Whether you belong to a startup, an SME or a company with a long history and a large number of collaborators, there will surely come a time when you need help to manage your service, this involves your plant operation, your collaborators and users. Now, there is nothing better than digitizing your company and its services to be able to compete in the existing market, where time saving is a must. Digitizing your company can make a big difference!

This is where the different tools that can help your company reach its goals come into play. Thus, understanding the differences between one and the other is key and necessary to make the right decision when directing your company to the digital world. We tell you the difference between a CRM and an SRM, the software that can help boost your company's services.

‍

What is a CRM?

A Customer Relationship Management or ****CRM, is a software that allows companies and freelancers to track interactions with users, leads and customers. This tracking function encompasses the set of business practices and strategies aimed at the customer relationship.

In other words, a CRM helps any company, regardless of its size, to stay connected with customers, improve profitability, optimize resources, increase customer satisfaction and boost business growth. To achieve this, sales, marketing, customer service and contact points are integrated within the management system.

Basically, with a CRM software you will be able to have all your current and potential customers organized in one place. In addition, you will be able to find all their attached information: employees, invoices, recent communications, etc. This makes your work and that of your team easier and faster, not to mention that it also greatly strengthens the relationship with your customers.

‍

What is an SRM?

However, a Service Relationship Management or SRM is a more complex and complete tool. It is a series of technological implements such as: Apps, Webapps, Voicebots and Chatbots that complement each other to help service companies.

Not only can you manage your suppliers as with CRM, but you can also manage your plant operations and your employees. In this way, using an SRM you can integrate all the processes of your company, generating interoperability from a single site.

A Service Relationship Management is ideal to have access to all angles of your service business, unlike a CRM that only focuses on customers.

An SRM is the ideal complement for a service company, since you can have security and accuracy of how it is executed. You have total access to the logistics of your company, to the collaborators in real time, their activity, and the best thing is that you can anticipate any problem that exists during the execution of the service. This makes it the ideal complement to your company, since you can manage all levels of it from a single place.

‍

An SRM helps you achieve fluidity in the service you provide:

1. Your users have different communication channels to request the service, and more security about the service they will get.
2. In turn, the use of Voicebots and other tools frees your operations team from their call center activity, allowing them to invest their time in another aspect of your business.
3. Your operation center can assign the service to an employee and see in real time the status of the service, if it has already been performed, if it is pending or if there is a problem that prevents it from being performed.
4. The collaborator in turn can accept orders, report if he/she is unable to execute it so that he/she can be reassigned and can upload evidence of his/her work.

‍

Differences between a CRM and an SRM.

• A CRM helps you manage your customers and gives you absolute visibility over them. An SRM also helps you manage your customers, however, it gives you control so that you can provide accurate and transparent service to them.
• With a CRM, while you can manage your customers, you have no control over the physical interaction they produce with your company, only with the relationship they have with it. Now, with an SRM you can connect the physical operation of your user with your field collaborator who has contact with the physical end customer who is waiting for the collaborator to execute the service.
• An SRM allows you to have control over your plant operation, while a CRM does not cover this level.
• With an SRM you have control over the management of employees, the quality of the service they provide and evidence of it. With a CRM you cannot cover this level, which is essential for a service company.
• The focus of a CRM is sales and customer service oriented, providing excellent customer service. In contrast, an SRM has access to all the data of the users who request the service, the status of the service and the customer's experience at the end of the service.
• Using a CRM you do not have access to your field operation, with an SRM you can access it from the same place where you control your collaborators and users.
• An SRM not only provides control over your company's operation, but also extracts real-time data and metrics on all levels - crucial information for service companies!

Now, you know what are the most significant differences between these two softwares. It will be up to your company to analyze and decide which type of tool will be the best option.

‍