An omnichannel strategy for an SME doesn't start with the channels: it starts with the customer, who is one person and has to be recognised wherever they turn up. In 2025, according to Istat (the Italian national statistics institute, "Imprese e ICT", companies with at least 10 employees), 59.0% of companies used social media and 14.7% sold online; 21.1% of SMEs used a CRM. The channels are already there. What is missing, in most cases, is the place where information gathered on one channel becomes useful on the others.
This guide defines what omnichannel means for a company with few employees and systems already in use, separates omnichannel from simply "being everywhere", and proposes an order of work in five steps that starts with the data and ends with the channels, not the other way round. It's written for companies that already have an ERP, a website or an online store, and at least one active communication channel.
Every figure carries its source and year in the text. The author's assessments are flagged as such.
What omnichannel means (and what it doesn't)
Omnichannel means the customer experiences one single relationship with the company, whichever channel they happen to be using: they visit the site, receive a newsletter, message on WhatsApp, call the salesperson, buy in the shop. For that to be possible, three technical conditions have to hold:
- One customer identity: the same person is the same record in every system — not a contact in the online store, a customer in the ERP and a subscriber in the email platform.
- Shared history: what the customer did on one channel is visible to whoever serves them on another.
- Priority rules: which system is right about the customer record, which about activity, which about orders.
Multichannel, by contrast, is being present on several channels with separate archives: it works until the customer switches channel. When they do, the company treats them as a stranger. That's the most common situation in SMEs, and it isn't the channels' fault.
How many SMEs already have the channels, and how many connect them?
Istat, "Imprese e ICT" 2025, shows both the presence on channels and the presence of the tools that connect them.
| Indicator (Istat 2025, companies 10+ employees) | Value |
|---|---|
| Companies using social media | 59.0% |
| Companies selling online | 14.7% |
| Companies at least at basic digital intensity (4 activities out of 12) | 79.8% |
| Companies at high digital intensity (7 activities out of 12) | 38.1% |
| SMEs using CRM software | 21.1% |
Source: Istat, "Imprese e ICT", 2025; population: companies with at least 10 employees. "Digital intensity" is the European Digital Intensity Index (DII), calculated over 12 activities.
The reading is clear: four companies in five have a digital base, almost three in five communicate on social, but only one SME in five has the tool where the channels meet. The jump from "present" to "omnichannel" is a jump in data, not in channels.
Where do you start: the channels or the data?
The data. Adding a channel without a centre multiplies separate archives. The table sets out the two routes.
| If you start with… | What you get in 3 months | What you get in 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| A new channel (WhatsApp Business, a marketplace) | More leads, in yet another separate archive | More manual work for the people who sell; no figure on the return |
| A data centre (CRM integrated with the ERP and the site) | One customer record; you know where every lead came from | Every new channel hooks in within days; marketing measures what it produces |
The second row is the slower route at the start and the only one that holds. That's my judgement, not a figure.
The method: omnichannel in five steps
- Take stock of the channels and the archives. For each active channel (site, online store, email, social, phone, shop, field sales): where the customer's data ends up and who sees it. In most SMEs five or six archives come out.
- Choose the centre. A CRM integrated with the ERP is the natural centre: the ERP stays master of the customer record and the orders, the CRM becomes master of the interactions. How to set it up is explained in CRM for SMEs: what it is and when you need one.
- Connect the order-generating channels first. Site and online store, then email, then social and messaging. The order follows the revenue, not the fashion.
- Write three handover rules. What happens when a lead fills in a form; when a shop customer buys online; when a newsletter subscriber calls. Three written rules beat a manual.
- Measure by channel, decide by customer. Leads, opportunities and orders are read by source channel; decisions about an individual customer are taken on their single record.
When it isn't worth it
This is my judgement, not a figure. It isn't worth opening new channels if the active ones aren't connected to a centre: you're adding noise. It isn't worth talking about omnichannel if the company doesn't yet have an ERP in order: the customer record first, the channels after. And it isn't worth handing everything to a communications agency with no one inside the company owning the data: channels can be outsourced, the centre can't.
What an omnichannel strategy costs an SME
No list prices, because they depend on the systems you have. The spend is structured like this:
- Integrations between the site/online store, the ERP and the CRM: the main line, one-off plus any subscription connectors.
- Configuring the centre: single customer record, pipeline, handover rules, automations.
- Channels: licences and content production; for an SME this is usually the most predictable line.
- Oversight: whoever checks each month that the data is going in and that the three numbers (leads, opportunities, orders by channel) are readable.
If a quote only talks about channels and content, the part that makes the rest omnichannel is missing.
Frequently asked questions
Are omnichannel and multichannel the same thing?
No. Multichannel is being present on several channels with separate archives; omnichannel is recognising the same customer across all channels thanks to a single customer record and a shared history. The difference isn't the number of channels but whether a centre connects them.
Can an SME that sells only through field sales be omnichannel?
Yes, if the information the reps gather goes into the same system as the information from the site and the emails. The human channel is a channel: it has to be connected like the others, with a simple rule about what the rep records and when.
Which channel should you start with?
The one that generates orders today, which in most SMEs is the site or the salesperson. Istat 2025 puts online selling at 14.7% of companies with at least 10 employees: for the rest the order-generating channel is still the human one, and that's where connecting the data has to start.
Do you need a CRM to do omnichannel?
You need a data centre; in SME practice that centre is a CRM integrated with the ERP. According to Istat 2025, 21.1% of SMEs use one. Without a centre, the channels stay separate archives and omnichannel stays a word.
In short
Italian SMEs already have the channels (59.0% on social, Istat 2025). What turns presence into an omnichannel strategy is a data centre that recognises the customer wherever they turn up: one customer record, a shared history, priority rules. You start there, connect the order-generating channels first, measure by channel and decide by customer.
The first step, taking stock of the channels and the archives, is what we do in every analysis. If you want to work out where to start, tell me how you work today.
Sources
- Istat, "Imprese e ICT", 2025 (press release, December 2025). Population: companies with at least 10 employees. Figures on social media, online sales, the digital intensity index and CRM.
A note on the nature of the figures: the percentages are verified Istat data; the order of work, the timings and the judgements on what is worth doing are the author's assessments based on experience.
Sergio Selvelli, 15 September 2026. Rewritten and expanded from the first version.