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In order to compete with their larger competitors, customer relationship management (CRM) should be harnessed by smaller businesses, according to a computer specialist.

In choosing the features most applicable to the direction the business and not just investing in a basic system to cover everything, a less established company could improve their client responses and improve takings, Seamus Byrne of News.com.au said.

"By combining the best features of CRM software with an empowered team who are free to use social tools to communicate more directly and personally with your clients, a savvy small business could find many ways to outshine much larger competitors," the expert continued.

Ease of use is probably the most important factor in CRM adoption, he added, as productivity inside the office would be helped due to the simplicity of maintenance.

The necessity of CRM in the commercial market was highlighted by the government's Business Link facility, which stated that targeting individual customers could potentially help a company survive.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.