ERP & CRM Integration – How it works?
Overview :
The key to winning sales is being responsive to your customers and leads, and understanding what they need from you. That doesn’t happen without processes in place that allow you to learn about your customers and communicate easily with them. This is especially true as you grow and your business (and customer base) becomes more complex.
If you’re already using CRM and ERP systems, you’ll know how useful they can be in understanding your customers. But if they’re kept separate, they’re not working to their full potential.
What is the impact?
Back when you started using a CRM and ERP, keeping them separate probably made perfect sense. They deal with different processes and often sit with different teams.
But when you integrate the two systems, you’ll be putting all the data about your customers in one place. You’ll be able to see every interaction with your business, and you’ll know you can trust that data, because it’s automated rather than manually entered.
CRM-ERP integration puts you in a position where you know everything you possibly could about your customers, with absolutely minimal effort. That means winning sales becomes, if not easy, then certainly easier.
Why CRM-ERP integration works?
It saves you time
Rather than spending time transferring data between two systems manually, an integrated ERP and CRM does it for you. That frees you and your staff to focus on the people that matter: your customers. Less spent on admin is always going to be great for business development.
It helps you build relationships
With integrated systems, you’ll be able to see who’s bought what and when very easily. You’ll be able to see all data about your customers, including their order history, all their interactions, the value of their orders, and their preferences.
You’ll be able to anticipate new orders by looking at buying patterns. That means you’ll know when to have the right stock in the right place, making securing sales simple. Your customers will love you for being super-efficient and they’ll keep coming back.
Having all your data in one place also makes it easy to identify your most valuable customers and to focus your marketing efforts on them.
It helps with internal communication
When different parts of your business are using different systems, communication can be poor. The sales team have one set of figures, the logistics team have another. This makes it difficult to collaborate and can lead to conflict. Integrating your CRM and ERP means everyone in your business can work together easily and focus on winning sales.
Conclusion:
Having a CRM and ERP in place is great, but without integration, you’re never going to realize the full potential of either system. Un-integrated systems are usually fine for businesses just starting out, but as you grow, with more customers to work with and more staff to manage, the value becomes clearer and clearer.
The good news is that integration can be really simple to do. Many companies like Rapidi Online provides an easy way for SMEs to integrate their systems with minimal effort.
