The success of a company also depends on its organizational structure, which can be improved thanks to the use of programs for business management. Two possible solutions are Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
The ERP system allows the planning of a company’s resources by taking care of its operational management, while the CRM system analyzes the relationship with customers, managing the information and keeping the interactions that the company has with them. Therefore, the former coordinates the organizational processes of the company and deals with managing everything that concerns the production department, accounting and the distribution chain; CRM instead generates and organizes data concerning customers and automates management processes: contacts, sales activities, teamwork, etc.
The objective of an ERP program is to make the company run at its best with less waste, coordinating production activities and managing accounting, while a CRM program manages data and contacts, as well as traces all sales cycles by analyzing the data in based on procedures and results.
The main benefits of a CRM consist of increased productivity, reduced costs and greater customer satisfaction; the advantages of an ERP, on the other hand, lie in a greater efficiency of the work process, a better decision-making process, greater coordination and collaboration.
CRM can be applied to the needs of small companies, while more structured ones often require the implementation of an ERP program integrated with CRM to obtain the best benefits.
