ERP is a process that helps you put any and all resources involved with an organization to the best possible use. ERP has had other names in its past iterations: Materials Resource Planning and Manufacturing Resource Planning. Manufacturing Resource Planning shows that, at its roots, it was used as a tool most often in a manufacturing environment. Typically, it was used in reference to a process with several discrete operations or discrete objects, many of which can be broken down further into atomic level objects or processes. An example would be a simple wooden bar stool. A bar stool with three legs, three dowels connecting those legs at a predefined space interval, and a round wooden seat. A process might be to drill the hole for leg one into the bottom of the seat piece. There would be three similar processes like that one, one for each leg into the seat. Each leg might have a process assigned to it of drilling two holes, each hole has a depth and a diameter and an angle in reference to the leg and an angle in reference to the other legs. The finished product (bar stool) as a whole has a demand for each component (e.g., legs, screws, seat) and you have a predefined amount that is allocated to waste. Tracking all of this information, as well as tracking those times when the projected numbers fall outside of the expected ranges are all things that historically were tracked by a MRP system either in a spreadsheet, in a notebook, or in early databases (usually with homegrown applications built as a front end).
ERP methodology has grown significantly from its manufacturing roots, although many times MRP is still the basis from which the implementation of an ERP system grows. Today the concept of ERP often refers to a broad set of activities that a company or an enterprise performs, both internally and externally. The computerized system that is often referred to when discussing the management of planning of an enterprise's resources (all resources, including money, physical, and people) is an integrated solution. Such a software system is typically made up of multiple modules that interact together, share information amongst themselves and each other, and provide management with a broad, all-encompassing picture of the entire enterprise. These systems can now be used to meet needs in any industry.
Within the software is stored the information that management needs to operate its business day to day. ERP software systems break down the departmental barriers that sometimes still exist in organizations and allow the information that may have been in silos before to be shared across the enterprise. Further, it takes a process-oriented view of the organization and uses that view to allow the organization to meet its goals by tightly integrating all aspects of the organization. With ERP software, a company can better integrate its entire supply chain, automate many of its processes, and reduce its lead times and exceptions to the process along the way.
CRM is the process of finding, getting, and retaining customers. It encompasses the methodologies, strategies, and other capabilities that help a company or enterprise organize and manage its customer relationships, as well as the software tools to help achieve those ends. Today, many companies focus on the wants and needs of the customer, so the ability to track information about the customer, learn from that information, and use that information to better serve the customer is crucial. CRM helps a company learn what works and what does not. It helps the company identify the profile of the most profitable customers, gain a deeper understanding of the most and least profitable customers, and will allow the company to target the most profitable customer profile when it is searching for new business. For companies that are forming alliances with business partners, CRM is centralizing information on the customer base in a way that can be shared between partners to help to create products to better serve the end user. Before, customer-centric information was likely already stored within the company. It was unlikely, however, that this information was stored in a central location or that it was easily accessible by multiple departments therefore reporting on customer information in an enterprisewide manner was nearly impossible. If it is difficult to report on, it is likely nearly impossible to perform analysis on.
CRM will help your customer base, and your reputation within that base, by allowing faster response to customer's inquiries because the information is centrally stored and accessible by the people who are interfacing with the customer
source : Oracle E-Business Suite
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