NEEDHAM, Mass. – With advances often come challenges.

Such is the case in the new realm of integrated bankingsolutions, complete with Internet and mobile-powered transactionsand real-time balance and transactional monitoring.

On the flipside–as any credit union trying to do small businessservices has discovered–servicing such a new member base can be adaunting task, as the stakes for customer relationship managementhave never been higher.

There are options out there, but sorting through them takes timeand effort, according to a new report from TowerGroup titled SmallBusiness Customer Relationship Management: There's No SilverBullet.

Thanks to the ease in opening virtual-based solutions, thereport said, the financial services landscape is full of local andinternational options for small business owners. Failure to keepthem happy can quickly lead to product abandonment or even completeaccount transfer.

According to report author Patricia Hines, perhaps no singleconsumer group is more ignored when it comes to CRM than smallbusinesses. This, of course, is a potentially costly oversight forcredit unions seeking to take advantage of this burgeoning new areaof enterprise.

The culprit? Despite the banking power of the small businessbase, CRM solutions traditionally focus on retail customers andmembers. For nearly a decade, sales, service and marketing have ledthe pack in CRM focus, Hines said in her new report.

The good news is that an undeserved business segment is often aprimary area of future revenue growth.

“To identify revenue opportunities for this customer segment,banks will adopt technology solutions to improve small businessCRM,” said Hines. “To maximize revenue from this segment, bankswill break down the silos between business units and capitalize onexpanding relationships with small businesses and their wealthyowners.”

Hines separated small business CRM into a three-element process:360-degree small business customer profile, delivery channelinteractions, and banking products and services.

The 360-degree portion–Hines' first element– refers to adoptinga holistic perspective on the nature of small business.

She said “the ideal small business customer profile is composedof an owner's related small businesses and employees as well as theowner's personal accounts, resulting in a 360-degree view of theentity.”

Second, channel interaction equates to channel synchronization.At a credit union, in this case, a true small business CRM solutionallows members to receive parallel, complementary service levelsacross all areas of interaction.

Finally, Hines uncovered a small business segment more astute attechnology than nearly any other banking client base. Thus,products and services offered to these individuals must match suchsavvy through consistency in both message and design. This,however, is an occasionally difficult task for a customer segmentoften subscribed to a vast array of distinct yet simultaneouslyinterlocked banking practices.

“A challenge arises,” the TowerGroup analyst said, “when productand transaction data from departmental silos or third-partyproviders, such as insurance, investments or merchant services,does not interface to centralized data management systems orprovides only periodic updates.”

As could be expected–with such an array of servicesrequired–many small business CRM processes are outsourced tothird-party vendors. Siebel, Salesforce.com, Harte-Hanks, HarlandTouche and inBusiness Services lead the pack in theseofferings.

While each of the above offers unique solution strengths, nosingle entity–Hines concluded–is what she would call a “silverbullet” approach to small business CRM. As in servicing otherbanking segments, the ideal providers should be selected only aftera thorough assessment of both institutional and end-user need.

–[email protected]