give our customers flexibility in choosing the solution. If a customer prefers hosted or on-premise, we give them what they want.

Our initial focus has been on hosted platforms because we feel that it would make more sense, but there is no restriction.

How do you see the adoption of mobile and social media with CRM application?

It depends on the market segment we are working in.

When we do business with educational institutions, they are more prone towards social media, but that wont be the same with security and financial institution.

Some are strongly towards mobile CRM, such as capital markets or security companies, where a lot of people are on the field.

But the demand for mobile CRM is more from the enterprises than the SMBs. Where again there is no restriction if they are willing to do. For example one of the things people wonder is the kind of phones required for mobile CRM. You need larger screen phones, which are expensive.

So, an SMB which has a very large sales force may not be able to afford them. If it is an SMB which has a niche segment to do some specialized work might take it.

What are the challenges of deploying CRM for SMBs?

One of the big challenges specifically to SMBs is that the solutions tend to be very complex and may have lots of useless features. Sometimes, they also end up getting lesser features because they cannot afford the cost, which doesn't really help the business.

So the vendor needs to be creative enough to give the same kind of features at affordable price point. One needs to make sure he or she provides a solution that would make sense from an SMB business perspective with appropriate pricing models.