CRM Integrations Create a Single Source of Truth

With the rising popularity of best of breed software suites, a widening field of vendor options and functionality along with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) connecting them all, it’s not unusual for a modern company to be running a veritable laundry list of enterprise software options at once. Whether companies utilize CRM, ERP, marketing and email automation, point of sale software or any of the innumerable options out on the market, they often underestimate the huge benefits they can reap from integrating all those systems.

The upsides of CRM integration are multivariate and extend far beyond your company’s core enterprise software system. When your software is more tightly interconnected, you will find that the entire business will follow suit: from departments, right down to individual employees. Your CRM will not just operate as a tool for your customer-facing team but also become valuable to your entire organization. Conversely, your sales people will also benefit from data coming from your marketing department, warehouse and production teams. Keep on reading for more on the never-ending benefits of CRM integration!

Check out how easy it is to connect CRM and ERP by watching our Unity video demo.

Rope More Customers In

Customers may be hitting your website and leaving without you ever knowing what brought them there. Or, you might be getting lackluster return rates on an email nurturing campaign that would be much more successful targeted towards a different demographic. When you connect your email software to your CRM, sales and marketing can complete the circle of the lead life cycle, tracking and managing it carefully so that you are always working towards growth—whether that is into a new market, or just a reduction in the current churn of people coming across your services.

Marketing automation platforms like Marketo or HubSpot can track a specific lead’s activity and interest throughout their journey on your website. Add that to email software that will be able to corroborate email open rates or nurturing campaign success with specific customers, and you’ll have a whole wealth of customer data in your CRM to help your sales team close more deals. You’ll know whether to push certain leads into a different pipeline or nurturing campaign, or when you need to start reaching out to different audiences or localities.

Build A Customer Profile

Once you have more of those customers firmly in your pipeline, you can immediately start taking advantage of the in-depth knowledge an interconnected enterprise software suite can provide on those captured leads. In an ERP and CRM integration, for example, CRM gathers data on customer demographics and buying habits while ERP maintains up-to-date information about order history and accounts. Together, the information from these two systems facilitates a 360-degree view of customers. Imagine the sales possibilities that kind of data will allow!

And, when you have a totally accurate customer profile, it doesn’t just benefit your business; it benefits the customer as well. If your sales team knows when a customer might need your services again, or more product based on their buying habits, a sales person will be able to reconnect with the customer right when they’re ready for another purchase! If your product usually requires maintenance or upgrades after a certain amount of time, your sales team can also know when to start reengaging the client relationship and proposing those offers too. The returns you make in client knowledge and relationships are one of the most prominent benefits of connecting your whole suite of enterprise software, and a benefit you can start profiting from as soon as your systems are sharing data!

Sales Team Collaboration

Many CRM suites now feature social media-like capabilities and allow members of your sales team to collaborate and communicate on anything inside your business, whether it’s closing a specific sale or building out a new campaign. For example, Salesforce CRM created Salesforce Chatter to provide users with an interactive feed that includes project updates and facilitates communication. The upside of these social features becomes amplified when you integrate CRM into the rest of your business software. Front offices can communicate in real-time with your warehouse and manufacturing teams, meaning any decision made will be backed up with the most accurate and recent data.

Sales departments simply cannot work if they exist in a silo—they need to collaborate with the entire business to keep their fingers on the pulse of manufacturing, operations and new innovations in their business. That way, they can fully communicate with clients and give up-to-date information on products, services and expected delivery or completion times. Running an interconnected enterprise is the only way to keep your business growing sustainably, and not have a sales team making promises the rest of your company can’t deliver on.

Wrap Up

Just as your sales team operates at its best when it is fully involved with the company, so too does your CRM software. A CRM integration allows every employee to get not just a better handle on clients, but also a better grip on the moves happening outside their departments. With collaboration comes accountability, and thus motivation for employees to put their best foot forward in all aspects of their work and recognize the individual contributions they make to the overall success of the business. Data and operational errors abound when teams and departments work in silos—and one of the largest benefits of integrating CRM lies in eliminating those barriers. Decisions are made with 100% of company knowledge available and then disseminated to 100% of your employees through your interlinked network of software. What’s not to like?

Even if you already feel like you have a solid sales pipeline in place, you’d be surprised by the riches that come from embedding CRM software more deeply within your company. If this sounds like something you’d like for your business, get in contact with one of our expert integration consultants today. As a certified partner of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce, we have unique insight into two of the top CRM platforms. With Unity, our pre-built integration product, CRM software can be seamlessly connected with Epicor or other solutions to accelerate sales cycles and improve efficiency. Let us show you why Unity is the best solution for increasing efficiency, handling errors and providing transparency throughout your enterprise!

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