4 Reasons to Integrate ERP and CRM

So, you’ve successfully implemented CRM and ERP systems in your business, and you’re starting to experience some process improvements. But you’re not seeing the ROI you expected and data is getting lost in the shuffle between the two systems. Integrating data processing and input fields between your ERP and CRM seems like the way to go, but your company’s decision makers won’t sign off on a project that just adds more money on top of the cost it took to implement the software.

It’s reasonable that there’s going to be an instinctual pushback to any project that will add extra time and money on top of the implementation period. However, it’s critical that the leadership at your company understands that CRM and ERP integration is vital for business growth and enterprise transparency. Integration can do many things for your business’ ability to both serve customers and drive profits. It’s only a matter of laying out all those benefits for your C-Suite to convince them to approve the project. We can help with that: Check out four advantages of CRM and ERP integrations that will bring the C-Suite to your side. 

1. Supercharged Sales

Although it doesn’t come close to the cost of implementation, the price of connecting CRM and ERP might have some executives turning their noses up. After all, why should they spend even more money on enterprise software? However, software integration will strengthen your bottom line in the long run.

By helping sales teams work smarter and faster than ever, it will actively encourage higher profits. Integration will help your sales teams gain insight into inventory levels, production times and delivery dates, so that they can keep potential and current customers informed at all stages of the buyer’s journey. What’s more, if you host your integration in the cloud, all of this data will be available to them on their mobile devices to give them immediate insights no matter where they reach out with clients and prospects. Compared to the initial investment in ERP or CRM systems, the price of integration is minimal, and the returns you will see are incomparable.

2. Total Enterprise Transparency

ERP and CRM integration will help build an entirely new culture of enterprise transparency. Because it fosters greater communication between your company’s back office and your sales team, the connection will naturally improve productivity and collaboration across the organization. Every employee gets greater insight into how their tasks impact others on the team, and departments work together for the customer rather than in isolated silos.

If that kind of jump in connectivity and communication isn’t enough, let your top executives know that with CRM and ERP integration, they will understand better than ever what is happening at every level of the business. With a few clicks, they can drill down into details of production and processes. Whether they need this information for performance reviews, important stakeholders or an audit, your executives will have a hard time saying no to that wealth of information.

3. Streamlined Production

Instead of going back and forth between two systems to obtain information on an order date or client history, all data is stored on a singular platform when CRM and ERP are integrated. Managers can leverage actionable data drawn from the entire business to make decisions faster. Bidirectional (or two-way) data synchronization automatically keeps information up to date throughout your software solutions. 

But there’s one thing that your employees will really love about CRM and ERP integration—no more duplicate data entry! Keying in client and transactional information into multiple enterprise systems is arduous, often pointless and mind-numbing. If you already have a wealth of client information in ERP from past orders, that data could be available immediately in your CRM. Sales data is also accessible to plant managers to facilitate accurate demand forecasting. Manual data entry is one of the biggest opportunities for mistakes and corrupted data within your technology infrastructure. Avoid this costly time-waster, and give employees more time to dedicate to mission-critical tasks.

4. Cleaner Data, Guaranteed

Clean, accurate data is precious both to your executive board and to the entire company. It’s what your business needs to drive production, close sales and follow up with clients who could become valuable repeat customers. Reporting is a crucial function provided in both CRM and ERP systems. Now, imagine if you could generate just one report powered by information from both platforms. By corroborating data across departments, erroneous data will naturally be reduced. The accuracy that an integration can provide through the reduction of manual entry and the pooling of all necessary data into one critical system means that ERP and CRM integration is a must.

After all, one of the reasons you implemented ERP and CRM software in the first place was to enjoy access to a wealth of data on your operations and customers. Remind your C-Suite of this, and they’ll want to ensure the integrity of this priceless information.

Wrap Up

Introducing your C-Suite to the power of enterprise software integration won’t just help you get the project budget approved; it will also encourage your whole organization to realize the many time-saving and cost-cutting benefits of connecting ERP and CRM. When they see just how much easier integration will make their day-to-day tasks, employees throughout the company won’t be able to say no to the new project. 

If you want to get started on your own ERP and CRM integration, get in touch with an expert consultant at Datix today. We’ve created Unity, a pre-built and managed application that seamlessly integrates CRM and ERP. Without writing a single line of code, our solution can be rapidly installed to connect Epicor ERP with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM or Salesforce. An Epicor Gold Partner and a certified partner of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce, you can trust Datix to help you transform into a connected enterprise! 

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