Considering whether you need to integrate your ERP and CRM systems can be more complicated than it seems. There are many things to consider, but it can all be narrowed down to one simple question: Would you like to strengthen your business strategy and optimize your processes?
The executives of smaller companies tend to believe that they do not need the ERP – CRM integration because their customer base isn’t that large, and they can live with the productivity loss due to double data entries. This can be an expensive mistake. Every company, small or large, can benefit from better processes and productivity gains.
The benefits of Salesforce ERP integration
If your organization is using Salesforce CRM, integrating with your ERP solution can be very beneficial. With a Salesforce ERP data integration solution like RapidiOnline, you will be able to display ERP data such as sales history in Salesforce. This means that your salespeople will be able to access information about your clients’ orders, as well as their payment history. They will know if you have any unsettled former order payment before placing new orders.
At the same time, your finance staff will have customer data that they can trust. Without a Salesforce ERP integration, your salespeople will not know if the customer they are talking with has a long history of delayed payments. And your accountants might have to call or email your salespeople to chase or verify information about where to send an invoice and who to send it to. With a data integration solution, the process is not just easier, it is also a lot faster and more reliable.
A Salesforce ERP integration solution will also eliminate double data entries, as your staff will not have to enter customer data in both Salesforce and your ERP solution. Your sales staff will continue working in Salesforce (with no need to access the ERP) and your finance staff will have all the information they need in the ERP system. This will free invaluable time for better customer service, which will often result in better up-selling and cross-selling opportunities.
Can you live without a Salesforce ERP integration?
Do you absolutely need to integrate Salesforce with your ERP?
A Salesforce ERP integration is not vital for your organization and you can easily survive without. But is survival the only goal for your company? Most companies have ambitious short or long term strategies and goals. Whether they strive to sell more, grow in size and or on revenue, organizations worldwide exist for a purpose. Most companies have competitors that try to do better so they have to find new ways to become more efficient, to streamline their processes, and increase competitiveness to out beat them. Who doesn’t want to become a market leader?
A Salesforce ERP integration (or any ERP-CRM integration) is a simple way to optimize your sales and marketing processes, making your staff more efficient and enabling them to fully contribute to your revenue growth. Integrating your systems could allow you to streamline and optimize the entire process from lead to invoice.
How to choose your Salesforce ERP integration tool?
There are several ways to approach a Salesforce ERP integration. You can be tempted to have your Salesforce or ERP partner develop a custom integration, fully tailored to your needs, right here and right now. You might even have resources in-house to take care of it. Custom integrations might appear to be the most cost-effective solution in the short term.
However, as your business grows and your needs develop, the maintenance cost of a custom integration will inevitably increase. Also, you could run into unforeseen problems when your Salesforce CRM and your ERP get updated or need an upgrade. Finally, custom-built integrations rarely include system monitoring and error handling, which is a very important part of the solution.
Today, there are many simple cloud solutions in the market that can easily integrate Salesforce with your ERP. Take for example RapidiOnline, a cloud-based data integration solution specialized in Salesforce ERP integration. Because it is based on pre-configured data integration templates between Salesforce and your ERP, RapidiOnline is fast to implement and you can be up and running in as little time as 8-10 days.
RapidiOnline is easy to set up, it allows for easy error-handling, and it will keep working uninterrupted, regardless of the Salesforce and ERP updates in the future. When Salesforce Cloud integration can be done so fast and easily, there really isn’t any valid reason not to integrate Salesforce with your ERP.