Three ERP and CRM Integration Best Practices

Make the Most Out of Your Integration

Integrating your enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software may not seem like an essential item on your business’ to-do list, but the fact of the matter is in today’s competitive manufacturing and distribution environment, software integration is non-negotiable. By weaving together all the nuanced back-end processes of your ERP system with the customer-facing data in your CRM, your business gains a 360-degree view of your enterprise.

Additionally, if you don’t have a robust integration strategy that incorporates best practices, you risk wasting money and extending your project timeline. That’s why we put together three critical best practices to streamline your integration!

1. Think About Your Business Process

Software integrations are sometimes performed without consideration of the company’s business process. The integration project won’t add value to your enterprise if it cannot support your workflows and operations.

We recommend defining the needs of your organization to ensure your integration project is successful. Business process modeling is a strategy that identifies pain points and gaps and maps out a vision for your company’s future operations; that way, you can be sure you’re aligning your integration with a robust business process.

2. Automate the Data Transfer

Some employees believe all you need for successful integration is a manual, scheduled data and process transfer between your ERP and CRM systems. However, for a seamless connection that increases productivity and reduces errors, we recommend setting up your integration platform to automatically transfer the data your users will need the most when they need it.

There’s isn’t a one-size-fits-all template for your integration maps, so figure out how often your data should be transferred to enable users to efficiently execute tasks.

If you’re using a pre-built integration platform, ensure that the platform automates data syncing. A lot of connectors on the market claim to be seamless and require no work on your end, but actually require you to import files daily just to transfer information between your CRM and ERP—not so hands-free after all.

3. Consider a Scalable Solution

Scalability is an extremely important feature in integration solutions. If your solution cannot keep up with the copious amounts of data, upgrades, and other changes that may interfere with integration, your project will struggle to succeed. Therefore, we recommend a solution that is reliable and scalable, regardless of the data volumes.

A scalable solution will not only help your integration project now, but it will continue to help you succeed in the future. Because your business isn’t static, you don’t want your integration to be either, so it’s best to have a solution that will grow and expand with your company.

The Solution – Unity by Datix

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, the expert consultants and developers at Datix are fully capable of following best practices and avoiding common integration issues. Further, they know how important system integration is, yet how taxing the integration project tends to be- that’s why we created Unity.

Unity is a pre-built integration, and unlike other API solutions that require extensive coding and mapping, Unity is rapidly installed and fully managed by our consultants. They will ensure the solution is implemented in line with your unique business requirements.

Moreover, Unity is scalable and compounds ROI, meaning you don’t have to be concerned with add-ons, upgrades, and other changes interfering with your integration. Regardless of how much data or how many users your business accumulates, Unity will meet your organization’s demands.

Designed to integrate with Infor ERP, Epicor® ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, Salesforce, Magento, HubSpot, and more, Unity eliminates data silos, complicated integrations, coding, errors, and hassle. It’s the easiest way to form a connected enterprise, and each user can operate out of one system.

Contact the experts at Datix to learn more about transforming your business with Unity.