Manufacturing & Engineering Bespoke CRM Systems

Manufacturing & Engineering Bespoke CRM Systems

Bespoke CRM systems in the Manufacturing and Engineering industry's are commonplace. These customised solutions are built from scratch in a way that incorporates and enhances all of your organisation's workflows and processes whether that be managing production schedules, tracking projects, coordinating with suppliers or something in between.

They help to simplify manual, time consuming and often complex processes, vastly improve efficiency and communication and strengthen customer relationships by providing features and functionality that align with your specific requirements exactly.

Because the manufacturing and engineering sectors face specific and nuanced challenges, generic CRMs often cannot adequately address these requirements. Managing detailed project lifecycles that change regularly, integrating with bespoke ERP systems and handling technical customer requirements are examples of aspects that would likely not be possible or at least, a less than ideal workaround would be required, if using an off-the-shelf system. Choosing bespoke however can address these specific needs.

Growth without the growing pains

We’ve seen it time and time again - companies that still rely on a messy patchwork of spreadsheets, emails and separate bits of software. It works, but only until it doesn’t. A custom CRM brings everything into one place, saving you hours of duplication and reducing the chance for 'things to go missing'.

And because it can link up with your other systems - ERP, supply chain, accounts, CAD - you get the full picture rather than ten different versions of it.

The endless possibilities of integration

Following on from the above, it is worth us taking a deeper look at the integration possibilities that a custom CRM system can offer to your business. The CRM can act as a central data repository for all things customer and prospect and through integration, information can be pushed into and pulled from other critical systems within your environment. Let's take a look at some of the most common systems in these industries that can be integrated with bespoke CRMs.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems

We've mentioned ERP systems several times already so let's start here. These systems can be used to manage a number of core business processes within manufacturing and engineering environment's. Inventory management, production planning, supplier management and finances can all be managed through ERP systems and any good ERP system will also provide some form of analytics so stock levels, performance and production progression can be monitored.

By integrating your bespoke CRM system with your ERP system, you can create a single, connected view of your entire operation from the first customer enquiry right through to delivery and aftercare. Sales and production teams can work from the same data in live time, orders raised in your CRM can automatically trigger updates in the ERP for stock, scheduling or invoicing, meaning no more double entry or crossed wires between departments. 

Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems

Whilst supply chain management can be a feature within a different system, many manufacturing and engineering companies choose to have a standalone SCM. As you're probably aware, they are predominantly used for managing suppliers, procurement activities and logistics - essentially, the end to end lifecycle of 'materials' starting with the purchase of raw materials to the point the final product is delivered to your client.

Choosing to integrate your bespoke CRM solution with your existing SCM system ensures demand from your customers can be aligned with your supplier capabilities. This should ultimately provide a much better customer experience because expectations can be set up front.

Computer Aided Design (CAD) software

CAD software is widely used in both the manufacturing and engineering industry and with good reason - it allows your users to create digital versions of real products. CAD software may offer 2D drawing capabilities, 3D modelling or both and is incredibly useful in aiding visualisation of your products and allows your users to review and refine designs as needed.

There are clear benefits of integrating your CAD system with your CRM - namely the fact that individual clients can be linked to their specific designs - this can ensure accuracy, timely delivery an overall better customer experience.

Quality Management Systems (QMS)

A QMS essentially gives your organisation the ability to track, refine and perfect your company's quality standards by providing a place to store and access all information relating to processes, procedures and individual responsibilities within your company. QMS's allow you to be proactive rather than reactive in getting things right first time, reducing the time your employees spend on correcting errors.

Integrating your QMS with a custom CRM can offer a number of benefits. Firstly, processes and procedures can be tweaked based on client feedback held in your CRM. Secondly, any certifications relating to quality standards can be shared with your clients. In addition, if there are issues encountered, they can be communicated to the client with ease and the history logged in your CRM's records.

Customer data management

Complex projects and processes, extended sales cycles and lots of stakeholders are the norm in many manufacturing & engineering organisations and so, effective and accurate customer data management is absolutely crucial. If you're using multiple spreadsheets, multiple systems and have disjointed processes, you're at a major disadvantage and potentially even risk of loosing customers if your competition does it better.

By having accurate, structured and easily accessible customer data, you can track, assign and manage enquiries, undertake personalised and intelligent prospecting, manage on going client communications and deal with any support needs or issues that may arise in a structured, cohesive manner. In addition, having access to both individual and collective client data can help your organisation to anticipate demand and organise your resources in a way that best reflects that.

Having one centralised data platform that has the ability to consolidate all data relating to a client (even from different systems) including contact details, order history and comms history means that regardless of who is accessing the CRM and their role, they will have a full and complete history of all important information relating to that customer. This can really help your company ensure all of your client interactions are informed and personalised ultimately leading to higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Bespoke v off-the-shelf

Deciding between bespoke or off-the-shelf CRM systems can be a difficult choice regardless of industry although for many, it's a simple one. Off-the-shelf software solutions the default for many companies, simply because they are ready to use with lower upfront fees and offer generic features and functionality that meet the needs of many organisations. However, for companies in industries that tend to have more drawn out complex processes including manufacturing and engineering, the choice is not as straightforward. Let's take a closer look at some of the characteristics businesses should consider when deciding on whether to choose bespoke or off-the-shelf for their CRM.

Customisation capabilities

The first and most obvious reason for choosing bespoke software over off-the-shelf is because it can be customised the fit specific requirements of your organisation exactly. If you have complex and nuanced business processes, these can be incorporated to work in the way they need to. The CRM can be integrated with other core business systems such as QMS, SCM and ERP systems and the software can be designed to work with and consolidate multiple file types such as CAD drawings, Word docs and Excel files.

However, not all businesses have these complex processes or out of the norm requirements and if that applies to you, off-the-shelf software may be a perfectly viable option.

Integration capabilities

Although touched on above, the integration capabilities of bespoke and off-the-shelf CRM systems do warrant further discussion. Because custom software is designed and developed from scratch, this means it can be built in a way that ensures it integrates with any of your other existing systems whether they are bespoke or not.

On the other hand, off-the-shelf software is likely to be limited in terms of it's integration options, offering connections to some other off-the-shelf software systems but probably unable to integrate with lesser known systems or bespoke systems. If you need bespoke or complex integrations, off-the-shelf is unlikely to be the best option for you..

Growth capabilities

As your company grows and changes, you might outgrow your software too - especially if it's off-the-shelf. This is because, adding new features or functionality is usually at the discretion of the vendor and if it's not appealing to the masses, it likely won't happen. This leaves you in the position of having to find workarounds or paying for outside development resource to add the features you desire. This can of course be costly.

Custom CRM software however can be designed based around your future ambitions, incorporating any growth plans or expectations into the product, allowing for easy and cost effective future changes to be made.

Cost

Another key consideration when deciding on whether to choose a bespoke CRM solution or off-the-shelf, is of course - the cost. Upfront costs for bespoke systems are generally higher than their off-the-shelf counterparts and this is because bespoke software is built from scratch which requires design, development, testing and implementation time. Conversely, off-the-shelf software is ready built and ready to utilise immediately and thus, there usually aren't any costs involved upfront aside from the set-ups costs.

However, you should always look at the bigger picture when determining which type of CRM system is the best value for money not just in the short term but the longer term as well. A monthly licensing fee may appear to be the most cost effective option initially, but if you're paying that licensing fee for a number of years, it often ends up being more expensive than the bespoke software would have cost.

Employee adoption

Employee adoption of the software tends to be less well thought about but just as important when choosing between bespoke and off-the-shelf. A custom CRM system is usually built to digitise and improve your existing processes and thus, the software is familiar to your users already and easier to adapt to. On the other hand, off-the-shelf CRM systems are not built to your organisations specific processes and workflows which means that you may have to change your own processes to fit to the software. 

Production process integration

Being in the manufacturing and engineering sector, if you opt to integrate your bespoke CRM with your existing production processes you can reap a whole lot of benefits - let's take a look at them:

Integration with production workflows

Custom CRM solutions can be designed to integrate directly with your existing workflows, linking customer demand directly to your production schedules. This ensures that sales forecasts, order histories and customer specific requirements are instantly accessible to your production teams which in turn, helps them plan more effectively whilst hopefully reducing lead times in the process.

Live data

If you bespoke CRM is linked to your wider production schedules, you can expect to see live updates on order status, inventory levels and supply chain activity. This visibility allows your production managers to make quick, data backed decisions, allocate their resources in the most efficient way and adjust plans proactively when spanners are thrown into the works.

Employees communicate better

By linking and subsequently centralising your customer and production data, a custom CRM can make collaboration easier between your sales, engineering, procurement, production and customer support teams and ensure they are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

Quality control & compliance assistance

Vital in these industries, tailored CRMs can be built to track and log product specifications, compliance requirements and quality assurance processes.

Happier customers

When you have a CRM that encompasses your organisation's unique production environment, you're much more able to offer your customers accurate delivery timelines and faster issue resolution. This leads to higher satisfaction and of course - retention!

Check out how a custom built CRM/WFM hybrid solution helped Leicester based, Westermans International transform their operations and combine their customer and workforce related management processes into a single, intelligent solution.

How can we help?

Here at Cool Code Company, we have worked with the manufacturing and engineering industries for over 15 years and furthermore, we have developed and implemented custom CRM solutions for many of these clients. We understand the unique challenges businesses in these industries face and work with our clients to thoroughly understand their existing environment, what they want to achieve and ultimately - how to get there.

If you're a manufacturing or engineering business looking to gain better control over your operations, improve communication and deliver more value to your customers, we'd love to help! Our CRM solutions are built to reflect the realities of your industry, supporting complex workflows, long sales cycles and project driven delivery. Come and have a chat with our experienced team today!