Everything you need to know about CRM VS ERP
Today CRM or ERP have become the most commonly used tools among businesses seeking digital expansion. While both customer relationship Management and Enterprise resource planning are implemented with a vision to enhance the production, profit and scalability of the business, they both work in different manners playing an equally important role.
In simple words, ERP is a planning software that helps a company handle everything from database information, finance, inventory to sales, etc, whereas CRM is the ideal solution to track customers’ patterns, and interactions, and build relationships with them to enhance customer acquisition.
Both of these technologies can be opted for separately or via platforms that support them both, depending upon the organization’s needs.
What is CRM?
CRM or Customer Relationship Management as the name sound is software that works by building a bridge between the company and the customer, thus helping an organization in understanding their customer, improving the relationship with the customer, updating the sales or marketing strategy according to the pattern of a service purchase, website use and bounce rate.
Top benefits of CRM
CRM tools are designed to make everything centralized by connecting the company and customers via a solid database. The automation of data and organizing the data to create powerful sales reports forecasting scalable performance processes makes CRM a highly useful business tool.
Here are a few ways CRM enhances business:
- Collects, organizes and maintains easy access to the right information in a centralized database
- Tracks and manages customer journey and communication to provide smooth interactions
- Reminds the sales team on follow-up on prospects to convert leads.
- Creates data-based sales report to predict strategies and identify sales trends
What is ERP?
ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning is largely about managing the operational resources for running a smooth business. ERP’s core functioning revolves around a database, customer details, finances, inventory, supply chain, etc. ERP is a complete planning package of services required to successfully run an organization.
Top benefits of ERP
The biggest benefit for an organization to have ERP is the shared database to manage everything from finances to operations, with single software. ERP saves a company from different departments spending heavy on different systems to coordinate. A centralized tool like ERP automates all the departments to save time, reduce manual work and organized data entry.
Here’s a look at a few advantages of ERP tool:
- Automation of data makes communication between finance, HR, sales, marketing and production faster and effective
- The extensive and bulk data processing with ERP makes it possible to analyze, strategize and implement ideas
- The resource planning power of the Enterprise Resource Planning tool optimizes the workflow to manage logistics, supply, stocks etc in more cost-effective means
Top 3 differences between CRM and ERP
- CRM is largely focused on the front-end, tracing and managing customer-related databases. ERP helps an organization handle its backend process.
- ERP is a complete planning pack consolidating data from CRM, Human Resource Management and Supply Chain Management.
- CRM manages the front-end to improve sales and customer communication, and ERP is focused on resource planning at the back-end to reduce cost.