More than CRM: unfamiliar features of a familiar system

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The most common use of CRM or Customer Relationship Management systems for relationship tracking is to track relationships, but their core functionality — tracking customer relationships. Most large organizations need to manage other communications as well: with partners, suppliers and so on.

All these solutions, collectively named xRM, help consolidate the work with counterparties in a single system, keep the history of relationships and automate standard and even non-standard operations. Also, i would like to advise you to thinnk about the possibility custom software development company USA.

What is xRM

The term xRM – Extended Relationship Management — was probably first actively used by Microsoft in 2011. The corporation started referring to solutions designed to manage relationships with any group your company works with: employees, partners, suppliers — with anyone or even anything (in the era of the Internet of Things, devices can also become objects of management). The market liked the term so much that it became firmly entrenched in the hands of IT platform vendors, who expanded the capabilities of classic CRM platforms to reflect the business processes specific to their target group: suppliers, partners and so on.

Nowadays xRM refers to any system that helps manage interactions with different groups of counterparties. Among the most common: PRM (partner relationship management), HRM (human resource management), SRM (supplier relationship management). By implementing the xRM platform you will have a customized process of interaction with the exact group of organizations or individuals that are important to your company.

What are the benefits

Any xRM platform will have the same benefits as traditional CRM systems.

• Minimize costs by using a centralized software product rather than a zoo of solutions;
• Save time by centrally storing and managing relationships with all your target audiences;
• Enhance the quality of communication within your company because all employees have the same informatio.
• New ways to analyze because you're uncovering new connections for your audiences.

How xRM systems work

When you find that it's critical to track and automate interactions with a group of companies or individuals, you should consider implementing a dedicated system. For a manufacturing company, these groups could be suppliers or distributors. For distributors – managers working at retail outlets. For educational institutions – teachers and parents of students. For any commercial company – its employees, recruiting and training agencies.

xRM solutions are so diverse that they can be used in any industry. Here are a few examples of how the benefits of xRM have helped Russian companies fully automate specific areas of their work with the outside world.

A good example of using the system in Russia – in one of the largest domestic marketplace Lamoda. With the help of the PRM-system based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online, Lamoda solves two problems related to working with suppliers: onboarding (introducing the partner to the online site, pre-contract work, support, information and training) and support during the active collaboration. As a result, the whole process of working with the supplier became clear at each stage, and interaction with partners takes place directly from PRM using configured templates. Top managers monitor key metrics in real-time: requisitions, timelines and statuses, SLAs, and employee performance in a variety of perspectives.

PRM system enabled Lamoda to reduce by 1.5 times average response time for Marketplace requests

PRM-system automated processing of requests from new and existing suppliers in Lamoda. The solution ensures joint work of employees from sales, marketing and service departments with the partner base. Service managers gain access to complete information on the supplier and the history of interaction with him, which helps to provide a personalized service. In the case of overdue partner interactions, employees receive a reminder email. And management can track time-to-process milestones in reports, which also helps them improve service quality.