CRM or ERP or Both?

Stuart Haynes, 08 March 2012

CRM or ERP or Both? What are the guide lines for this decision?

A conversation came up in the office last week as to when a business would implement a CRM system or an ERP system or in fact both.

Interestingly not one of us had a definitive answer.

We all new that ERP systems are enterprise focused systems which improve co-ordination between different company departments, not just limited to sales and marketing. They help to gather key enterprise data and manage this data in a unified database.

Also that CRM systems are more customer focused which mainly improves the co-ordination between sales and marketing departments, automates sales and marketing and customer service practices, enhances communication between sales, gathers key information about customers and opportunities, and manages this information is a centralized database.

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But how to choose?

Depending on where I looked the answers were numerous but it is possible to sum up the difference between a CRM system and an ERP system by the following.

CRM is for external use, it focuses more on the customer facing aspects of the business such as Marketing, Sales, Contact Management and Customer Support. It allows management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly to access information

ERP is used for the internal operations, it focuses on the internal functions of the business such as accounts, HR, administration and production. ERP keeps employees aware of facts and information cutting across departments such as supply chain management, production management and account management.

There is some overlap between the two and they can be integrated with the central database.

Many organizations are purchasing both ERP and CRM software and are using them in conjunction with each other.

So, in this blog have I got to a conclusive answer? The answer has to be no, so I will be investigating this topic further in future blogs.

* Image from http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BTCiKrJer28/TzAjhd59S2I/AAAAAAAAAk0/af88vfpumxk/s1600/apples-and-oranges1.jpg