ERP or CRM- what is the difference, and what should you choose?

Alex Igrov
4 min. to read

Business automation is an essential task for any IT company owner. Sooner or later, almost everyone faces the need to implement solutions that allow you to automate routine, curb chaos, and quickly control the most crucial processes. However, this topic remains relatively untapped, so choosing an effective automation system is a common problem. In this review, we will look at the differences between ERP and CRM accounting programs, look at their advantages and disadvantages, and tell you what is best to choose for the IT sector. 

ERP and CRM: definition

Enterprise Resource Planning ERP system allows you to manage all the company's processes and resources in one place. This IT project management program provides reliable storage, processing, and maintenance of a unified database, which includes the finance department, project management, clients, marketing, development, tracking, recruiting, and more. ERP provides a single space where all the information is entered, providing different levels of access to different employees, allowing for the minimization of routine work and saving time.

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM IT system, is narrowly focused and manages only customer relationships. The program allows you to store data about leads, customers, and potential partners. You will have the entire history of communication or cooperation with a person or company presented in a convenient order. In addition, it is a convenient automation tool for business processes, facilitating the work of Sales, customer management, communication, etc.

What is the best choice for an IT company?

The answer to the question of which automated control systems to choose will directly depend on what tasks you set for yourself. CRM for IT can be suitable for sales departments that need an upgrade and efficiency boost. Accordingly, it is an ideal solution for retailers and various service companies. The key task of a CRM is to provide businesses with a repository of customer data that allows them to monitor all their interactions with them. With this information, organizations can quickly decide to attract certain customers to achieve their business goals. For example, customer support can quickly determine whether a caller is a valuable or potentially valuable customer and provide them with the right level of service.

Most often, IT companies set themselves the goal of ultimately setting up the work of all departments. These can include aspects such as accounting, financial management, HR, logistics, and other vital components of an IT organization. Since ERP systems affect almost all aspects of business, these programs are the best solution for the IT industry. ERP systems have a unified database, which seriously affects reporting, allowing employees to drill down on reports to get the necessary information, eliminating the need for difficult routine work. This significantly speeds up decision-making, affecting everything from profit to new opportunities for the company's development. Due to an integrated automated management system and its ability to set roles, only individuals with specific roles can access valuable data, reducing financial risks.

What are the advantages of ERP systems?

  • Comprehensive data management in one place. The main feature of ERP programs is the consolidation of information into an integrated database, allowing employees to fully manage and maintain it. This way, companies don't need to run multiple programs that take a long time to manage.;
  • Optimizing time-consuming processes. With ERP systems, you can easily automate many IT processes, such as data entry, analytics, and more, allowing IT professionals to focus on strategically important tasks.;
  • Data reliability and security. ERP programs ensure the security of the company's data. Since ERP systems have options such as authentication, access control, and data encryption, you can protect important and confidential company information from outside interference.;
  • Scaling acceleration. As the IT sector is rapidly developing, companies should be able to scale, including their software. Unlike CRM, ERP systems are designed to be highly customizable to meet business needs;
  • Facilitated communication between departments and employees. ERP programs allow you to improve the work of various departments by providing them with access to real-time data. This way, the system guarantees that all departments have identical information. This significantly reduces any possible misunderstandings and increases the overall performance.

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What modules do ERP systems offer for IT?

One of the main advantages of ERP systems, such as ITFin, is their various modules for different company departments. In reality, most needs can be covered by a single solution without wasting time, finances, and effort managing your own solutions or Excel spreadsheets. Here are some of the key features that make ERPs so effective:

Finance module

This module is designed to record and manage all financial transactions, such as employee payrolls, bank account management, taxes, inefficient expense control, minimizing errors, etc.

HR

Allows to keep records of the company's resources and personnel, namely:

  • Human Resources Management;
  • convenient parsing of candidates from various job sites; 
  • hiring and firing employees; 
  • accounting for vacations, sick days, weekends, time off, etc. 

Delivery  

Manage metrics quickly and conveniently, such as:

  • monitoring working hours; 
  • planning task stack; 
  • Asset Management; 
  • analysis of staff performance.

Customers and projects 

Using the project management module, you can:

  • get urgent project reports;
  • integrate all your information in one place;
  • monitor accounts receivable, etc.

Results 

We can conclude that ERP is the most reasonable solution for IT companies. With effective implementation and management, the program will increase the company's overall productivity and ensure its support, growth, and development. The effectiveness of ITFin, our top-end ERP system for business, has been proven by many of our clients' practical experience. With our system, you don't need to buy lots of additional programs, all of which come with hefty prices. We provide integration with a number of services necessary for successful business operations, which allows you to easily manage all the processes using just one tool. 

If you are interested in getting free access to our ITFin ERP system, talking to us, or just learning more - you can do this by leaving a request here.

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Alex Igrov
4 min. to read
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