Business Drivers for CRM Adoption in the Software Services Sector: A Case Study Analysis

Abstract

This study was undertaken to gain better understanding of the business drivers for CRM adoption in software service companies. The literature on CRM gives the impression of being inconsistent. The objective is to uncover the market trend and reasons for CRM adoption. A case study analysis involving three Bangalore based software service firms which implemented CRM, was done. Semi-structured interview method was used for gathering data. The key finding of this research is that competition and customer retention are the major motivators for a firm to adopt CRM. Software services companies are fast emerging all over the world especially in South Asia. These companies operate in a very competitive market and there is a need to differentiate a service from the competition, for endurance. One of these differentiators could be the adoption of CRM to improve service, performance, customer satisfaction and productivity. However, the process of CRM adoption in the service industry has not yet been studied. The value of this paper is that it illustrates how a case study approach can be used to understand the real market scenarios and identify business drivers for CRM adoption by software service firms.

Keywords: Software service industry, CRM implementation, Key drivers, Case study investigation