Today’s article discusses whether CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and work management software should be one solution or separate products. Specifically, we will be covering the recruitment sector. We will explore how your business can benefit from tying a digital timekeeping solution to a CRM.
We don’t support the claims that CRM and recruitment management software should be part of the same product. However, we also don’t believe they should be used independently from one another. Our stance is in between these two options.
Ultimately, recruitment agencies adopt both types of software for the same reason. To speed up their workflows such as sourcing candidates, payroll and billing. While the direct function of each solution is entirely different, the end goal is the same—workflow management.
The best approach is to stay in the middle. Don’t merge the CRM and time management systems, but you don’t separate them either. Link them through integration. This creates a centralised approach to process automation in areas that overlap, enabling the creation of unique workflows.
What is CRM Integration and Why Do I Need It in Recruitment?
CRM integration is the connectivity between your CRM and other software. It’s most efficiently performed through the use of APIs and software services. Integrations enable the expansion of the software’s functionality by unlocking automation opportunities and a centralised approach to all your systems. Both replace manually keying in data from one system into the other.
Integration can improve multiple aspects of the business. Ranging from team alignment and productivity to building a better customer experience. In other words, integrating CRM with other 3rd party applications has the power to tie all your business efforts into one well-oiled machine.
Benefits of Integration and Automation
The key benefit of CRM integration is manual process automation across different platforms where they overlap, providing centralised reporting. What can or cannot be automated varies depending on the solutions. But either way, the end benefit is a faster pay and bill cycle.
For example, if your consultants enter client billing, candidate and placement details in their ATS, this data is automatically transferred into the work management system. This same data is then used to produce invoices and pay. In other words, there is no need to type in invoices or calculate bill and pay figures manually.
CRM integration can help you automate other workflows within the business. For example, an integration with a document signing platform. This would allow you to send, track and eSign documents directly in your CRM. Our own Recruitment pay and bill system integrates with a document signing system. By having the CRM and our billing management system linked, you will have unlocked even further integrated functionality.
Best of Breed Software
Before the popularisation of SaaS, it was not uncommon to look for an ATS/CRM as the sole solution for managing recruitment agency workflows. But this approach has its drawbacks. As you scale, your requirements grow. Certain aspects of the CRM may not be suitable anymore.
For example, the CRM may have had a basic billing system that worked for you as a small agency. However, it cannot provide the flexibility to meet your growing customer demands. Nor can it export data into your new accounting system automatically. By integrating the CRM with a well-established billing system, you will instantly gain that additional functionality.
Selecting an ATS/CRM that provides many integrations, or has a flexible approach to adopting new integrations (e.g. through the use of an API), can futureproof your adaptation to growing requirements.
Here’s a simple illustration. The ATS provider can focus on what they know best – help you source candidates and manage your customer relationships. The billing system specialises in producing structurally correct invoices and works with your distribution workflows. The document signing platform provides the best interface for signing contracts, and your commissions are calculated through software that can cater for niche commission calculations. The point is you can keep growing your SaaS toolbox as you scale, and swap or change parts of your setup as your requirements change.
Integrated Solutions Provide More Detailed Insights
Different solutions are used for tracking different forms of data. For example, a digital timekeeping software like ours can provide a detailed breakdown of your temp margins and an analysis of your most profitable temp consultants. However, it will not tell you how well your agency is performing overall based on permanent recruitment status, looking at individual consultant targets, or cash flow.
To plug this gap, you should integrate with a business intelligence system. Aim for the one that can pull data from all stand-alone components and provide analytics that cover all aspects of your business. Integrations allow you to put the data you collect across different channels into context.
Enablement of Data-Driven Decision Making
Centralised reporting of data collected across different channels leads to discovering opportunities and mitigating risks. All this leads to a more accurate assessment of the situation at hand.
Combining data collected from different sources puts metrics in other contexts, opening up more analysis options and deepening your perception of the situation. The more clarity you have of your procedures and the results they bear, the better grounded your decisions will be. Integrations are the way of achieving that as they allow you to mesh data collected by different tools into one report easily.
A Solution to Smoother Collaborations
Linking software used by different departments with one another brings the departments closer together. Having easily accessible visibility of information collected across the entirety of the business leads to better alignment. And therefore easier collaborations.
Improved Workflows Build Relationships
Transparency is the founding stone of smooth collaborations. By creating visibility across departments via software integrations, you help your teams work together. Gathering an understanding of one another’s work, different departments can create workflows inclusive of each other’s unique skills and needs.
In other words, software integrations promote better teamwork by centralising individual KPIs and putting them in the context of bigger goals. The more teams work together, the better they understand each other. Strong relationships build trust which then leads to enhanced alignment and accelerated business growth.
Summary
As we have stated at the beginning, customer relationship management and work management should be neither merged nor siloed. Instead, they should be linked together, and the way of doing that is through integration.
By integrating different solutions, you gain centralised access to data that would otherwise be unavailable. In addition, putting different metrics in a context helps you make better business decisions.
We put a great emphasis on integrations when developing our products. This way, our clients have many options available, including those involving their favourite solutions.
Still unsure how it works? Book a demo and we will walk you through it.
