Imagine, a top member of your sales team is walking the floor of a client’s manufacturing facility. The purchasing lead for you customer asks your team a series of specific questions that usually need quick answers like; “Do you have part X948 in stock? If so, how many? When could it be shipped and delivered, and what’s the cost for all of the above”? These situations are not uncommon in the world of sales. But now, the difference between that sales person signing a contract and placing an order right there on the spot, then walking out the door with a reminder already set to follow up at later date, may just be your organizations ability to integrate the mobile application of Salesforce CRM with ERP software that your organization already runs (or is planning to run in the near future). Integrating a CRM like Salesforce with ERP software allows you total interconnectivity within your organization—transparency between back office data and sales team activity. This kind of 360-degree information creates a single source of truth for you to center operations around and grow your business with!
What if…
So, how does a mobile strategy make such a powerful differentiator for your sales team? Let’s revisit that opening scenario once more. If their organization has integrated Salesforce with ERP, then that sales person could pull out their phone and immediately start checking inventory stock, product counts, orders, and other back office data that would then allow them to answer all that purchasing lead’s questions, and offer helpful information on bulk discounts or expedited shipping rates? Odds are you’re getting a happy client and a check. Any sales person worth their salt knows that sales opportunities, especially relating to parts and inventory, can be volatile. The ability to both capitalize on potential opportunities and also identify upcoming risks on the spot can be a very empowering feature for a sales person. Yet, despite all the advantages, the vast majority of companies still have adapted a mobile friendly enterprise strategy with the help of the cloud.
Salesforce provides unprecedented access to data from a mobile device. The CRM innovator began as a web-based Software as a Service (Saas); they have built their entire business around the cloud, the internet and mobile functionality. They do it better than any other CRM provider on the market today. This is due in part to their cloud-based strategy and their 100% investment into innovation in the SaaS industry. But what good is this proliferation of data if it doesn’t work the way your business does? Integrating Salesforce with ERP software that you already run (either on premise or in the cloud) can construct a steady stream of critical data between the two systems that can help connect the front and back office in an unprecedented way. And when you have the most accurate data on both your customers and your business, you are going to be able to serve all of your clients better. Integrating Salesforce with ERP will allow you an insight into your customers from that initial interest right through to the sale; which marketing efforts first brought a customer in, what sales tactics kept them, what they ordered, and if they might be looking to purchase again. And this new sales strategy can translate into shop-floor success: production teams will be able to use predictive analytics to estimate consumer demand ahead of time and plan for that demand accordingly. By using your Salesforce lead files and reminders, you will also be able to nurture and reengage previous customers so you are their first and only prospect when they do decide (or need) to repurchase, and already have that part ready to go for them! In an ever more interconnected and modernizing enterprise world, it’s almost necessary to integrate Salesforce with ERP software to truly recognize the ROI and value on both systems, and stay competitive.
Why Should You Connect Salesforce With ERP?
Bottom line: if you want data to help your business deliver more efficient processes and to improve how your business uses software you should strongly consider fusing your two powerful enterprise systems together. Get your CRM and ERP into conversation with each other: it makes all of the software smarter in the end. With full integration, you can better mold the way the way your enterprise software works to the way your people work, and empower every employee in the company to do their job supported by the most powerful information possible.
Here at Datix, we believe in the power of a connected ERP and CRM so strongly that we constructed our very own flagship product, Datix Unity, a pre-built application that allows businesses to do integrate Salesforce with ERP seamlessly and easily with no visibility to the front-end user, and since the product’s inception, our clients that have implemented the application are noticing dramatic changes in their sales team’s agility. The main idea is that the most important info for sales people and service people to view should be able to accessed through both CRM and ERP. This provides businesses with more access to real-time dynamic data, and provides the company with a single source of the truth. Dual-entries and out-dated information can really bog a lot of businesses down, and an integration through a product like Datix Unity will totally circumvent those speed bumps. Fill out the form above to get a super speedy demo and see for yourself just how simple Unity is!
For more details on Datix Unity, or for a consultant to discuss any type of integration project you have coming up, get in touch with an expert at Datix today! When it comes to software and integration, there’s nothing we haven’t seen or can’t take on. Just ask us!
