Companies collect vast amounts of customer information. This data includes demographics, interactions with email and marketing campaigns, preferences, purchase history, and touchpoints through various software, tools and systems. Both customers and businesses benefit when businesses leverage data for improved customer experiences.
Businesses looking to reap its advantages must integrate and organize data, gain insights from those insights and then act upon those insights; success for any company relies heavily on data-driven decisions and actions taken based on that information.
IT professionals often encounter an uphill climb in CRM and data integration, which makes forming long-term strategies crucial to accessing their information without issues.
What Is CRM Integration:
Your CRM platform forms part of the hardware and software used in your business, according to MuleSoft's 2020 Connectivity Report, which indicates an average company has over 900 apps that they utilize across their hardware/software environment. These applications come from numerous software publishers.
- Cloud Applications
- Legacy Infrastructure
- Hardware and software for on-premises use
CRM integration works by linking each application with your CRM platform so data flows between them, giving an accurate picture of customers and business operations. With CRM integration, its goal is to deliver this correct and complete data directly into software. Hence, it provides you with a complete picture.
What Is Customer Data Integration (CDI)?
MuleSoft describes Customer Data Integration or CDI as "aggregating customer-related data from various systems within an organization and making it available across departments". Essentially, it creates one single point of truth within your company.
CDI refers to an ecosystem of data; CRM integration focuses on creating conversations between CRM platforms. Employees can benefit from having one unified customer view thanks to proper integration and data management; your company can then make informed decisions that provide tailored service offerings - increasing both its profits and customer loyalty!
CRMs are part of an overall strategy for customer data integration, which can be complex. Big Data offers businesses many advantages. It includes datasets too large or complex for conventional data processing software to handle; Nigel Filer writes about how big data helps organizations "congregate disparate information to enhance decision making, reduce risks and uncover valuable insights".
All this data can be challenging to manage and process; companies find it easier when combined into one central platform like CRM for processing and analysis. Machine learning enables faster analysis by basing decisions more closely on statistical patterns rather than estimates.
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Businesses And It Professionals Need Help
An entire company may use hundreds of applications at any one time. Yet, each department relies upon various software systems and hardware pieces that host its source data, all originating in different organizational designs and apps.
- Master data management (MDM) platform
- Software for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
- Management of orders and inventories
- Supply Chain Management
- CRM Systems
- An email marketing platform
- Individual social media platforms
- Chatbots for customer service
- Software for project management
- Collaboration Tools
Data silos may form when departments act independently without fully integrating their systems, leading them to use different CRMs for sales, marketing and customer service.According to Forrester Consulting, such failure can arise when departments pursue initiatives on an ad hoc basis like modernizing customer service or sales applications; businesses should instead work more strategically towards meeting customer-related goals."
MuleSoft also notes that integration challenges hinder digital transformation initiatives at 88% of IT organizations; on average, businesses only integrate 28% of applications.
Data silos indicate an organization has not successfully integrated its data, creating business challenges for IT managers and digital transformation challenges. According to 89% of IT leaders surveyed by Global Technology Leadership Councils (GTLC), data silos negatively impacted digital transformation initiatives at their organizations.
APIs (application programming interfaces) have become the go-to solution for organizations to achieve CRM integration and data fusion successfully. MuleSoft describes them as intermediaries between two software applications to communicate.
How to Integrate Your CRM System
Integrating CRM can take place in various ways:
- Companies investing in only one product or service may benefit from having all programs and tools automatically integrated and shared among themselves.
- Developers may quickly write lines of code to force two systems into communication; however, this strategy often results in broken code when updating or integrating new systems.
- APIs are very versatile and reusable.
First, it would be unlikely for any company to utilize such an array of programs; second, it is frequently employed but may need help for both IT and users; while the third option offers the most straightforward, efficient, and advantageous approach.
API is the go-to choice for integration since so many systems were not built with integration as their top priority. APIs provide quick solutions that connect business processes and applications seamlessly.
APIs Integrate Disparate Systems And Help Reduce Silos
MuleSoft found that 60 IT leaders considered API integration essential to their digital strategy. At the same time, MuleSoft's and Arionerp's joint e book "Unleash The Full Power Of Arionerp Customer 360 With APIs" asserts companies should integrate data via APIs - This includes using them for:
- User-friendly and quickly produced with little difficulty, these calculators make everyday math effortless and deliver results efficiently.
- Simplifying management for security, performance and scalability
- Self-Service Discovery & Access of Products
APIs significantly boost IT, teams, particularly during digital transformation initiatives. 81% of groups that have adopted APIs report that they completed or almost all requested projects during the previous year; only 13% report integration issues as slowing or hindering digital transformation within their organization.
Integrating CRM With APIs
One strategy of integrating customer data requires APIs designed for specific purposes.
- Data encryption on computers.
- Integrate data into processes
- Experience the difference
An API that has played an essential part in one process may be reused whenever its role becomes necessary again.
APIs Play Three Roles In CRM Integration
System Interfaces can be used to access specific data. If, for instance, businesses wish to provide shipping updates directly to clients, they access information from shipping companies like UPS, FedEx and USPS systems for shipping updates.
Integrating CRMs can be done using APIs from ERPs, billing/customer systems and proprietary databases such as third-party payment processors. Process APIs combine APIs from different systems to meet a particular business need. For instance, when updating an order with shipping carriers and toll shipments, multiple APIs must inform clients of its status, location and any delays or cancellations of delivery.
MuleSoft reports that Pilot Flying J has developed a customer profile API. This popular process API was employed to "provide a single view of customer data within myPilot mobile application, including verifying billing information, credentials for companies and much more".
Experience APIs are formed from the combination of previous tiers and are typically found in applications targeting end users. A representative, for instance, could view all client experiences with his company, such as marketing, sales and accounting, along with social media use to better understand his client's needs, provide answers or assistance when necessary and offer better service than before.
Create Custom Apis Or Utilize Prebuilt Ones
Developers and IT departments can search API marketplaces for prebuilt or third-party APIs or create their own. Finding an API within your library or on the market makes integrating data easier when investing in new software products for business use. With this method, your company can reap the benefits of integrated data much more rapidly than traditional integration techniques.
Read More:- How to Select the Correct CRM
Companies Can Stay Competitive by Integrating Systems Offering a Single Source of Truth (SSOT)
Businesses can stay ahead of the competition by using CRM and data integration systems as part of an overall customer strategy plan; according to Forrester Consulting research, 80 companies use CRM as their single point of truth when supporting customer-focused strategies; data can freely flow between systems for improved communication between departments as well as grounding strategies in reality - marketing data can easily access sales records. In contrast, customer service representatives have access to info collected by sales.
Customer experience one unified company rather than separate departments when engaging with companies. In contrast, companies benefit from having one central source of truth to gain insights that help them provide superior customer care.
According to Forrester's estimates, insights-driven businesses are experiencing average annual growth of more than 30 per cent. They are on track to earn $1.8 trillion by 2021. Examples of customer insights may include their preferences and likely future purchases, seasonal customer service spikes that require adding staff during certain months, the optimal time and day to notify cart abandoners about a sale price, etc. Data integration provides your employees with vital knowledge.
CRM platforms that serve as single sources of truth allow companies to run reports and tap AI-generated intelligence for actionable intelligence. Customers expect companies to leverage that same data; 84% say their experience matters as much as the company's products or services.
Assembling an SSOT using APIs will allow you to integrate any system seamlessly. Once built, these APIs can be reused repeatedly, thus saving time, maintenance costs and the need to reconstruct broken connections.
APIs Democratize Innovation
With APIs as connecting points among systems, IT teams and companies can focus more time and energy on creating projects and innovations that set themselves apart from competitors. Arionerp and MuleSoft's report states, "API reuse can result in 2.5 times faster project delivery."
Companies spend less time worrying about data integration issues and more time developing products and processes, delighting customers, and initiating projects. Companies integrate new software faster - reaping their rewards faster; small firms can use CRM integration or an SSOT without needing an enterprise IT team. APIs for data integration enable anyone to craft connected experiences to delight their customer base.
APIs Make Data and CRM Integration Cleaner
Data integration must become a top priority in organizations using over 900 pieces of software, tools, apps, and elements for their operations. Integration efforts within departments working separately on customer experience management are necessary for multiple sets of cogs to work independently with an overall cohesive strategy to drive it all.
Businesses that use APIs to connect their disparate systems often experience faster project completion and more accessible data integration. APIs allow CRM platforms to become an organization's single source of truth, providing valuable data-based insights from all areas. With such information at their disposal, businesses can better serve customers more quickly - driving profits and success for years.
What Are The Advantages of CRM Integration?
Successful CRM integration has long been recognized to increase data accuracy while saving time - but what impact does that have on my company? Increased accuracy and more efficient use of time isn't just advantages: They create lasting ripple effects throughout a business's structure.
Critical Advantages Of Fully Utilizing CRM Integrations:
Customer Experience and Care PwC's 25th Annual CEO Survey found that customer experience and care are increasingly critical to sales success. Nearly 90% of CEOs prioritize building trust between customers/clients over the coming year.
Eighty-one per cent of companies view customer experience as one of their key competitive differentiators. Utilizing CRM integrations enables your company to streamline customer communication, organize customer records accurately, and gain invaluable customer insight:
- An organized customer communications history means customer service representatives won't waste time repeating issues several times.
- Accurate customer records and contact management will prevent customers from becoming upset if you attempt to show them false data.
- Organized customer records allow your staff to quickly address customer issues without keeping customers waiting while switching programs to gain an overview.
- Automating customer histories and sales force automation enables businesses to predict ideal products for upselling accurately. It cross-sells while pinpointing the optimal time to reach out for potential purchases.
All these advantages result in happier customers -- which, in turn, result in higher revenues.
Automation, Organization and Efficiency
One cliche that remains true in business is time is money: lost hours could easily translate to lost dollars! Automation, Organization and Efficiency [AO&E] will ensure productivity within any organization by automating recurring functions for greater effectiveness while optimizing automation, organization and efficiency in general.
Office employees devote up to two hours per 8-hour workday on unproductive emails - that amounts to 30 working days each year per employee if there are 100 employees, not including hours spent refreshing inboxes! This amounts to an enormous loss in productivity due to email refreshment alone!
Integration of CRM can significantly cut lost hours. By having all their information accessible in one central place via search engines or knowledge bases, employees are better positioned to respond more rapidly while staying focused.
Mobile CRM apps and cloud CRM platforms also allow your staff to work from any location. Reps who work outside can no longer rely on office-specific software to answer customer enquiries; mobile CRM solutions give your staff access to data wherever they may be located.
Most Useful Types Of CRM Integrations
Each CRM integration should help to increase alignment and communication within your company; however, certain ones offer particular benefits that stand out among their counterparts. We will explore those below; in the meantime, here are three categories of integrations you should keep an eye out for:
- CRM integration with marketing (e.g. Act-On)
- CRM integration with customer service (e.g. IT service management software)
- Integrate CRMs (like Square or Magento ) into eCommerce environments ( e.g. Square and Magento ).
Most integrations will fall under one of these categories. By taking a holistic view of CRM integrations, this framework makes it clear where any gaps or overinvestment may have taken place; plus, it helps define why such integrations exist so as not just add additional data points. Let's examine some of the most useful CRM integrations you can utilize in more depth.
CRM Website Integration
CRM website integration is often considered one of the easiest integration methods available to CRMs. Synching your website or forms software (such as WordPress or Mailchimp ) with your CRM helps maintain current contact lists while quickly collecting leads for marketing and sales teams.
Once captured, CRM contact management software allows you to qualify leads and segment them for appropriate targeting - keeping charges fresh, accurate, organized and automated for sales work without uploading contact info or searching tips for marketing segments; just direct sales work!
CRM Data Integration
CRMs were initially intended for data integration. Depending on how many apps your company utilizes and the size and makeup of customers and employees you have, data integration may take various forms; small businesses (SMBs) typically need no assistance, while larger enterprises might benefit from an API strategy (more details forthcoming).
CRM data integration facilitates the creation of a central customer database that stores all customer details easily accessible for sales teams to review at once and compare against similar profiles of similar customers. Sales tracker tools also give sales reps visibility of which prospects might require further attention from sales.
CRM Marketing Automation
CRM marketing automation is a platform that can play an essential role in unifying sales and marketing departments. While most organizations utilize CRMs exclusively for sales teams, CRM data can also assist marketing customer support departments.
CRM integrations allow marketing departments to access relevant sales data so that marketing may assess and adjust inbound lead generation tactics to prioritize successful channels. With access to customer behaviour data from sales software, marketing can optimize strategies to draw in future customers and attract even more success.
CRM ERP Integration
CRM (Enterprise Resource Planning) software and CRMs often go hand-in-hand in handling primary business functions and transactions for many companies, from inventory and HR administration sales/marketing activities. Companies frequently utilize both platforms, so the question 'Can CRM Integrate With ERP?' arises.
Yes--and there can be numerous advantages in doing so. Combining ERPs and CRMs offers distinct advantages to your company's growth and success; both work with business data that could impact its future success, so why join forces instead of fighting each other for supremacy?
Integrating your ERP and CRM can:
- Reduce duplicating or losing financial reports and reimbursement forms.
- Utilize inventory reports and sales reports for better sales forecasting.
- Allow reps to provide customers with more accurate quotes based on available inventory.
Your ability to centralize knowledge will increase your business's accuracy and productivity in the long run.
Integrate Your CRM And Ecommerce:
Businesses that engage in ecommerce need their ecommerce app with their CRM to keep customer profiles accurate with live purchase information for sales reps to use in customer history research. Integrating e-commerce apps automatically updates customer records, allowing salespeople access to up-to-date client histories for sales.
Ecommerce integrations also play an integral part in driving inbound leads for your business. Let's say your store allows customers to purchase independently without engaging the services of sales reps; then, when someone buys your ecommerce app, it should log that buyer's information so your CRM system can register them as customers and create profiles accordingly.
Additional CRM Integrations
Of course, additional CRM integrations can also prove extremely valuable to any company's bottom line. Other CRM options that could prove particularly advantageous to your operations may include:
- Email integrations (such as email tracking ), calendar integrations (like Google Calendar), prospecting software integrations
- social media integrations
- team communication (e.g. Slack)
- calling software (like Fireflies ) or form/survey integration ( like Survey Monkey).
Integrations available with top CRMs should be utilized thoroughly for the optimal operation of the business. By centralizing all data and communication flows, operations will run more smoothly.
How to Integrate a CRM System
So you have your CRM and third-party system... Now what?
There are three approaches for integrating techniques and applications with CRMs.
Now that you have CRM and third-party systems in place... what next?
Integration options exist when it comes to designs and applications for CRM platforms.
- Your company and provider could invest in software, so all systems automatically integrate, similar to how Apple products sync when you log into iTunes.
- Your IT or tech department could write additional code to link various systems together (though this option might only work well if using many, yet still feasible for small businesses with adequate resources).
- An API, or Application Programming Interface, can help.
Companies increasingly opt for third-party integration when expanding software use. Let's examine CRM and API integration further.
Crm API Integration Strategy
CRM API Integration Strategy APIs (application programming interfaces) allow two separate programs to communicate seamlessly and run together without interruption, something we see daily when ordering Lyft through Google Maps integrating through an API; similarly, when embedding YouTube videos onto company websites via API.
API technology is often underestimated due to a misunderstanding; an API might appear like "just another complex software solution" you need to invest in, but that isn't entirely accurate. Yes, an API must be supported through businesses like Nordic APIs; however, API platforms tend to be relatively inexpensive while providing your operations with added ease of integration and operation.
Additionally, APIs play multiple roles in CRM integration:
- System APIs enable reps and administrators to gain access to larger systems like marketing quickly. When necessary, APIs pull data directly from them - for instance, when someone requests details from marketing systems.
- Process APIs facilitate business transitions involving multiple systems interacting simultaneously; for instance, when an agent accesses customer profiles through their CRM software, various systems must function concurrently - the payment history system, communication tickets system and marketing profile database must work smoothly together.
- Experience APIs combine these aspects and target end-game situations typically handled by customer service teams.
If you are still determining your need for an API, consult your CRM software guide for implementation steps. Arionerp Sell even provides its API to customize further.
Best Practices For Customer Data Integration
Integrating data and applications should go without incident; here are a few best practices you should keep in mind when managing integrations:
- Before integrating a CRM platform with an application, ensure it's compatible. Most modern CRM platforms will offer a list of compatible partners and apps on their websites; most CRMs should work seamlessly across most systems, but certain partnerships with other firms might restrict integration efforts.
- Before undertaking an integration attempt, back up all application data. Any data technology can fail unexpectedly; to protect yourself against that scenario and ensure success in integration, up as much data as possible and delete it later if needed.
- Instead, contact one of your CRM company's specialists if you need integration advice. Their experts should be best placed to offer tech advice if anything seems to need to be fixed.
- Alert employees when conducting integration projects. Your staff must know when updates are occurring, whether or not any systems need restarting and what systems their data will automatically flow into. Furthermore, employees should understand which ones require manual entries from them in addition to those where data transfer occurs automatically.
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Conclusion
CRM integration is essential because marketing automation improves data gathering, manipulation and reporting processes, resulting in increased revenue generation. CRM implementation helps businesses realize greater returns from their investments, regardless of size or industry. Integrating CRM is essential to any small or midsized enterprise's operations; their scope ranges from open-source systems with minimal restrictions for use to those that provide more restricted permissions depending on user roles and responsibilities.
Integration can be accomplished by finding one CRM that does it all or integrating various programs using data sync. However, that might not always go as expected, as software companies might sometimes understand each other's protocols and requirements. EngageBay can make integration simple - take a look! EngageBay CRM provides your company with all-in-one marketing automation, sales reporting and customer service at the cost of daily coffee!
EngageBay can save your business both time and resources to focus on what matters for success - that is why CRM integration has such a profound effect. Therefore, it's important when considering potential CRM vendors for integration options and how far you can take this strategy, as this will enable your business to scale further, automate, and simplify operations. I cannot stress enough how crucial CRM integration is today, as companies use multiple applications for daily activities.
