The two most important systems to connect in your digital transformation are enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management software (CRM). CRM ERP integration can improve customer experience and revenue by connecting two different data systems to one system. This allows for data centralization and increases efficiency within your organization.
Integrating your ERP and CRM platforms can improve efficiency, streamline sales, increase profit, and boost profitability. These two systems can be linked to create a single source of truth and improve customer interactions.
Although integrating CRM and ERP can provide numerous advantages to your business intelligence, not all CRM ERP systems are created equal. When integrating CRM and ERP, best practices must be followed. To ensure your organization's future success, for example, you should opt for a native cloud-based integrated system rather than a legacy solution.
This guide will assist you in comprehending ERP/CRM integration and its benefits. It also includes integration best practices.
ERP Software
Organizations use ERP software to automate and support various operational and administrative business processes. An ERP solution simplifies key functions such as purchasing, inventory control, production, financials, and other business processes to increase productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
An ERP system is intended to centralize and optimize back-office operations. An ERP system can assist you in identifying inefficiencies in manufacturing or production processes and keeping track of accounting metrics.
An ERP generates and manages business data. All business data must be accessible. Unfortunately, much of the inbound data results from sales, which may be managed with manual spreadsheets or customer relationship management systems.
Common Functions of ERP
Although features vary depending on your chosen vendor, there are common capabilities. You may want to know these tools when looking for a solution.
Financial Management
Financial management and accounting tools are used to build systems. They allow many business processes to run smoothly. Financial tools make the solution viable and compliant with budgetary constraints. The most common functions are accounts payable, receivable, and general ledger. Other programs can assist with budgeting, financial forecasting, and tax calculation.
Human Capital Management
ERP software can assist you in effectively managing your employees. Some HCM tools allow you to schedule employees, pay them, and approve sick and personal leave requests. A few vendors provide project management capabilities, which allow users to view the projects that staff members are working on and allocate labor resources accordingly.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM will be discussed in greater depth in the following section. However, it is important to note that not all vendors provide CRM functionality. Although the capabilities will not be as extensive or comprehensive as those of a standalone CRM system, ERP may be a viable option for businesses with basic CRM and other business processes.
Inventory Management
Inventory management may include the ability to notify customers of low stock levels and set automatic reordering triggers. IM does not stand alone as a solution. It is frequently combined with warehouse, distribution, and manufacturing management to provide a more comprehensive solution.
It is critical to track and monitor inventory and see the status of machines that produce your products, as this provides you with a better view and control over the entire manufacturing process.
Management of the Supply Chain
SCM software includes a variety of tools. As previously stated, IM is a critical component of this function. It also includes aspects like purchase order and distribution management, quality control, regulatory compliance, manufacturing, and regulatory compliance. This area has a lot to offer in terms of technology and features. However, how these capabilities can be linked and automated varies from vendor vendor vendor to vendor vendor vendor.
CRM Software
On the other hand, CRM systems manage leads and convert them into sales. They empower sales and service teams by making available real-time data and a better understanding of margin implications. This allows them to maximize profits and move quotes/orders more quickly. CRM systems include Microsoft Dynamics.
By collecting and leveraging customer information, a CRM solution can help you increase sales, customer satisfaction, experience, loyalty, and profitability. CRM features sales, marketing, customer service, and e-commerce. This system handles all business operations and sales interactions with customers.
Common Functions of CRM
CRM's primary goal is to nurture leads and provide a positive client experience. Users become prospects and hopefully return customer records. These are just a few of the many features available in CRM software to assist you in reaching your goal.
Contact Management
Users can use these tools to track and modify customer information. Using this feature, you can assign contacts to different representatives and add them to multiple accounts. You can track the client's involvement in the purchasing process for their business functions. It can save invoices, contracts, and other documents related to customers.
Client Interaction Monitoring
This tool lets users track past client information to improve their sales process. Sales reps may be able to segment potential customers according to their buying habits, purchasing intentions, and interests. This allows users to view and track payments.
Database Management
This tool allows employees from different departments to access the same information in a central location. Data cleaning functions are available in some programs to eliminate duplicate or "dirty" data that could lead to incorrect insights. This repository contains information that can be downloaded to assist in prospect development and analysis.
Campaign and Marketing Management
Advertising targeting is a key component of modern marketing strategy. Users can use this feature to identify potential campaign targets and measure their effectiveness. Some vendors provide integration with various email programs, allowing contacts to be uploaded and emails to be sent.
Leadership
This tool allows you to generate leads from various sources like email, landing pages, referrals, and more. Users can use this tool to create lead routing and track how leads progress using pipeline tracking, hierarchy relations, and territory management tools. This feature allows you to assign leads to different sales representatives.
Is your CRM Compatible with your ERP?
The quick answer is yes.
Using an application integration method to connect the two systems is critical. Once an order is placed, you can view accurate customer information. Shipping and billing information, purchase history, and financial information are all included.
Data Points for CRM ERP Integration
An ERP CRM integration architecture synchronizes common data points to improve organizational visibility across all departments. The following are the most commonly used CRM and ERP data integration points.
- Information for clients and accounts
- Customer data
- Information about the product
- Pricing and Discounts
- Purchase histories and sales orders
- Information about payments
Because CRM and ERP use the same data, they should be integrated into a common platform to create a single data model for the entire organization.
Methodologies for CRM-ERP Integration
There are many ways to integrate CRM-ERP systems. It is up to you to decide which CRM-ERP integration method works best for your business. This will depend on factors like your current systems, integration budget, and whether you use cloud-based or on-premise software.
Based on our extensive experience delivering integrations to customers from various industries, we recommend an integration platform as a Service (PaaS). An iPaaS-led approach is preferable to point-to-point integrations, which can be difficult to maintain, manage, and reuse. Businesses can use it to automate processes and create streamlined connectivity. As more businesses use cloud-based and SaaS applications, an iPaaS platform can provide seamless connectivity.
ERP and CRM Integration: The Benefits
Let's talk about the main benefits of integrating CRM and ERP after we've explained the differences between the two systems and what information they share. These symbiotic systems can be linked to eliminate information silos and provide your company with a single source of truth across the value chain. A single data model will benefit your organization.
1. Productivity Increases
Because all data is centralized on a single platform, an integrated CRM ERP system boosts organizational productivity. Salespeople must manually enter customers and deal information into their CRM when using separate CRM and ERP systems. The data must then be entered into the ERP system by another employee. Data is manually entered more than once if the ERP and CRM systems are not in sync. This can lead to inefficiency and errors, which cost money and reduce organizational productivity.
2. Improved Customer Service Experience
With an integrated CRM/ERP system, sales teams can access all customer data from a single platform. Instead of wasting time searching for data in multiple systems, they can view it all on a single platform. When answering customer service questions, your service representatives can view all customer data from a single screen. This increases first-call resolutions while decreasing the time needed to answer and resolve inquiries.
3. Sales Increase and Upsells
With an integrated CRM/ERP system, sales teams can access all customer data from a single platform with an integrated CRM/ERP system. They can view all data on a single platform rather than wasting time searching for it in multiple systems. When responding to customer service inquiries, your service representatives can access all customer data from a single screen. This improves first-call resolution while shortening the time required to answer and resolve inquiries.
4. Increases Organizational Decision-Making
By integrating all of your organizational data into one central system, you can gain powerful insight into your business performance. A customizable dashboard for business KPIs in ERP CRM lets you see real-time business performance. This makes data analysis easier and saves time on data preparation. Your company can gain valuable insights from data and make better decisions.
Common Problems in ERP and CRM Integration
Although these benefits of a CRM and ERP integration strategy are great, there could be some roadblocks. Standardizing your data across all business processes is the most common problem. It is important that all connected systems can exchange data. This requires data transformations that support different formats.
Cleaning up any outdated or incorrect customer data for strong ERP-CRM integration is critical. The central integration platform offers a clean, modern approach to integrating your customer-facing systems. However, if you don't have customers who have been customers for years, it cannot be easy to realize its full potential.
How to Plan an Effective ERP and CRM Integration Strategy
Every business has its own set of requirements. Still, there is one thing that all businesses require: an integration platform that can support their integration requirements both now and in the future. The central platform can support all types of integration in your business ecosystem. Enterprise B2B, application, SaaS, big data, and other formats are included. It forms the basis of any ERP integration strategy.
Best Practices in CRM ERP Integration
Although integrating CRM and ERP systems has many advantages, not all ERP CRM systems are ideal for business success. Regarding ERP and CRM integration, there are several factors to consider.
Don't Integrate Legacy ERP or CRM Systems
Legacy ERP and CRM systems are kept in the original system. Manufacturing companies frequently use multiple systems to manage their operations. CRM, sales order processing and design, product lifecycle management, and inventory management are examples.
Supply chain management and financial management are also included. To "integrate" these systems, interfaces must be created. When one of the applications is updated, these interfaces may need to be updated.
It is a slow method of increasing productivity in today's ever-changing world. It's analogous to keeping your landline phone while efficiently attempting to use a legacy programme in the digital age. All of your friends are texting or instant messaging you while you can still use the phone.
It is rapidly changing. You risk falling behind if you do not use the same powerful tools as your competitors. Because they serve a purpose, many legacy systems are called "legacy." They are a dying breed of cloud solutions, similar to how mobile phones are to mobile phones.
According to a report nearly half of all businesses intend to upgrade or replace their ERP system with a cloud-based solution. It is estimated that 91% of CRM data is incomplete or duplicated. Do you still believe them, especially since they use two different databases?
Legacy ERP and CRM solutions can cause visibility issues. You must enter the same information into each and then review each to determine which information is correct.
Legacy CRM and ERP Systems: Disadvantages
- Opportunities and Missed Orders: According to Insider Intelligence, e-commerce sales will increase by 43.2% by 2024. This means that the pace of doing business is picking up. Legacy systems frequently fail to keep up with the pace of modern technology, resulting in inconvenient delays. Ineffective cross- and upselling opportunities can result from inaccurate information.
- Inability To Scale: Growing businesses must spread their wings. Legacy solutions, on the other hand, are like ankle weights. Older systems can be difficult to manage and necessitate extensive maintenance. They are frequently difficult to upgrade as your company grows.
- Inefficiency: Legacy systems lack cross-organizational visibility. You can think about it this way: Without a temperature gauge, how could you tell if your engine has overheated?
The lines between ERP and CRM will blur shortly. Reports said that enterprises increasingly focus on more robust and manageable platform integration.
As a result, solutions linked to a common platform render manual integration obsolete. What is the outcome? The result? You, your customers, and your IT staff will have a more manageable, cohesive, and pain-free experience.
Choose a Cloud-Based, Native CRM ERP Integration Solution When Choosing a CRM Integration
Native software is software that was written specifically for a platform. Salesforce CRM, the world's most popular CRM, has given birth to the Salesforce Platform, which enables almost any software to be written natively on the platform.
Integration is no longer required. The data model shared by all native solutions is the same as that shared by other critical software components, such as the user interface and business workflows.
Native applications outperform legacy or integrated solutions regarding efficiency, usability, and security. The common user experience of the Salesforce Platform is critical. Once you've mastered Salesforce, you'll have the same experience with the platform's native applications. There is no need to learn another language.
It is easiest to understand why native solutions are superior to others by considering them in terms everyone is familiar with: the phone system.
Legacy Systems
Legacy systems are analogous to traditional telephones. They are large and heavy and permanently affixed to the wall. Even though they were designed to make phone calls, they cannot be upgraded to become mobile phones. Legacy systems, which are typically kept in a closet, cannot be upgraded to become mobile. You get exactly what you pay for.
Integrated Systems
Do you recall the first mobile phones? Although phone calls were possible, texting was not. To send letters, you had to press the number keys repeatedly. Despite combining text and phone, the result was a poor communication tool.
Native Cloud-based Systems
Many of the same features are shared by native solutions and modern smartphones. With the camera, you can take photos, video call friends, and scan QR codes. They are designed for ease of use and high performance and are built on a popular public cloud platform. It is cloud-based and accessible from any location.
It connects your entire network using a single platform that can scale up or down based on your needs. It is also highly configurable, allowing it to be tailored to your specific business and needs.
Native ERP and CRM Software: The Benefits
Salesforce-native ERP solutions can optimize all aspects of your value chain, just like your mobile phone. Your business will enjoy several key benefits.
- Cloud-Based: A subscription model offers predictable cash flows (Operating expense versus Capital expenditure) and an infinitely scalable platform free of disruptive installations and patches.
- Data Integration: Full data visibility enables you to quickly adapt production to changing demand and make informed decisions based on accurate data.
- Common Data Model: With a single source of truth, you can streamline order processing, eliminate data entry errors, reduce double-handling, and gain 360-degree views of your customers.
- Scalability: You can set up your solution offline and deploy it without interrupting operations.
- Accessibility: All of your information is accessible securely from any location, at any time, and on any device.
- Security: Native Cloud Solutions are protected with order-of-magnitude greater security than any company can afford for legacy solutions housed on its servers.
From customer service to supply chain management, you require a solution that unifies all aspects of your value chain. Legacy solutions do not allow for integration. Cloud ERP system is built on the Salesforce Platform, allowing you to optimize your end-to-end processes while providing a frictionless and efficient user experience.
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Takeaway
By providing exceptional customer experiences, you can be a leader in changing business rules. An iPaaS can assist you in integrating Customer Relationship Management and ERP. This is a critical step in your strategy. ArionERP is a modern tool that provides a powerful toolset with pre-built templates to integrate most applications and the ability to customize to meet more complex integration requirements.
Integrations enable you to provide exceptional customer experiences throughout the customer journey. Integrations provide your customers with exceptional experiences.
