Managers of large companies are always looking for smart solutions to optimize the corporation’s results, tasks and sectors. In an effort to have more reliability and automate processes, we have two options: CRM and ERP.
These systems are capable of ensuring a better development of many routine activities. However, companies have distinct needs and conditions that should be considered before making any kind of investment.
Although both offer benefits for your company, each of them has some important and unique characteristics. To learn more about the advantages and how to choose between CRM and ERP, keep reading this article.
What is ERP and what are its advantages?
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a type of management software aimed at data integration, which allows daily processes, such as billing, cash flow, purchase control, inventory, accounts, expenses and tax collection, to be carried out more efficiently.
That way, it is possible to control the information flow in a single system, allowing full management, administration and solid basis for decision-making in all sectors of the company. In addition, its main advantages are:
Issues that an ERP system can solve
The managers of an organization face many challenges, such as controlling the responsibilities of each employee, meeting deadlines and ensuring the quality of service. In this case, many problems are generated by the inaccuracy of information. An ERP system can solve many of them, such as:
What is CRM?
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a solution aimed at internal management, more precisely at strategies for sales, marketing and even customer relationship.
To that end, it works in the identification of the best strategies and in methods indicated to increase your sales, protects the company’s confidential information, and can also improve your services or products. What are the advantages of investing in this type of system? Check it out:
Issues that CRM software solves
In addition to the benefits of this tool, it helps to solve several problems, such as:
Thus, this technological solution helps to ensure strategic information so as to make the work of managers easier and avoid losses in the business.
After all, is it worth it?
Absolutely! When CRM software and ERP management systems are chosen according to the business’s needs, the company can stand out in relation to the competition and process efficiency.
In addition, this type of investment may increase the articulation capacity of your sales team, which makes the decision-making easier and allows carrying out improvements in cost reduction and marketing strategies to boost sales.
Why integrate CRM and ERP?
Integrating the finance department with the commercial sector ensures greater agility in negotiations and sales. From there, your company’s marketing team has more information from a financial point of view. Furthermore, these tools ensure efficient sales, making them faster and more dynamic.
Integrating these features also allows your team to have access to a variety of shared data. This also avoids duplicate information, reduces costs and rework, and ensures a better use of resources.
Another interesting factor is that merging CRM and ERP helps your business grow. When they don’t work together, they need to be kept up to date frequently, and any change to one of the systems creates the need to change the other. Therefore, by cross-referencing the information and with faster sales, it is possible to make more accurate decisions and strategies.
The integration of these tools also guarantees the information security in the company. That is because it is possible to unify the database and rely on CRM and ERP software that store all files in the cloud. That way, managers avoid data loss and document leakage, which are factors that harm the company and its customers.
How to do this integration efficiently?
At this point, it is essential to customize the merger between CRM and ERP. To do so, look for suppliers that customize the tool and provide systems for simple and complex implementations that handle large volumes of data.
Moreover, the company needs to invest time and money in this task. It is also important to plan these processes in order to perform all business activities as expected. To obtain more satisfactory results, a tip is to make this adaptation according to the business’s needs. That way, you can avoid problems with software and improve your team’s internal processes.
How to choose?
CRM and ERP are systems with different goals: ERP is aimed at financial control, while CRM is about consumer management. With that said, both software can be implemented in the corporation.
CRM is critical for companies in the sales industry, whether it’s products or services. As such, it is very useful at all stages of the enterprise, even in those in which the managers are already looking for improvements and growth. In turn, the ERP system is necessary for all businesses that seek efficiency in resource management.
Often, the absence of these two tools in an organization negatively impacts the business’s results. After all, the company will not have a resource that automates processes and improves earnings. As a result, it will not modernize its operations and will use outdated tools that hinder its development; thus, it runs the risk of being overtaken by competitors in the market.
Both CRM and ERP software should be seen as smart investments for your company. After all, for any type of business to stand out in the market and have a healthy growth, it is necessary to adopt strategies that improve its sales team and ensure complete control of the entire financial situation.
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