CRM ++
There is an opinion that everything multifunctional is weak. Indeed, this statement looks logical: the more interconnected and interdependent nodes, the higher the likelihood that with the loss of one of them, it will lose its merits and the whole device. We all repeatedly faced with such situations in office equipment, cars, gadgets. However, in the case of software, the situation is reversed: the more tasks corporate software covers, the faster and more convenient the work, the more familiar the interface, the simpler the business processes. Unification and end-to-end automation in a company solve a problem after a problem. But can such a "multitool" be a CRM-system, which has long formed the image of the program for sales and customer base management? Of course it can. Moreover, in an ideal world - should. Look at the anatomy of the software organism?
While a small or medium-sized business is engaged in creating and selling services, software, services, advertising, and other objects of the intangible or conditionally intangible world, everything is fine: you can be capricious, choose CRM to count customers for the color of the interface and the form of the sales funnel, bother with the color of frames and font in functional buttons and live relatively easy. But everything changes when production and warehouse appear in the company.
The fact is that production, as a rule, is focused on the management and optimization of the production process. In such companies, especially small ones, absolute priority is given to working with production, and sales and marketing lack the strength, hands, ideas, money, and sometimes just inspiration. But, as you know, in the capitalist system to produce little, you need to sell, and since competitors are not asleep, you need to get around them at a turn - of course, with the help of promo and marketing. So, the main task is to implement CRM, which will combine all the components: production, warehouse, procurement, sales and marketing. But then how should it look and most importantly - how much should it cost?
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Manufacturing companies, unlike trading companies, have a completely different attitude to software: with the thumbnails and interface ruffles, the focus shifts dramatically towards functionality, connectivity and versatility. Any automation should work like a clock and support complex business processes, and not just “lead customers”. So if the choice fell on a CRM system, this “CRM for production” should cope not only with regard to the customer base and sales funnel, but also include complex production management mechanisms, integrated with warehouse accounting and the usual operational functions for any company.
Are there any CRM for production? There is. What do they look like, how much are they, what language are they in? Consider a little lower, but for now let's focus on whether it is worth contacting CRM for Production at all or whether it is better to work in separate sources.
We are a vendor of a CRM system that has repeatedly encountered the introduction of small and medium-sized businesses in production companies, and we know that the introduction of CRM in such a company is not an easy story, requiring time, money and a desire to work with business processes from the inside. However, there is a whole list of reasons to start the implementation and to reach the end.
When all business processes within a company are based on a single software platform (be it CRM, ERP, or some sophisticated MES), you get obvious benefits.
Let's return to the question posed at the beginning of the article - so which CRM system to implement?
And it seems that there are absolutely no problems with the search for production process and sales management systems: first of all, it is SAP, then Microsoft Dynamics, Sugar CRM. There are domestic manufacturers of ERP. These are complex, cumbersome systems, both in terms of implementation and in terms of operation, but they are capable of addressing end-to-end automation issues. Their capabilities are impressive, more features are impressive just the price. For example, according to experts' average estimates, the cost of SAP for small and medium-sized businesses is $ 400,000 (about 25.5 million rubles) and is justified for companies with a turnover of 2.5 billion. Renting an average Microsoft Dynamics tariff will cost about 1.5 million rubles 10 people per company per year (we did not consider the implementation and connectors, without which this CRM would not make sense).
And what should small manufacturing companies all over Russia do: manufacturers of industrial equipment, furniture, advertising and manufacturing agencies, and other manufacturers who have a turnover of less than 3 billion and for whom 1.5 million subscribers even if feasible, but very tangible waste?
We in RegionSoft CRM do not just saw software, but, like any commercial company, we have a mission. Our mission: to provide functional and affordable automation tools for micro, small and medium businesses so that they can begin to work intensively as quickly as possible. We minimize the costs of development and promotion, thereby making our CRM cheaper than competitors in the same class - the heaped version of RegionSoft CRM Enterprise Plus will cost 202,000 rubles for a company with 10 people (for licenses), and the amount you pay once and for all, without a subscriber. Well, okay, let's add the same amount for revision and implementation (which, by the way, is not always necessary) - it’s still three times less than just renting licenses a year from other vendors who are closest in spirit.
There is another question - what will the company get for this price? Normal CRM-ku with some kind of sustainable security at the expense of the desktop? NOT. Here is what we continuously supply to manufacturing companies:
TAP Calculation Interface
The element described above is the mechanism of TKP (technical and commercial proposals). TCH is a tool for the preparation of commercial proposals for the supply of complex technical equipment. In essence, this is a designer in which you can pick up a complete set of equipment, including optional equipment, with a calculation of its cost. If the manager uses TCH, he can adjust the compatibility of components and parts with the object of configuration, determine the basic equipment, the number of necessary components, their technical characteristics and even a set of advertising information. Thus, he can quickly prepare a proposal for the supply of equipment with details on the components, taking into account all discounts and extra charges, payment schedule and promotional materials, if required. At the same time, the cost of the object and components is calculated dynamically at the moment of changing / forming the configuration - no need to collect information on reference books, tables, etc.
After that, you can create a neat and detailed printed form of the TAP, issue an invoice, an act, an invoice and an invoice based on it.
TKP printing form
Speaking of commodity matrices . This is also an important tool, which is a register of purchase prices with an indication of suppliers, the validity of these prices, as well as additional characteristics.
In RegionSoft CRM, starting with the Professional Plus edition, warehouse accounting for two models is built in: batch accounting and accounting by average. What type of accounting to choose depends on the needs and responsibilities of your company, briefly explain for those who have not yet immersed in the topic. Party accounting is based on the registers of batches, savings and totals in the cuts of warehouses. Uses the most common principle of party accounting FIFO. In the case of batch accounting, you can write off only the goods, the batches of which remain, that is, the cancellation of the goods in minus is impossible. This technique is suitable for wholesale sales, especially if you have to reserve goods for shipment to the customer. Accounting for the average is more suitable for retail sales: it does not have a batch account and it is possible to write off goods in the minus (which is not in stock at the warehouse, for example, as a result of a transfer). Naturally, RegionSoft CRM allows you to perform almost all warehouse operations and automatically generates and creates printed forms for all primary documentation (from invoices to routing and sales receipt).
RegionSoft CRM supports both simple production in one stage (purchased components, assembled PC, sold PC building to customer), and multi-production, where production is carried out in several stages (for example, enlarged nodes are assembled from components, and then from and components of the PC itself). In RegionSoft CRM, it is possible to not only “assemble the N system from the n, m, p subsystems”, but also support the decomposition, transformation, document creation, costing, routing, etc.
By the way, all these mechanisms can be applied to any kind of production: from food to helicopter assembly. There would be a desire and understanding of how deeply and competently you are ready to automate production processes.
And, of course, the connecting link of all the listed components is business processes. All routine and typical tasks, all processes should be automated - that is, ideally, your CRM should have a system for modeling business processes, during the creation of which tasks are assigned, responsible, deadlines, triggers, etc. And this entire set should be debugged to work and in fact organize all employees to solve the next macro-problem (for example, the production of a batch of robots and the coordination of a complex TAP).
At one event, our colleague was asked: "And how do you look inside: closer to Basecamp or closer to 1C?" In fact, this question was often asked more professionally, but never so naive and accurate at the same time. It is clear that it was about the complexity of the interface. And there is no answer to this question, here you can write a whole philosophical treatise. The ubiquity of the web and the relative availability of programming led to flooding the market with simple solutions for doing business and managing tasks in the company: honestly, put it on the list, what are the fundamental differences between Asana, Wrike, Basecamp, Worksection, Trello, and so on. (with the exception of the Atlassian stack)? The difference in design, lotion and degree of simplification. It is on the basis of this triple of chips that modern software for small businesses began to compete. Then the developers of such software realized that they are looking for CRM in search, and so many “lightweight” CRMs appeared that developed into their branch, became programs for sales and for customer accounting.
And only a couple of units of them went further, left / returned including to the desktop and began to add the functionality of a warehouse, production, document management, etc. Implement such automation in a simple interface with stickers, cards and emoticons is almost impossible. In general, if you are developing corporate software or choosing a good system for your company, I advise you ... to go check out your sight in some cool specialized center. It costs 1.5-2 thousand, but besides the main function it will be interesting to you as a developer: equipment with a stunning physical interface (beautiful, minimalistic, convenient) is combined with a very complex operator interface on a PC. And you will not find flat design, gradient, minimalism and so on. - Only the harsh interface buttons, tables, a bunch of elements and all sorts of integration between applications. And all, of course, the desktop. By the way, all these programs are integrated with the CRM-system (that is, the storage of client cards and financial information). The same story with dentists - but this is a less pleasant tour, do not get sick.
CRM ++ for many companies is the only way to streamline processes, make work intensive, release a certain amount of the most valuable asset - human labor. Yes, the introduction of CRM in a production company is always a little more complicated and lengthy than, for example, in a trade, but this is a very worthwhile waste. You have experienced staff with a salary, expensive equipment, reliable suppliers, your know-how and development - the flywheel of business is spinning. End-to-end automation with CRM will make the flywheel move faster. So, and business will become more productive.
Business is different
While a small or medium-sized business is engaged in creating and selling services, software, services, advertising, and other objects of the intangible or conditionally intangible world, everything is fine: you can be capricious, choose CRM to count customers for the color of the interface and the form of the sales funnel, bother with the color of frames and font in functional buttons and live relatively easy. But everything changes when production and warehouse appear in the company.
The fact is that production, as a rule, is focused on the management and optimization of the production process. In such companies, especially small ones, absolute priority is given to working with production, and sales and marketing lack the strength, hands, ideas, money, and sometimes just inspiration. But, as you know, in the capitalist system to produce little, you need to sell, and since competitors are not asleep, you need to get around them at a turn - of course, with the help of promo and marketing. So, the main task is to implement CRM, which will combine all the components: production, warehouse, procurement, sales and marketing. But then how should it look and most importantly - how much should it cost?
')
Manufacturing companies, unlike trading companies, have a completely different attitude to software: with the thumbnails and interface ruffles, the focus shifts dramatically towards functionality, connectivity and versatility. Any automation should work like a clock and support complex business processes, and not just “lead customers”. So if the choice fell on a CRM system, this “CRM for production” should cope not only with regard to the customer base and sales funnel, but also include complex production management mechanisms, integrated with warehouse accounting and the usual operational functions for any company.
Are there any CRM for production? There is. What do they look like, how much are they, what language are they in? Consider a little lower, but for now let's focus on whether it is worth contacting CRM for Production at all or whether it is better to work in separate sources.
CRM for production - why?
We are a vendor of a CRM system that has repeatedly encountered the introduction of small and medium-sized businesses in production companies, and we know that the introduction of CRM in such a company is not an easy story, requiring time, money and a desire to work with business processes from the inside. However, there is a whole list of reasons to start the implementation and to reach the end.
- The first and main reason for the introduction of CRM in any company is the accumulation, systematization and preservation of the customer base. For a production company, a well-organized client base is a direct path to future profits: in the case of developing new products, components or related services, you can always sell products to existing customers.
- CRM helps to organize sales. And sales - the solution to many problems in the company. Good sales figures are profits, cash flow, and therefore a good boss mood and an upbeat team spirit. Well, I'm exaggerating here of course, but this postulate is not far from the truth. When your sales are formed, it is easier to breathe, you have the means to develop, modernize, attract the best market specialists - that is, you have everything to get even more profit.
- When you produce something and you have a CRM system, you actually collect all the data about orders and sales, which means you can accurately predict demand and quickly adapt to new market demands, change prices or volumes, take the product or service out of time assortment. Also, planning and forecasting sales helps to create stocks and create a production plan - when, how much and what product you need to produce. And the right production plan is the key to the company's financial health: you can plan costs, purchase, upgrade equipment, and even hire staff.
- Again, based on the information collected, you can analyze complaints and eliminate defects. In addition, a CRM system is a great help and a pledge of qualified work for customer service and technical support: you can view customer profiles, record their requests directly on the card, and create and store a knowledge base for quick work with requests.
- The CRM system is always the measurement and evaluation of the result: what was produced, how it was sold, why it wasn’t sold, who was the weakest link in the process, and so on. We in RegionSoft CRM went ahead and implemented a powerful KPI system that can be customized as needed by each division of any company. This, of course, is +100 to the measurability and transparency of the work of those employees to whom KPIs can be applied.
- CRM connects the company's frontend (commerce, support, finance, management) with the backend (production, warehouse, logistics). Of course, individually, everything will work too, but the words “burning”, “hell of approval”, “where the signature of this **** pa”, “* oops with deadlines” will often sound in the office, and you should definitely mention polymers (you do not forget, right?). In addition to jokes, CRM itself, of course, will not do anything for you, but if you set up business processes and do not be lazy to engage in individual and collective planning, the company will become much easier and safer to work. To develop or not to develop automation further will be your decision.
When all business processes within a company are based on a single software platform (be it CRM, ERP, or some sophisticated MES), you get obvious benefits.
- Security - all data is stored in a secure system, user actions are logged, access rights are delimited. Thus, if a data leak occurs, it will not go unnoticed and unpunished, and a backup will save you if data is lost.
- Consistency - all actions within the company are organized and planned; business processes and project management greatly reduce the time required to complete a job or provide a service.
- Competent resource management - planning and forecasting allow you to properly form stocks, not stop production and regulate the workload of personnel.
- Savings points - thanks to CRM, manufacturers promptly react to changes in demand, learn to fix seasonality and thereby significantly save, avoiding overproduction and overstocking.
- A full-fledged analytics for management and strategy - today making decisions without analyzing information is simply indecent. The collection, storage and interpretation of information will give you a complete understanding of what is happening in your business and you will be able to make decisions reasonably, and not intuitively or on the principle of "how the card will fall."
- Additional sales open the way to obtaining a high margin from the sale of new products and services due to the fact that you do not need to invest in finding, attracting and retaining customers - this is your old investment, they are all in your electronic database.
Let's return to the question posed at the beginning of the article - so which CRM system to implement?
Implement a system that works for everyone at once
And it seems that there are absolutely no problems with the search for production process and sales management systems: first of all, it is SAP, then Microsoft Dynamics, Sugar CRM. There are domestic manufacturers of ERP. These are complex, cumbersome systems, both in terms of implementation and in terms of operation, but they are capable of addressing end-to-end automation issues. Their capabilities are impressive, more features are impressive just the price. For example, according to experts' average estimates, the cost of SAP for small and medium-sized businesses is $ 400,000 (about 25.5 million rubles) and is justified for companies with a turnover of 2.5 billion. Renting an average Microsoft Dynamics tariff will cost about 1.5 million rubles 10 people per company per year (we did not consider the implementation and connectors, without which this CRM would not make sense).
And what should small manufacturing companies all over Russia do: manufacturers of industrial equipment, furniture, advertising and manufacturing agencies, and other manufacturers who have a turnover of less than 3 billion and for whom 1.5 million subscribers even if feasible, but very tangible waste?
We in RegionSoft CRM do not just saw software, but, like any commercial company, we have a mission. Our mission: to provide functional and affordable automation tools for micro, small and medium businesses so that they can begin to work intensively as quickly as possible. We minimize the costs of development and promotion, thereby making our CRM cheaper than competitors in the same class - the heaped version of RegionSoft CRM Enterprise Plus will cost 202,000 rubles for a company with 10 people (for licenses), and the amount you pay once and for all, without a subscriber. Well, okay, let's add the same amount for revision and implementation (which, by the way, is not always necessary) - it’s still three times less than just renting licenses a year from other vendors who are closest in spirit.
There is another question - what will the company get for this price? Normal CRM-ku with some kind of sustainable security at the expense of the desktop? NOT. Here is what we continuously supply to manufacturing companies:
MCC is a sales and order management center. It is a logistic mechanism that processes and tracks the processes associated with customer orders. Inside the sales management center, you can register customer orders, take into account the accompanying transaction documents, ship the goods to customers, carry out logistic analysis with generation of production orders and orders to suppliers (at the same time suppliers' proposals are analyzed), transport logistics is implemented. In this case, the PMU intelligently suggests the most popular positions when processing the order of the buyer.And at the same time, let's parallel model how all this functionality can be used. May we have with you a small, fictional factory for the production of designers and new-generation robots for schools of robotics. We will make models and under the order.
You can make a technical-commercial proposal (TCH) - we will make the necessary components for our “exclusive” robots in special forms within RegionSoft CRM in accordance with their configuration and automatically calculate the cost of the product. So in the document from the units and parts our robot will be formed, and the customer will receive an e-mail a complete calculation of the cost of the product, along with the costs of development and assembly. At the same time, an analysis of the availability of ready-made robots, designers and the necessary components has already taken place at the production site - and, if something is missing, purchase orders for missing components have been sent to suppliers.
TAP Calculation Interface
The element described above is the mechanism of TKP (technical and commercial proposals). TCH is a tool for the preparation of commercial proposals for the supply of complex technical equipment. In essence, this is a designer in which you can pick up a complete set of equipment, including optional equipment, with a calculation of its cost. If the manager uses TCH, he can adjust the compatibility of components and parts with the object of configuration, determine the basic equipment, the number of necessary components, their technical characteristics and even a set of advertising information. Thus, he can quickly prepare a proposal for the supply of equipment with details on the components, taking into account all discounts and extra charges, payment schedule and promotional materials, if required. At the same time, the cost of the object and components is calculated dynamically at the moment of changing / forming the configuration - no need to collect information on reference books, tables, etc.
After that, you can create a neat and detailed printed form of the TAP, issue an invoice, an act, an invoice and an invoice based on it.
TKP printing form
Software calculators are an important tool for manufacturing companies. Conventionally, imagine that you produce doors: interior for Khrushchev, stalinka and novostroi, under the order - for high apertures cottages and cottages. That is, different-sized copies of different materials. For each client, you need to calculate his order and, ideally, immediately download this profile to all documents. In RegionSoft CRM, this can be done with the help of software calculators, in which you can calculate an order by parameters, in less than 1 minute. Software scripts are open, so any user with programming skills can provide any, even the most complex and individual calculation method.
Directly from RegionSoft CRM, you can create bids to suppliers in several ways: through sales analysis (based on registered sales in warehouse accounting), through analysis of invoices for payment, through the product matrix, through ABC analysis (auto application based on custom criteria - the system analyzes the sales of goods for the period on the basis of the Pareto principle and forms applications for groups of goods). After the application has been formed, they are entered into the application log, downloaded to a file, or sent directly to the supplier’s e-mail.
Speaking of commodity matrices . This is also an important tool, which is a register of purchase prices with an indication of suppliers, the validity of these prices, as well as additional characteristics.
In RegionSoft CRM, starting with the Professional Plus edition, warehouse accounting for two models is built in: batch accounting and accounting by average. What type of accounting to choose depends on the needs and responsibilities of your company, briefly explain for those who have not yet immersed in the topic. Party accounting is based on the registers of batches, savings and totals in the cuts of warehouses. Uses the most common principle of party accounting FIFO. In the case of batch accounting, you can write off only the goods, the batches of which remain, that is, the cancellation of the goods in minus is impossible. This technique is suitable for wholesale sales, especially if you have to reserve goods for shipment to the customer. Accounting for the average is more suitable for retail sales: it does not have a batch account and it is possible to write off goods in the minus (which is not in stock at the warehouse, for example, as a result of a transfer). Naturally, RegionSoft CRM allows you to perform almost all warehouse operations and automatically generates and creates printed forms for all primary documentation (from invoices to routing and sales receipt).
The production functionality is based on warehouse accounting, is integrated into the RegionSoft CRM Enterprise Plus edition and includes a number of mechanisms aimed at automating the production of products and managing production resources. Immediately warn - do not confuse the functionality of production in the CRM-system with the MES, although there are points of contact. Nevertheless, MES is software, where production is primary, and CRM is a program, where commerce is primary and end-to-end automation of small and medium-sized businesses is important.
RegionSoft CRM supports both simple production in one stage (purchased components, assembled PC, sold PC building to customer), and multi-production, where production is carried out in several stages (for example, enlarged nodes are assembled from components, and then from and components of the PC itself). In RegionSoft CRM, it is possible to not only “assemble the N system from the n, m, p subsystems”, but also support the decomposition, transformation, document creation, costing, routing, etc.
If you use RegionSoft CRM Enterprise Plus , you do not just get a few additional modules - many segments of the interface are customized for the needs of such a client. For example, when filling in a card of an item position, among other things, the user can fill in the “Production” section - the product storage, production specification and technological map, production technology by stages and production description in a free format are prescribed. Also in the card are filled sections related to the TAP, which then will help to form the TAP in a few clicks.
And what a pity that we actually do not manufacture robots, and schools buy them from Lego or from Chinese manufacturers :-)
By the way, all these mechanisms can be applied to any kind of production: from food to helicopter assembly. There would be a desire and understanding of how deeply and competently you are ready to automate production processes.
And, of course, the connecting link of all the listed components is business processes. All routine and typical tasks, all processes should be automated - that is, ideally, your CRM should have a system for modeling business processes, during the creation of which tasks are assigned, responsible, deadlines, triggers, etc. And this entire set should be debugged to work and in fact organize all employees to solve the next macro-problem (for example, the production of a batch of robots and the coordination of a complex TAP).
Lyrical and technical afterword
At one event, our colleague was asked: "And how do you look inside: closer to Basecamp or closer to 1C?" In fact, this question was often asked more professionally, but never so naive and accurate at the same time. It is clear that it was about the complexity of the interface. And there is no answer to this question, here you can write a whole philosophical treatise. The ubiquity of the web and the relative availability of programming led to flooding the market with simple solutions for doing business and managing tasks in the company: honestly, put it on the list, what are the fundamental differences between Asana, Wrike, Basecamp, Worksection, Trello, and so on. (with the exception of the Atlassian stack)? The difference in design, lotion and degree of simplification. It is on the basis of this triple of chips that modern software for small businesses began to compete. Then the developers of such software realized that they are looking for CRM in search, and so many “lightweight” CRMs appeared that developed into their branch, became programs for sales and for customer accounting.
And only a couple of units of them went further, left / returned including to the desktop and began to add the functionality of a warehouse, production, document management, etc. Implement such automation in a simple interface with stickers, cards and emoticons is almost impossible. In general, if you are developing corporate software or choosing a good system for your company, I advise you ... to go check out your sight in some cool specialized center. It costs 1.5-2 thousand, but besides the main function it will be interesting to you as a developer: equipment with a stunning physical interface (beautiful, minimalistic, convenient) is combined with a very complex operator interface on a PC. And you will not find flat design, gradient, minimalism and so on. - Only the harsh interface buttons, tables, a bunch of elements and all sorts of integration between applications. And all, of course, the desktop. By the way, all these programs are integrated with the CRM-system (that is, the storage of client cards and financial information). The same story with dentists - but this is a less pleasant tour, do not get sick.
CRM ++ for many companies is the only way to streamline processes, make work intensive, release a certain amount of the most valuable asset - human labor. Yes, the introduction of CRM in a production company is always a little more complicated and lengthy than, for example, in a trade, but this is a very worthwhile waste. You have experienced staff with a salary, expensive equipment, reliable suppliers, your know-how and development - the flywheel of business is spinning. End-to-end automation with CRM will make the flywheel move faster. So, and business will become more productive.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/452112/
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