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A single customer record: how to build one in an SME

sergioselvelli@gmail.com (Sergio Selvelli) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:06:45 GMT

A single customer record is the archive in which the online store, the ERP and the CRM recognise the same person as one customer, with one system allowed to correct their data. In 2025 only 41.9% of Italian SMEs analysed their own business data, against 83.6% of large companies (Istat, the Italian national statistics institute, "Imprese e ICT", reference year 2025, press release of 15 December 2025, companies of 10–49 employees vs. large companies) — and it's hard to analyse data that three different systems tell three different ways.

Omnichannel for SMEs: where to actually start

sergioselvelli@gmail.com (Sergio Selvelli) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:05:47 GMT

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.

A 90-day marketing plan for an SME: the method in 4 steps

sergioselvelli@gmail.com (Sergio Selvelli) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:04:57 GMT

A 90-day marketing plan for an SME is a short list: one measurable objective, the systems that have to talk to each other in order to measure it, three channels at most, one number to look at every week. In 2025, according to Istat (the Italian national statistics institute, "Imprese e ICT", companies with at least 10 employees), 42.7% of companies analysed their data, 21.1% of SMEs used a CRM and 59.0% of companies used social media. Most SMEs have more channels than numbers. A 90-day plan is how you reverse that ratio.

AI in SMEs: the problem is the data

sergioselvelli@gmail.com (Sergio Selvelli) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:04:03 GMT

The short answer: in most Italian SMEs an artificial intelligence project doesn't stall over the model chosen or the cost of the licence. It stalls because the company's data isn't in a fit state to be read. The companies say so themselves: among those that considered investing in AI without going ahead, 45.2% name the unavailability or poor quality of data among the obstacles, and 58.6% name a lack of skills (Istat, the Italian national statistics institute, Imprese e ICT, 2025).

Integrating CRM and ERP in an SME: where to start

sergioselvelli@gmail.com (Sergio Selvelli) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:03:14 GMT

The short answer: integrating CRM and ERP means making sure the customer record, the orders and the payment status exist once only and can be read by both systems. It isn't an IT project: it's a decision about which system is in charge of which piece of data. In Italian companies the ERP is almost always there and the CRM almost never: in 2025, 49.5% of companies with at least 10 employees used ERP software, only 21.7% CRM software (Istat, the Italian national statistics institute, Imprese e ICT, 2025).

CRM for SMEs: what it is and when you need one

sergioselvelli@gmail.com (Sergio Selvelli) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:01:56 GMT

An SME needs a CRM when customer data lives in more than one place: the ERP, the online store, people's inboxes, spreadsheets. In 2025, according to Istat (the Italian national statistics institute, "Imprese e ICT", companies with at least 10 employees), 21.1% of Italian SMEs used CRM software against 56.5% of large companies; 48.8% of SMEs used an ERP. The gap doesn't mean SMEs don't need a CRM: it means that today, in four SMEs out of five, the customer relationship has no centre. The ones who build that centre first turn marketing into a lever on productivity.