With data in multiple systems, a strong reporting and analytics tool will provide users with the ability to better understand organizational performance. Many CRM and ERP solutions provide some integrated reporting solution - Crystal Reports is one of the market leaders. The best reporting solutions provide typical users with the ability to easily access reports and even drill down through data to perform what-if analysis, while providing a means for advanced users to create complex queries without requiring knowledge of SQL or other query languages.

There are several factors to consider when selecting a reporting solution:

• Integration - Typically, an organization will only select a reporting solution after successfully implementing the CRM and ERP cornerstones. When evaluating solutions, determine if a vendor has already integrated with your CRM and ERP applications, or if you can extend the reporting solution provided by your existing CRM or ERP product to provide enterprise wide reporting.
  
• Active Reports - Active reports are reports that enable users to take immediate action based upon the results. Examples include a sales pipeline or forecast that allows users to directly link to customer contact information or sales opportunity information from the report, or a summary of campaign results that allows proactive drill down to specific respondents. Typically active reports are integrated directly into the user interface of the CRM or ERP application, leveraging the infrastructure of that application for providing the report functionality. 
  
• Static Reports - Static reports are the most common, and they are business-driven reports that are typically delivered on a scheduled basis. Examples include sales forecasts, revenue reports, support case analysis (products, issues, time per call), and business forecasts. Static reports can be accessed directly from the CRM or ERP application, or can be delivered to the user via email on a scheduled basis.
  
• Analytics (Trend and What If Analysis) - The best analytical solutions make it simple to relate data across applications, and provide tools to dissect data to perform What If analysis. Analytics are used by Marketing organizations to identify key prospects and best responding segments, by Finance for analyzing sales and business performance, and by executive management for managing the overall performance of the organization.