Customer Relationship Management Software in Tech Start-Ups

Abstract

This research investigates customer relationship management (CRM) systems in tech startups with the focus of identifying barriers and opportunities in the adaptation of the system. While CRM systems are widely known across all industries, especially within large corporations as their ability to optimize data collection, improve overall organizational workflow and improve decision making with support from the gathered data. The adoption rate of CRM systems within startups comes with unique challenges compared to larger corporations, which makes this an interesting area to investigate and study. Using different theoretical frameworks and collecting data from relevant respondents within the startup environment, this study explores how different factors influence the decision and consideration regarding adoption of a CRM system. This research is based on five qualitative interviews with individuals that work in different roles that have experience and insights when it comes to decision making in the fast paced startups environment. The findings in this research conclude that factors such as resources, technical knowledge, and uncertainty regarding long term return of implementing a CRM system, are some of the main barriers preventing startups from adopting a CRM system. Moreover, the study also identifies opportunities a CRM system can provide for a startup, such as improved customer management and organization of the data in the company. These findings and insights are looking at the gap in CRM research within tech startups and provide an overview of the barriers and opportunities tech startups face when considering adopting a CRM system to improve organizational work structure.