Today there is a lot of talk about business automation solutions. But, to be honest, how many of the managers (top or lower - it doesn’t matter) really understand the differences between EDMS, ECM, CRM, BPM and other abbreviated IT systems? If you confidently answered yes, explain - who are all these reviews, videos, webinars for about what these solutions are, how and why to work with them?

There's nothing really reprehensible here. No matter how you look at it, the products are complex. Understanding the essence and purpose of IT systems, much less selecting and implementing a product at home, has always been difficult. However, with the development of classical systems, the functionality of which now largely duplicates the capabilities of another class of solutions, this has become even more difficult, and here’s why.

1. Nowadays there are almost no classical ECM (I use it as a synonym for EDMS) or CRM. There are EDMS with built-in business process automation capabilities, and modern CRM today is no longer just a database of counterparties and the history of relationships with them, but systems that automate the entire process of working with clients.

   BUT, classic BPMS have always been used to build and automate business processes. How can we now differentiate between these decisions? What is their fundamental difference, and is there any?

   • EDMS “DELO” “allows you to optimize an organization’s business processes and automate work with a large volume of documents. The main task is the automation of document-oriented business processes.”
   • Docsvision EDMS performs “automation of any business processes, integration between EDMS and other enterprise systems, process management.”
   • Directum EDMS with a business process management module, which “ensures effective interaction between employees within business processes.”
   Among the CRM systems with embedded capabilities to build business processes are:
   • Terrasoft CRM (bpm’online) is a system for marketing, sales and service, with the ability to model and automate the company’s internal business processes.
   • Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which “allows you to reduce costs and increase profits by organizing and automating business processes, which helps increase customer satisfaction and loyalty in all areas - marketing, sales and service.”
   • 1C:CRM, which has built-in BPM tools, which allows you to “develop and use business processes of any complexity in the company.”
   The lists go on.
2. As for the BPMS themselves (modern business process management systems), they highlight separate specialized solutions: CRM based on BPM, ECM based on a process engine, and so on. Or they form a product line in an industry key (business processes of a telecommunications company, business processes of a trade organization, etc.)
   • ELMA is a business process management system, on the basis of which an application for organizing electronic document management ECM+, a solution for automating the process of working with clients CRM+ and a number of other solutions are implemented.
   • NAUMEN - offers solutions for automation of contact centers, procurement management, document management and other products.
   • Serena Business Manager (SBM) – offers a “portfolio of solutions for various industries and typical services.” In particular, document flow in the organization; order management and other solutions.

1. ECM and CRM, with built-in processes;
2. BPM, which automates document flow and customer service processes.

Actually no, you can't. Despite the processes implemented, neither ECM nor CRM replace BPM systems. The approach to automation, and therefore the purpose of all these solutions, remains different. What is the difference from the point of view of the enterprise implementing the product?

Products with implemented processes and BPM

The differences in automation objects inherent in ECM, CRM and BPM can be associated with differences in the architecture of these solutions.

The organization of business processes in ECM and CRM is based on the database (document storage / customer database) and the status of working with them (document status / transaction status). The process embedded in these solutions always accesses data from the top two tiers. The work of BPMS is initially built as a process - it concentrates not on the object (document, client), but on the final goal of the process (service provided, product received by the client).

If a company needs to change an automated process, the situation will also be different. In ECM and CRM, this will require changes in the top two tiers. Such modification is a costly thing; you won’t do it all the time. Therefore, ECM and CRM are usually configured once and for a long time, fixing the desired order of actions in the information system.

To change the process in BPM, you will not need to modify or change the solution architecture. This explains the so-called “flexibility” of BPM, which is often cited as one of the benefits of these solutions. Changes are made immediately to the process model, and it is ready for work. At the same time, processes running before the changes were made continue to work according to the old scheme.

Let's be honest, the purpose of, for example, EDMS systems has always been to record regulations for the processing of certain documents. These decisions do not imply that the routes of document movement will change. Neither companies that have implemented EDMS, nor the functions of electronic document management systems, respectively, simply have such a task. Therefore, the processes implemented in document management systems remain unchanged. You build a document processing process once, and it works for several years. If there is a need for changes and improvements, you need a different solution.

So, here are a few fundamental, in my opinion, differences between process automation in ECM, CRM and BPM:

Let me emphasize that classic products, solutions with process automation capabilities, and BPMS-class systems have their advantages. However, mixing concepts and attributing to some solutions capabilities that they essentially do not possess is already marketing.

Having invested in such automation, managers do not get the effect they expected, or they simply waste time considering a product that does not initially meet the needs of the business.

For each company, one or another solution is selected according to its needs. For example, we talked a lot about the versatility of BPM, but versatility also determines the wide functionality of the system. It is a priori broader than in highly specialized products, and for a small company it may turn out to be unnecessary; the system itself may seem complicated. And vice versa, for a larger company exactly this kind of functionality will be necessary, and investing in improving, for example, a CRM system to meet all the tasks that the company sets for the product will not be justified.

I personally know of a case where a large financial organization acquired a well-known CRM in the market to automate a set of processes for providing certain types of services to clients. As a result, CRM did not take off, and management, having wasted several months, was forced to look for another solution, which eventually became BPM. I deliberately do not mention the names of these systems, since PR or anti-PR is not my goal. And this situation itself did not happen because CRM was bad or BPM was good. It's just that each solution is designed to perform specific tasks. And if the customer had initially understood the functionality of the system, and the vendor himself had honestly admitted that the product was not intended to solve the assigned tasks, this would not have happened. Having worked hard, developers can, of course, add the functionality of any system to what the customer requires, but it is not at all clear why and who is willing to spend so much time and money on it.

Carefully study IT systems and demo versions, interrogate and torture consulting managers. Good automation and thoughtful implementations to you.

• What files can I store in SRM?

  You can upload texts, photographs, images, drawings or graphics in any format. In CRM, documents will be systematized: to find an agreement with a specific client, simply go to their transaction card. If the responsible manager is not on site, any other employee will instantly find the required contract or invoice.

• What documents does SalesapCRM generate automatically?

  You can create any template using texts, tables and even HTML code. In the future, the system will automatically generate similar texts in one click: letters, commercial offers, contracts, agreements, etc.

• Is it possible to download a contract from CRM to a computer or print it?

  Yes. It only takes a matter of seconds to download, print, or send a contract to your client. CRM systematizes the storage of files and access to them by all company employees. Electronic document management allows you to save time for more important matters.

• How much data can I store in SRM?

  It depends on the terms of your tariff. On the free plan – 200 MB for the entire company. On standard – 500 MB per user. On the extended tariff - no volume restrictions. You can change the tariff at any time, expanding the capabilities of CRM.

• What files can I store in SRM?

  You can upload texts, photographs, images, drawings or graphics in any format. In CRM, documents will be systematized: to find an agreement with a specific client, simply go to their transaction card. If the responsible manager is not on site, any other employee will instantly find the required contract or invoice.

• What documents does SalesapCRM generate automatically?

  You can create any template using texts, tables and even HTML code. In the future, the system will automatically generate similar texts in one click: letters, commercial offers, contracts, agreements, etc.

• Is it possible to download a contract from CRM to a computer or print it?

  Yes. It only takes a matter of seconds to download, print, or send a contract to your client. CRM systematizes the storage of files and access to them by all company employees. Electronic document management allows you to save time for more important matters.

• How much data can I store in SRM?

  It depends on the terms of your tariff. On the free plan – 200 MB for the entire company. On standard – 500 MB per user. On the extended tariff - no volume restrictions. You can change the tariff at any time, expanding the capabilities of CRM.

Maintaining clear document flow in an organization of any profile is one of the main aspects of successful business. Often, an incorrect symbol indicated in a document or one missing figure in a contract can jeopardize the implementation of an entire project and ruin relationships with partner companies. In addition, there are cases when it is almost impossible to determine the responsible employee responsible for maintaining, filling out and registering an agreement or for any other equally important document, since it is impossible to track the history of communication between employees and clients and be guided only by oral reports, the reliability of which always remains questionable. Meanwhile, there may be several employees in whose competence a particular document is located, and in this case, understanding whose mistake led to negative consequences or which of the performers did not fulfill their duties in a timely manner and for what reason remains a mystery. Of course, a trusting relationship between the manager and the organization’s staff is very important, but when the company’s profit and relationships with clients are at stake, being guided only by emotions and personal sympathies is often more than frivolous. At the same time, even in small companies with a team of less than 20 people, situations in which it is impossible to determine the original source of the problem often occur, and if we talk about large holdings or construction companies, whose activities involve the work of many third-party organizations, there is a clear workflow and communication algorithm with clients and counterparties become decisive in organizing the entire business process. Now there are a lot of software solutions for document management and CRM on the market. For each specific organization, development companies offer an individual approach and are able to create programs taking into account all the requirements and characteristics of a particular company. However, today there are no comprehensive software solutions that represent the quintessence of a document flow and contact management program. If we consider document flow, then it represents, first of all, the registration of incoming and outgoing documents, their approval and further storage, that is, the point is to perform clerical functions. However, taking into account the specifics of the work of a particular company, the coordination of various documents, contracts, annexes to them, letters, protocols, etc. may acquire a more multi-stage character. For example, if the company’s activities directly depend on the actions of third-party organizations: suppliers, contractors, various counterparties, then basic functions that ensure the completion of clerical tasks are not enough. The concept of document flow in this case should be considered more broadly. Without taking into account contracts and documents with customers, contractors and suppliers, further planning of the company’s work, control and analysis of its activities is impossible. First of all, you need to fill out contracts, then you need to endorse them both within the company and with counterparties, while constantly monitoring the movement of paper copies, taking into account the storage location, the person in charge, the date and place of movement and return of the contract, etc. In addition, you must have electronic copies of documents and additional agreements to the contract available. Using basic arithmetic, it is not difficult to guess that all these documents can literally take up entire office spaces. If we talk, for example, about the organization of document flow in a construction company, then it should be noted that this entire set of actions is only the starting stage, and to reach the finish line it is necessary to perform a number of more activities. Thus, after drawing up and agreeing on contracts, it is necessary to continue monitoring the activities under them: execution of work, payments, mutual settlements, compliance with all work deadlines, relevance of documents subordinate to the contracts, namely: acts, work orders, work schedules, etc. In the case of CRM (customer relationship management), the situation looks even more complicated, since the list and number of people with whom it is necessary to communicate on certain issues in the organization can change quite often. In a crisis situation, when some employees are sent on indefinite leave, others are laid off or appointed to new positions, confusion in the lists of clients and contractors can arise quite quickly. Losing a client or a reliable supplier is perhaps the most negative moment for any company. It is worth remembering that not only sales managers or account managers are responsible for relationships with clients, but also many other employees: secretaries, accountants, advertising specialists, first-line managers. In the arsenal of the ALTIUS SOFT company there are programs “ALTIUS - Document Management” and “CRM - Contact Management”. “ALTIUS – Document Management” was created primarily for participants in the construction market and is intended for comprehensive work with documents. This program is the easiest document management program to learn, and it will take very little time to learn how to use it. The program solves the main problem that arises when working with documents for any (not just a construction company) - it systematizes their accounting, not to mention the fact that it completely automates it. The program provides a full range of important functions for the document flow of companies, both for recording copies of documents and for recording activities related to the execution of documents. The card of each document contains the main significant information: the date of signing, its number, the name of the counterparty enterprise, the name of the legal entity under the contract, the responsible person, etc. The program allows you to track the hierarchy of any document, automatically transfer it to the next employee for approval, and inform authorized persons about exceeding the approval deadline, record the reasons for such a delay, that is, it reflects the life cycle of the document. It is important that the program is able to display all changes in the card of the document itself. The program allows you to set a reminder of target dates both for groups of employees and individually for each person responsible for a particular area at any stage of the contract.

The program also has the ability to configure individual processing for each type of document: an approval scheme and a reminder system. That is, for example, a contract card can have its own list of endorsers, recipients of reminders and responsible employees, and cards for other documents (appendices to contracts, certificates of completion, etc.) have their own settings. It is also important that these settings can be carried out by an ordinary PC user, without the help of a system administrator. If we talk about the CRM - Contact Management program, then customer information is entered in several stages. A quick entry of primary information at the initial stage of working with a client is making an entry in the directory of counterparties. At this stage, you can enter all known information about the client: name, main contact person, telephone and fax numbers, email address. A number of characteristics are selected from directories: type of activity, region, group and category of the counterparty, as well as the name of the advertisement used. These characteristics can be used to search and select counterparties from the directory. To enter more detailed information about the counterparty (contact persons, their personal data, important dates), the “Counterparty Card” is used, which can be filled out or changed at any time. At the same time, the history of relations with contractors is maintained automatically in the ALTIUS - CRM “Contact Management” program. When you start the program, the main window of the employee’s work opens - the “Contacts” document. The user's login determines the list of scheduled contacts for the current date, which is displayed in the "Contacts" window. All contacts are divided by type: calls, meetings, e-mail, fax, etc. The “Calls” section displays all organizations with which telephone conversations are planned by the manager or other employees. For the convenience of the user, information about the planned conversation is shown in separate fields: phone number, contact person, subject of the contact and a detailed verbal description of the upcoming conversation. The employee responsible for conducting telephone conversations with the client always has the opportunity to make special notes about what stage, for example, the commercial proposal is being considered, how soon the client is ready to schedule an official meeting, whether payment is expected on the invoice - in a word, conduct this called the chronicle of negotiations. If communication with a client has been suspended for a long period of time, but negotiations are expected to continue in the future, then within a few minutes the employee can refresh his memory, using the information previously entered into the program, at what stage the decision is being made and what the client’s main priorities and requirements are. . Accordingly, if the client calls back on his own, since the decision has already been made or additional questions have arisen on some points of cooperation, then the responsible employee or another manager replacing him during a vacation or business trip will not have to frantically collect scattered information throughout the company. After communicating with the client, the manager can enter the result of the contact into the program, i.e. clearly demonstrate to the company management what successes he has achieved, what difficulties arose and what results were not achieved. Meanwhile, the head of the organization and authorized employees can schedule events or calls for an employee who is responsible for solving certain problems. In addition, the program has a reminder system that will help the employee to engage in current work and complete tasks planned by him or the head of the department earlier. All these seemingly small components of professional communication can be written down in a notepad without resorting to using a program. Indeed, employees of many companies build an algorithm for communicating with clients and contractors according to exactly this principle. At the same time, in most cases, everyone’s favorite multi-colored stickers prevail over writing notes in a separate notebook or diary. Sometimes the desktop and computer monitor of employees of some companies resemble applications made from multi-colored scraps of paper. Of course, the employee independently decides how it is more convenient for him to remember any important points, but it must be borne in mind that any paper media can be lost or simply mistaken for office trash. Order in business, and even more so in communication with clients, always has a positive impact on the work of any company. Sometimes an untimely phone call or a poorly sent letter can forever ruin a relationship with a client and deprive the company of part of its profits. Despite the successful implementation of the ALTIUS - Document Flow and CRM - Contact Management software solutions, the ALTIUS SOFT company decided to combine these programs. The new software solution “CRM and document flow” will facilitate the work of all departments of the company, since information about clients and documents will be contained in one program and will not require additional movement. The operating principle of this program is based on the fact that for each counterparty the following will be displayed: 1) history of relationships, plans and work results (from CRM); 2) a set of documents related to it, and clearly demonstrate which documents have been signed or are being approved, whether all accounting documents have been provided, what additional agreements have been concluded, etc. Accordingly, you can make operational edits to any document and, if necessary, adjust the list of responsible persons for it and, in the same program, plan the necessary activities, receive reminders, and distribute responsibilities between employees. The “CRM and document flow” program will be useful for secretaries, lawyers, office employees, managers, managers. It will allow you to systematize and optimize work with clients and documents. “In times of crisis, saving time and prompt action are especially important. This program can ensure the fulfillment of these requirements and facilitate the work of all company employees,” says A. L. Travkin, General Director of ALTIUS SOFT.