A couple of years ago, a new acronym in the world of computing and business began to gain popularity: CRM. As if that were not enough, another acronym also becomes fashionable: ERP. Are they the same thing? Which of the two is necessary in a company? They are independent? Can you have one and not the other? In this article we will talk about both separately and how to associate them.
A couple of years ago, a new acronym in the world of computing and business began to gain popularity: CRM. But what does CRM mean? Do I need a CRM? What is it for me?
Let's start at the beginning: CRM is the acronym for Customer Relationship Management. In Spanish it would be Customer Relationship Management. In any case, the term has different meanings:
a) It is a concept related to Relationship Marketing, that is, it is a model in which priority is given to current customers. This allows relationships to be established that will give long-term benefits.
b) Manage the relationship with customers, that is, customer service or customer management.
c) It is a software for managing customer relationships. In this case, we are talking about computer systems that support and guide the relationship with clients, managing sales, events such as phone calls, email messages, sent quotes, the tasks of different users, etc., thus having a history of everything that happened with the client from the moment of contact until the sale takes place and fundamentally beyond it.
Taking this into account, we can say that CRM is a business strategy, where it seeks to understand and anticipate the needs of existing customers, supported and driven by appropriate software that allows serious monitoring of everything that has happened with the customer and draw conclusions that allow us to improve this relationship in the future. In short, it is a business strategy focused on the customer and their needs.
So far it seems simple. But, all this is not achieved with an ERP? Answer: No. Let's see: ERP is the acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning. In Spanish, Enterprise Resource Planning. In the past, ERP systems were used by large companies to unify and organize all the information concerning their clients: Purchases, sales, collections, shipments, inventories, deliveries, current accounts, etc., etc. Today, an ERP can work in virtually any modern business. All the activities of all the sectors of a company involved in the activity with the clients, can be managed through an ERP.
But then, what difference does it make with a CRM?
While an ERP system allows us to organize and manage production, invoicing, collections, accounting, that is, to plan the company's resources, without involving the client and his needs and preferences, a CRM allows us to establish a closer relationship with the client. The latter allows us to know the customer's needs, preferences, needs, maintain the history and evolution of our relationship with the customer, how many times do we talk to him, how long have we not communicated, when was the last time we sent a order or a catalog, how many emails we exchange.
While an ERP maintains the administrative and accounting history with our client, a CRM provides us with data that make the service we offer and in this way help us to retain and serve it as it deserves.
As Liz Shahnam says: “CRM is a term that is not really new. What is new is all the technology that allows you to do what was previously done in neighborhood stores. The owner had few customers and enough memory to know what each customer liked. What technology does is allow us to return to that type of model. "
On the other hand, Kumar and Hillengersberg (2000) define Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as «configurable information system packages into which information is integrated through functional areas of the organization».
A good CRM software must be able to strategically manage all the information related to customers. You must be able to organize the information in such a way that it is known for a given client, when it was the last time that we communicated with him, what are his preferences regarding what our business offers, what tasks we have pending with him. And more general: What clients have we not attended from a given date, how many events occurred in the last month, week or year, how many requested quotes were accepted or rejected by clients, how many email campaigns have we carried out offering different opportunities or promotions and how successful they have been etc. The more complete the software we have, the more accurate the information we obtain from our clients and our contacts will be.
A good ERP software should be able to save all the administrative-accounting information of the clients. You must be able to extract information about billing, checking account, product delivery, automate finances and keep this information consolidated and accessible to duly authorized personnel. The more complete the software, the more detailed we will know about finance and will allow us to plan our business strategy.
Now, are both systems independent? Of course not. But it would be great if they were combined! How are we going to serve our client well if we do not know what is necessary? How will we make a product delivery if we do not know when the last time we delivered? How will we know the right moment to send the collector if we have only registered the pending invoices?
Of course, if we can achieve the combination of a good ERP and a good CRM, we will be able to answer the previous questions.
While with an ERP system we will have the information of orders, billing dates, delivery dates and collections, etc., with a good CRM system we could have a better idea of what time of the month it is convenient to carry out the collection, know what your preferences are. of orders or delivery days and times.
If customers' needs are known, we can better serve them, offer what they need, increase their loyalty.
An ERP allows us to keep clear accounts with the client. The protagonist here is our company. A good ERP allows us to show a good image of ourselves through the good organization of our information. A CRM allows us to improve the relationship with the client. The protagonist, in this case is the client. A good CRM allows us to respond quickly to our client's requests.
Where can we find software that helps us combine both strategies? An example of state-of-the-art, simple to implement software with a pleasant and simple user interface is UpperERP and UpperCRM, implemented by Upersoft Software Engineering. Both systems cross information of clients, suppliers, products, invoices. While UpperERP is focused on keeping information regarding finances, administration and accounting up to date, UpperCRM concentrates on events, tasks and other characteristics of our clients to achieve a better relationship with him.
Some features of UpperERP are:
- Customer and contact data: This is essential to be able to combine this module with UpperCRM. Management of categorized products, using the same categories that are used in UpperCRM. Billing with customization in the handling of stock and current accounts. Purchases from suppliers with detailed movements of stock by product and by supplier. Filtering and grouping of data: UpperCRM allows you to customize the display of data through configurable grids. All of them allow grouping by a certain column, ordering by selecting the column title, filtering data, showing only what is required at a given moment, etc. Payment to suppliers and customers with detailed movements of current accounts and balances. Banks, deposits and withdrawals from different accounts.Listings of checks in portfolio and their availability at the time of payments to suppliers. Lists of all information and export to Excel for better manipulation of data, with a statistical module, with grids of various entries to better manipulate and organize the visualization of the information and analysis cubes to know at every moment the information about the billing to clients and suppliers. Security Levels: Each user has an access code and will be able to use those modules for which they have permission. In turn, an administration level has full control over the system to allow the configuration of both the system and the enabled userswith a statistical module, with multi-entry grids to better manipulate and organize the display of information and analysis cubes to know at any moment the information about billing to customers and suppliers. Security Levels: Each user has a password access and you can use those modules for which you have permission. In turn, an administration level has full control over the system to allow the configuration of both the system and the enabled userswith a statistical module, with multi-entry grids to better manipulate and organize the display of information and analysis cubes to know at any moment the information about billing to customers and suppliers. Security Levels: Each user has a password access and you can use those modules for which you have permission. In turn, an administration level has full control over the system to allow the configuration of both the system and the enabled usersEach user has an access code and can use those modules for which they have permission. In turn, an administration level has full control over the system to allow the configuration of both the system and the enabled usersEach user has an access code and can use those modules for which they have permission. In turn, an administration level has full control over the system to allow the configuration of both the system and the enabled users
Some characteristics of this interesting CRM software are:
- Contacts and Clients assigned by user: Each user is assigned contacts and clients, allowing efficient and confusion-free tracking. It also allows Contacts and Clients to be shared among various users when they deem it convenient. Data import: Time and money saving when transferring existing data to the UpperCRM database, easily through Excel or Outlook. Reports: UpperCRM has Multiple listing options, each of them exportable to any type of format (xls, html, pdf, txt, etc.) without the need to install any additional program or any type of driver. In addition, all reports are previously viewed on screen. Filtering and grouping of data: UpperCRM allows you to customize the display of data through configurable grids.All of them allow grouping by a certain column, ordering by selecting the column title, filtering data, showing only what is needed at a certain moment, etc. Agenda fully compatible with Outlook: Detailed day-to-day agenda, with appointments, reminders and notes in different colors for better viewing. Possibility to filter the agenda by contact, on-screen preview to avoid any overlapping of schedules in appointments. General view of the month or year in progress with all the entries made in the agenda. Reminders by day, hour and minute to avoid missing your most important events. Modification and regrouping of appointments and events in a simple and fast way. Repetition of events the number of times they are necessary, without limits. Administration and monitoring of tickets:It allows complete monitoring from the beginning of an activity, all its tasks, events, documents until its closure, managing different states and keeping open tickets always in sight for better monitoring by the user. budgeting to billing, step-by-step monitoring with related automatic events that allow you to know the details of the management of each document and the associated customer. All this information, related to billing in UpperERP! In turn, the user can configure and create their own events (for phone calls, sending text messages, meetings, etc.). Effectiveness statistics: Very complete statistical module: On the one hand, a grid that allows you to view data from different perspectives,grouping by user, contact, document status, quantities, etc. On the other hand, an analysis cube to have a more global vision of your business and to be able to make your decisions quickly and effectively. Email e-drink support: Exclusive design for sending / receiving email, with own pop-up and SMTP access. Completely independent of the mail client that you have installed on your machine. Mail sending / receiving is configured in the application. It allows you to create folders to store your emails in an orderly manner. Massive sending of emails to all user contacts. Possibility of attaching files. Sending newsletters according to needs. Security Levels: Each user has an access code and can use those modules for which they have permission. At the same time,An administration level has full control over the system to allow the configuration of both the system and the enabled users. Task Tracking: Ability to assign tasks to different users. Different priorities can be assigned to tasks and it also allows differentiating between pending and overdue tasks. Remote Access: UpperCRM. Through web services, information can be accessed from anywhere in the world. It is not a website. It is a Windows application, with the possibility of accessing, via a web service, remotely. With a simple setup, you connect as usual and access data from home, your notebook, or anywhere else.Ability to assign tasks to different users. Different priorities can be assigned to tasks and it also allows differentiating between pending and overdue tasks. Remote Access: UpperCRM. Through web services, information can be accessed from anywhere in the world. It is not a website. It is a Windows application, with the possibility of accessing, via a web service, remotely. With a simple setup, you connect as usual and access data from home, your notebook, or anywhere else.Ability to assign tasks to different users. Different priorities can be assigned to tasks and it also allows differentiating between pending and overdue tasks. Remote Access: UpperCRM. Through web services, information can be accessed from anywhere in the world. It is not a website. It is a Windows application, with the possibility of accessing, via a web service, remotely. With a simple setup, you connect as usual and access data from home, your notebook, or anywhere else.It is a Windows application, with the possibility of accessing it remotely through a web service. With a simple setup, you connect as usual and access data from home, your notebook, or anywhere else.It is a Windows application, with the possibility of accessing, via a web service, remotely. With a simple setup, you connect as usual and access data from home, your notebook, or anywhere else.
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