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Three systems, three sales pitches, and a lot of overlap that nobody selling them will point out. A CRM vendor will tell you their platform handles orders. An ERP vendor will tell you theirs includes CRM. An order management vendor will tell you it sits above both.
All three are partly right, which is why distributors end up paying for the same capability twice. Here is what each system actually owns, where the overlap is real, and which one to buy first.
CRM vs ERP vs Order Management System(OMS) at a glance
All three touch customers and orders, which is why they get confused. The table below shows what each one owns, who uses it, and what stops working if you take it away.
| CRM | ERP | Order management system | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owns | The relationship and the sales process | Operations, inventory, and finance | The order, from placed to fulfilled |
| Used by | Sales, marketing, service | Finance, purchasing, warehouse | Customer service, operations, sales ops |
| Holds | Accounts, contacts, deals, activity, quotes | Products, stock, purchase orders, invoices, ledgers | Orders across every channel, status, allocation |
| Answers | Who should we call and what should we sell them | What do we have, what did it cost, what are we owed | Where is this order and can we fulfil it |
| Switch it off and | Sales runs on spreadsheets and memory | You cannot invoice, pay, or count stock | Orders arrive in five places and someone rekeys them |
| Typical cost | Lowest of the three | Highest of the three | Middle, and often part of one of the others |
| Time to deploy | Weeks | Months to quarters | Weeks to months |
The row that matters most is the last-but-two. If nothing breaks when you switch a system off, you are paying for a feature you already have somewhere else.
Where do CRM, ERP, and order management overlap?
The overlaps are real, not vendor exaggeration. Three of them cause most of the confusion when distributors compare these systems, and each has a clear answer.
1. Quotes: CRM and ERP both claim them
A CRM builds quotes against the pipeline. An ERP builds quotes against the price list and stock. The CRM version is faster to produce and easier for a rep to use. The ERP version is the one that is actually correct.
For distributors the quote has to carry contract pricing and availability, both of which are ERP data, which is why quoting usually ends up being the first thing that forces a connection between the two.
2. Orders: all three claim them
An ERP has always had order entry. A CRM with an ordering module writes orders too. And an order management system exists specifically to own them.
The separator is channel count. If orders arrive one way, the ERP is enough. If they arrive from reps, a portal, email, EDI, and a marketplace, you need something that consolidates them before they hit the ERP, and that is what order management is for.
3. Customer data: CRM and ERP both hold it
The ERP has a customer master because it cannot invoice without one. The CRM has an account record because it cannot sell without one. Both are legitimate, and they diverge within a year of running side by side.
There is no way to eliminate this overlap, only to decide which one wins on each field. That decision is the actual project, and it is why these systems are discussed together at all.
Order Management System vs ERP: does your ERP already do order management?
Usually yes, up to a point. Whether you need anything beyond it comes down to how many ways orders reach you.
Your ERP does have order management. It records orders, allocates stock, triggers picking, and raises the invoice. For a distributor selling through one channel with one warehouse, that is the whole job and a separate system is a purchase you do not need.
What an ERP does not do well is orders arriving from everywhere at once. A rep writing at a trade show, a buyer ordering on a portal, a purchase order arriving as a PDF, an EDI feed from a large retailer, and a marketplace channel are five different formats landing in five different places. The ERP receives them only after someone has turned each one into an ERP order.
That gap is what an order management system fills. It takes orders from every channel, validates and normalises them, applies allocation rules across warehouses, then hands a clean order to the ERP.
You probably do not need a separate OMS if
- Orders come in through one or two channels
- You ship from one location
- Nobody is rekeying orders between systems
- Your ERP handles your allocation rules without workarounds
You probably do need order management if
- Orders arrive by email, EDI, portal, rep, and marketplace
- Someone rekeys orders into the ERP daily
- You allocate across several warehouses or a 3PL
- Nobody can answer where is my order without opening two systems
- Trade show weeks create a backlog that takes days to clear
Which system should you buy first (CRM, ERP or Order Management System)?
Almost nobody buys all three at once. The order depends entirely on which problem is currently costing you money.
1. Buy the ERP first if you are still starting out
You cannot run a distribution business without one. Stock, purchasing, invoicing, and accounting have to live somewhere, and every other system assumes they exist. If you are running this on spreadsheets and accounting software, the ERP is not a choice.
2. Buy the CRM next, when sales outgrows the ERP
The signal is reps keeping their own records. When the pipeline lives in someone’s notebook, when nobody can say which accounts have gone quiet, and when a rep leaving takes their accounts with them, the ERP is not the answer. It was never built to hold that.
3. Add order management when the channels multiply
The signal is rekeying. The moment a person spends a meaningful part of their week turning emails, PDFs, and portal orders into ERP orders, the cost of that person exceeds the cost of the software.
4. The exception: field-heavy distributors
If most of your revenue comes through reps writing orders in person, the usual order changes. Rep-facing ordering matters before back-office order orchestration does, because the order is being created in front of a buyer rather than arriving from a channel. In that case the CRM and the rep ordering tool are the same purchase, and it comes before a standalone OMS.
What do most distributors actually use?
Three setups cover nearly everyone. Here is what each one looks like in practice and where each falls short.
| Setup | What it looks like | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| ERP only | Everything runs from the ERP. Sales uses spreadsheets alongside it | Cheapest, and the sales side is invisible. You cannot see which accounts are slipping until the revenue shows it |
| ERP plus CRM | The two run separately, connected or not | The common setup. Works well if connected, and creates two versions of the customer if not |
| ERP plus a commerce platform | The platform carries the CRM, the ordering, and the channels, reading stock and pricing from the ERP | Fewer systems and one customer record. Depends on the platform genuinely covering all three jobs rather than claiming to |
The third setup is what WizCommerce is. The CRM, the buyer portal, and the rep ordering app share one customer record, and stock and pricing come from the ERP you already run. It does not replace the ERP, and it removes the need for a separate order management layer for most distributors.
FAQs On CRM vs ERP vs Order Management System
1. What is the difference between CRM and ERP?
A CRM manages the relationship and the sales process, covering accounts, contacts, deals, activity, and quotes. An ERP manages operations and finance, covering products, stock, purchase orders, invoices, and ledgers. The CRM is where revenue is created, the ERP is where it is delivered and recorded.
2. Can one system do all three?
Some come close. Large ERP suites include CRM modules and order management, and some commerce platforms carry CRM and ordering while reading from the ERP. What almost never works is a single system doing finance, stock, sales, and multi-channel orders equally well. Something is always the afterthought, and the question is whether it is the part you rely on.
3. Do I need a CRM if I already have an ERP?
If your reps manage relationships, then yes. An ERP records what a customer bought and not why, who is deciding, what was promised, or which accounts have gone quiet. That is the gap a CRM fills, and no amount of ERP reporting closes it.
4. Do I need an ERP if I already have a CRM?
Yes, if you hold stock. A CRM has no inventory, no purchasing, and no general ledger. You can run a services business on a CRM alone. You cannot run a distribution business on one.
5. What is the difference between an OMS and an ERP?
An ERP owns the order once it exists inside the business. An order management system owns the order from wherever it arrived, whether that is email, EDI, a portal, a rep, or a marketplace, and hands a clean validated order to the ERP. If all your orders arrive one way, the ERP is doing both jobs already.
6. Which should a small distributor buy first?
The ERP, because stock and invoicing have to live somewhere. Then a CRM once the sales side outgrows spreadsheets. Order management last, and only when the rekeying cost becomes visible.
7. Is Salesforce a CRM or an ERP?
A CRM. Salesforce sells commerce and order management products alongside it, but Sales Cloud has no native inventory, purchasing, or accounting, so it does not replace an ERP.
8. Is SAP a CRM or an ERP?
Primarily an ERP. SAP S/4HANA and SAP Business One are ERP systems, and SAP sells CRM capability separately through Sales Cloud. Most SAP customers use it as an ERP.
