What is the difference between a CRM and a CLM?
A single letter makes a big difference. I've been at Bigle Legal for a year and couldn't be more aware of the magnitude of what this means. Currently, we work with a wide variety of software, and each one of them carries with it acronyms or names that did not exist a few years ago ( and yet I am a millennial), This confirms that the pace of technological evolution is accelerating. If we don't hurry up, no matter how young we think we are, they will have a competitive edge that will not be easy to catch up with.
Many concepts are familiar, but there are others that are very similar and can be confusing. This is the case of CRM and CLM. But what are they, and what are they for? What is their difference? Which one should I use in my business area, and what are its main advantages?
What is a CRM and what is a CLM?
CRM software, or Customer Relationship Management, is used by companies to manage customer relationships, centralising interaction and providing data on them.
By contrast, Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software is a solution that allows companies to streamline and secure the entire lifecycle of contracts and other documents.
What is the purpose of each of them?
The CRM, located in the cloud, is used to store accounts, leads and sales opportunities; in short, to keep track of business opportunities. The purpose of CRM is to centralise the company's sales information, making it accessible to all teams to maximise their collaboration with each other and further develop the business.
CLM integrates different technologies for all professionals working with legal documents from manual and routine work, maximising their compliance and avoiding legal contingencies for companies. At the same time, they restore the value of documents: it is estimated that up to 40% of their value is lost through slow and inefficient operations. CLM recovers this value and avoids losses of millions for large companies.
What is the difference between both?
The main difference between these two software is that CRM is mainly aimed at managing the company's relationship with people, users, with potential customers, whereas CLM is aimed at document management, covering the document lifecycle from start to finish.
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Thus, while the former offers a wealth of means and processes for interacting with users, the second proposes an improvement in the interaction of these users with the documents, which are used almost daily by many departments in companies
Which one should I use in my area?
Which departments can benefit from CRM? Because of its business orientation, it seems that it is only intended for sales, but marketing and customer service can benefit a lot from this type of solution.
On the other hand, CLM software benefits everyone who works with documents, so the areas that can take advantage of CLM are very diverse: legal, procurement, sales, human resources, marketing, and finance...
What are the main advantages of such software?
Key benefits of CRM software
Key benefits of CLM software
What a difference, isn't it? Although their acronyms are very similar, CRM and CLM are two completely different software concepts. However, be clear that both tools can be implemented in the same team or company. Both solutions can even complement each other through integration. CRM and CLM offer integrations with a wide variety of technologies, so you can make the most of them and adapt them to the tools and databases you already work with.
I hope this article has helped you understand the difference between these two technologies that help companies so much. But, if you have any doubts left, you can always contact me via private message, and I will gladly clarify them for you.
