CRM and ERP Integration: How It Can Help You
Too complicated, too expensive, unnecessary: these might be excuses you keep giving for not integrating your company’s CRM and ERP software systems. In truth, these excuses do not hold up when you truly begin to understand the results you can achieve when you connect your enterprise and customer relations systems. Bottom line: CRM and ERP integration will boost each piece of software’s value exponentially, giving you the data you need to drive revenue and increase your companies’ efficiency across the world of the shop floor and customer relations.
Here are more of the specific benefits you can start reaping once you have integrated your enterprise and customer relations systems:
- Connect Data: Yes, this may be the most obvious and oft-repeated feature of system integration, but the increased worth of your unified data cannot be overstated when it comes to your business. With one connected system, all members of your company can enter data at a single entry point which can be accesses from any employee device, eliminating the nuisance of double entries and the time it can take to sort through and delete them. Contact information for clients can be stored in one database and utilized on the ERP side for shipping info and other manufacturing processes, and then also redeployed for lead contact information, customer service and support on the CRM end. Instead of keeping two databases, you will have one large pool, which both systems can dip into, tightening your selling timeline and giving you an efficient selling process that will impress clients.
- Streamline Processes: Not only will integrating the two systems eliminate the risk of double entries into your systems, it will also smooth over information access at all points of your business. Salespeople won’t have to take time away from client meetings to call for inventory checks or order history. On the other side of the coin, you will also always know how full to stock your inventory for future orders and leads which have been indicated in the CRM. With all historical information stored in one place, it becomes much easier to stake out a clear business plan going into your future.
- Turn Leads Into Sales: By tracking and nurturing leads registered in your CRM software you can then convert them directly to the ERP system when they want to open their physical order without a clunky transition process between sales and manufacturing teams. Each step in your process will become automated, the completion of one stage immediately opening the next one within your software no matter what system it is based in. Sales people can order directly and remotely from your warehouse within the ERP system while out of the office, saving everyone a back-and-forth email chain. Meetings and demos go much more smoothly when every employee is prepared and can determine the client’s goals and whether your company can meet them efficiently. Satisfied customers then turn into referrals, which will be priceless when it comes to your future growth.
- Gain Valuable Marketing Data: By connecting your ERP software with a marketing automation system like Marketo, your marketing team will gain access to one of your company’s most valuable prospects: return customers. Your ERP can host all of your completed sales information, allowing you the ability to reach out to previous customers while already knowing their sales habits and the general life cycle of the products you’ve sold them in the past (so you know exactly when they’ll be needing replacements). CRM and ERP integration will foster a seamless connection between your manufacturing, sales and customer relation’s teams that will ultimately speed up every process within your business and allow every employee to focus on what they were trained to do instead of fielding calls and emails from other coworkers asking for information or to enter corrections.
The End Result
Imagine the power of having a place to access all company and client data at the touch of a button on any device. Your sales team can walk into meetings more prepared than ever; checking purchase history, previous communications and interest level to tailor their selling strategy to each individual client. They can also check current operation information on every machine on your floor, inventory levels and open orders in order to assess future risks or changes in manufacturing times, maximizing the value of every client. With a new, integrated and multi-purpose database every member of your team can access data on sales processes no matter where they are, removing the frustrating and time wasting effort to get crucial information on a client or inventory change when the other employee is not available. Cost-efficient and surprisingly easy, CRM and ERP integration can help create opportunity at every level of your company. Suddenly those old excuses don’t hold up anymore.
For more information on essential steps to integrating your CRM and ERP systems and driving your businesses’ growth, contact an expert at Datix. Here at Datix, we specialize in integration solutions for enterprise software with our flagship product, Datix Connect. Datix Connect allows businesses to integrate Epicor software with any CRM, parent ERP, e-commerce, or marketing automation software; such as Marketo, Pardot, Silver Pop, Hubspot, and more. The product is easily implemented and we can help you along the process and tell you more about our experience with previous CRM and ERP integration products.
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