Like any marriage, there are going to be good days and bad, but undoubtedly CRM and Big Data should have a long and happy marriage. Whilst Big Data is considered an enterprise level necessity, there are most definitely advantages for SME’s and start-up businesses. Let’s take a brief look at how CRM and Big Data fit together to enable companies to connect with their client base.
CRM systems, were initially developed to assist salespeople in qualifying leads and closing business, but they have matured considerably, since the name, address and contact number days. Not just a tool for businesses to store and retrieve customer data, it enables companies to organise, report and review data in a more meaningful way.
CRM systems now go beyond just increasing sales efficiency, and can help 
businesses recognise more profit through customer satisfaction and loyalty. Through these systems you can create; ‘Org Charts’ in order to track the key decision makers, the size of the company, or prospects you have with a client. You can track client feedback and support issues, particularly how quickly issues are being dealt with, how issues are being resolved and by whom. Plus you can create the perfect ‘dream team’ to work on large scale projects.
Plug-in apps can seamlessly unite data on various networking channels with data inside your CRM system, so that employees and users can stay connected with their customers and clients in real-time. And let’s not overlook the powerful reporting tools. Without these systems, small businesses would struggle to make meaning from the data they are pulling in. But, instead with the use of dashboards and reports, companies can quickly pull information out of the system for analysis and display it visually, or in the more traditional spreadsheet format.
Whilst many companies think of Big Data, as being a time, labour and money intensive investment, they often overlook the data they already have. When it comes to making the most of your data it is not about the volume of data that a company owns, but more about how it is being analysed and used for competitive advantage, whether they are global organisation, or a one-man band.