How can this cooperation help businesses in Lithuania?
In a changing business environment, companies are looking for solutions and new ways to make their operations and processes more efficient. The number of companies using both customer management systems (CRM) and open data is growing rapidly, so the integration of these systems is not a coincidence, but a necessary response to the business challenges faced by many Lithuanian companies.
Challenges for Lithuanian companies
A survey of companies commissioned by Okredo – open data platform, shows that more than two-thirds of Lithuanian companies face late payments from partners and consider them one of their main challenges. This problem particularly affects medium-sized companies, which often cite the geopolitical and economic situation as a reason for these delays. It is therefore important for companies to properly assess these trends in their strategies.
The survey also found that 29% of companies in the EU face bankruptcy proceedings against their clients – another important source of risk. This clearly underlines the important need to actively monitor the health and financial situation of business partners.
Despite the fact that companies have become more effective in assessing risks and adapting to the volatile economic environment in recent years, they still face a number of other challenges:
Rising wages and staff costs. Rising wages and other staff costs can increase the overall operating cost of the company. This challenge is forcing companies to look for ways to manage their staff costs and their long-term prospects more effectively.
Challenges in data collection and management. Collecting and managing contacts and other important business data can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. Business decisions require accuracy and quality of data, and this poses challenges for companies.
Increasing levels of competition. As competitors grow, companies need to become more creative and efficient in order to retain and attract customers.
Accelerating technological development. With the rapid development of technology, companies need to constantly adapt to new developments to stay competitive.
Legal and regulatory challenges. Legal and regulatory requirements, and their frequent changes, make it difficult for companies to comply and implement them.
Globalisation. A successful growing company faces different markets, currencies, cultural differences and other international business challenges.
Environmental and sustainability pressures. The growing focus on the environment and sustainability requires companies to keep their activities as environmentally friendly as possible.
Benefits of integrating a customer management system (CRM) and open data
In this context, CRM systems, corporate data and financial indicators are becoming an indispensable tool for business process management and risk reduction. The survey revealed that companies are using an increasing amount of data in their operations, including financial statements, court and debt data and credit ratings.
How can we help businesses overcome the challenges? GO-ERP and Okredo combined a customer management solution and corporate data to work in synergy. Some of the key benefits of this cooperation are:
Automatic data entry. One of the great advantages of this integration is the ability to automatically find and fill in basic company data: company name, company and VAT code, address, sector of activity, number of employees, turnover, telephone number, company contacts. This saves system users time and ensures accurate and up-to-date company data.
Data accuracy and currency. Okredo updates the data daily from official and validated sources. This helps to reduce the likelihood of errors associated with manual data entry in our system. It is important for users of a CRM system that data is accurate and records are uniform.
Finding potential customers. Data analysis can help identify potential customers who fit the company’s ideal customer profile. This allows you to expand your pool of potential and prospective clients and initiate meaningful conversations with them.
Risk mitigation. Credit ratings and financial data help to assess the situation and future prospects of existing and potential customers. This helps businesses make informed decisions and reduce risk by setting credit limits or other cooperation conditions.
Business development. Business data can be used for business development, for example to identify reliable customers or to compare yourself with competitors. This enables you to adapt to a changing market and ensure successful business development.
Customer debt management. The totality of the data, including the debtor’s existing debts, credit history and court appearances, helps to better understand the debtor’s situation. In addition, you can publicise maliciously evasive debtors on the Okredo platform, which acts as an additional means of debt recovery.
Okredo's advice to businesses on how to assess existing customers, when to change terms and conditions, how to deal with non-payers
If a new or existing client asks for a change in the terms of cooperation, what data is important to assess?
- The age of the company, its sector of activity, search for reviews of the company’s services in the public domain, and look at micro and macro-economic forecasts for the sector or region. For example, the construction sector is perceived as a high-risk sector, while a longer-established company is perceived as less risky than a start-up.
- Financial situation of the company, financial ratios – we recommend going beyond the profit and loss account and looking in particular at the turnover of receivables and payables. These data provide a better picture of the company’s prospects.
- Credit history, including debts to government, business and court records. If your partner’s business has debts, you need to assess the situation to make sure you don’t become one of the creditors.
- General statistics such as headcount trends, but note whether the company’s activities are seasonal, and what the company’s own processes are. For example, a rapid increase in the number of employees may be a sign of expansion, but in certain situations it may also signal fraudulent activities.
- Business links, which will reveal whether your partner is part of a strong group of companies, or perhaps linked to individuals with a history of bankruptcies.
- The credit limit shows the potential credit risks of your partner, the credit rating summarises the overall risk of your partner.
All this data can be found on the open data platform Okredo www.okredo.lt. Assess the solvency and future prospects of your partners and clients using a wide range of data and solutions – credit ratings and history (debts, judgements, foreclosures), derivative financial indicators, business linkages, and monitor changes in corporate health. The Okredo platform provides data on companies in five countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and the UK.
In the dynamic landscape of Lithuanian business, the integration of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems with open data platforms like Okredo presents a powerful solution to address the myriad challenges faced by companies. By leveraging accurate and current data, businesses can streamline operations, mitigate risks, identify opportunities, and foster sustainable growth. As the importance of data-driven decision-making continues to rise, embracing CRM for business equipped with integrated open data becomes not just advantageous but essential for thriving in today’s competitive environment.
