CRM and BPM systems are an integral part of business operations of the modern day. BPM stands for Business Process Management, and CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM and BPM systems are designed to boost business operations. The purpose of a CRM system is rather to provide assistance in customer work, while a BPM system serves to enhance profitability and strengthen the business.

BPM products are backed by software, which is based on a platform and represents a set of techniques and tools to help organize and improve your business. Bmp’online platform grants a wide range of benefits for companies and offers a wide range of capabilities for easy customization, deployment, and configuration https://www.bpmonline.com/

Use of CRM and BPM

Both BPM and CRM should be used for the successful business outcomes. Use of BPM in the area of customer service results in the consistency, which is much required by decision-makers in order to monitor service experience with regard to customer satisfaction perspective and cost. BPM achieves this by using the existing business rules and process rules that determine the customer interaction. Combining contextual knowledge with business processes gives employees the opportunity to deliver personalized service to customers within appropriate time frames.

The real benefits of combining CRM and BPM are the following:

• Improvement of resolution process
• Minimization of staff training time
• Enhancement of employees’ efficiency
• Full compliance with company’s rules and the law

BPM software for CRM applications

Modern competitive environment puts immense pressure on companies striving for acquisition of new and retention of existing customers. Despite the evolution of CRM software, one thing has remained the same – customer is the center of any business attention. Not much has changed in this area in many years, and the leader remains the same – the one who can fulfill its clients’ needs in a cheaper way, who can be faster and more professional in this field.

To achieve this goal, many professionals have developed CRM applications that resulted in greater productivity and structure of their customer relationship management. As much as CRM systems have had their success stories, there is one weak point that remains unresolved – their absolute dependence on people.

The introduction of BPM tools allows to eliminate the administrative burden imposed on CRM software users. They don’t need to carry out repetitive and routine tasks any more, as the main CRM processes are automated and include the following:

• Sales reports
• Event-based e-mails
• Order confirmation
• Sales forecasts etc.

How does BPM software work?

Business Process Management software operates through successful integration with the applications that a company uses, which leads to enhanced monitoring, extraction, formatting, and distribution of information to employees within the system.

Automated business processes can undergo configuration and re-configuration without the need to change the original settings of the applications that a company uses. Creation and re-creation of automated business processes is performed through any PC where the BPM software is installed. An employee can automate common processes using the tools that this software offers.

BPM-CRM integration

Many BPM platforms can perfectly integrate with CRM solutions. Since CRM serves to manage sales and marketing interactions with existing and potential clients, and BPM helps enhance business process and workflows, their integration can be one of the best investments in your business. It will produce great results if properly executed.

BPM can improve CRM with the help of two basic steps:

• Automation of your system’s routine operations, which can free up agents to other activities and give them more time to work with prospective customers, for instance.
• Supporting every single operation with the data necessary to enhance customer experience.

The integration of your CRM and BPM systems can help organize your information and will result in the constant sales growth.

Challenges of CRM and BPM integration

A couple of challenges can be encountered in the process of CRM-BPM integration:

• The existing data system can be segmented and requires several steps of its integration. You may want to begin with merging the customer data. Then, you can switch to the integration of several data sources within the enterprise – such as merging central database with local data systems.
• Your BPM system should be integrated with other applications that you utilize within the company in order to improve your business results.
• Before you begin the integration process, it is mandatory for your company to automate and mature the existing processes and lead your business through the process of standardization of activities across the enterprise https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crmasaprocess/archive/2013/04/22/the-link-between-crm-and-bpm.

Fast access to relevant data

In some cases, when dealing with clients, agents struggle to find necessary answers, and clients become frustrated. That results in increasing dissatisfaction of agents and a lower productivity of their work. Customer service sector is directly involved in working with clients, and people who work there determine the quality of the customer experience that your company gets.

In this regard, your employees are in need of fast and timely access to relevant information. That means that their work process should be integrated with the knowledge base. The integration of the knowledge base with the contact center or the employee’s desktop removes the obligation to memorize complex procedures or look for information using guides to assist clients.

Often, employees have to use dozens of applications that have been installed on their PCs over the years in order to answer questions or carry out transactions. That complicates their tasks greatly. BPM software with process-based solution helps integrate applications with customer service processes. In the result, service processes determine what applications or tools should be accessed to carry out this particular task.

Center of excellence with BPM and CRM

To stay ahead of competition and ensure that your company’s processes are up-to-date, you can establish a center of excellence (COE). That means that you can determine how your business processes will be designed, what components you will use (user interfaces, services, data, etc.), and which repeatable process patterns you can utilize.

It takes much work, evaluation, and organizational efforts to establish a COE. However, once it is well-designed and launched, it will assist you in your process management and enhancement of your business.

Just like Business Process Management, COE is not a one-step action; it is rather a continuous journey. There are several tasks that your company needs to carry out in order to accomplish this project. They include:

• Clear definition of BPM best practices and methodologies.
• Provision of guidance at all project stages.
• Provision of reusable templates and tools.
• Compliance of BPM tools with existing corporate standards.

Benefits of BPM software

With the above in mind, we can conclude that the use of BPM software will benefit the enterprise in many areas, the main of which are provided here:

The use of BPM software increases your performance quality and ensures that you spend less time on tasks. BPM gets the most from the existing standards and allows for reusing your current applications, as well as for the development of new ones. BPM software fills the gap between service creators and the services users. And, most importantly, BPM assists in customer retention and helps in the search for new clients.