Providing outstanding customer experiences at every stage of the customer journey is no longer just a distinction. It is now expected by the customer. The likelihood of customer satisfaction rises as each consumer touch point or interaction is optimized. However, without access to integrated data, businesses find it difficult to satisfy their customers. We will see about ERP v/s CRM in this post.
ERPs and CRMs
The underlying technology for customer engagement is a CRM. Its duty is to oversee corporate operations connected to the customer lifecycle and customer interactions. Salesforce has the greatest market share out of all the CRM programs.
Sales, marketing, and supply chain management (SCM), three crucial corporate processes that contribute to income, are streamlined by an ERP system. ERP and the financial system (accounting, invoicing, and financial reporting) are frequently used interchangeably.
Data essential to a company’s expansion and success is stored in both CRM and ERP. In the past, the data in each application was kept separate and was neither readily accessible nor automatically shared with the other. Integrating the data across your CRM and ERP platforms will greatly benefit you. For instance, sales reps may complete sales orders more quickly and give clients a better shopping experience if they have direct access to the inventory that is available. CRMs like Lead-squared CRM are very versatile.
Common CRM ERP Integration Points
Your business processes can be streamlined and automated with the aid of a CRM ERP integration architecture that synchronizes common data points. Common integration points include:
Account and Contact
While the ERP provides customer and account information connected to billing, shipping, and payment, the CRM has lead and customer contact information related to sales orders. By synchronizing these points, you can maintain consistency and accuracy in your contact and account information.
Management of Quotes and Orders
Sales quotes typically originate in the ERP system, but sales reps prefer to work out of the CRM system because they need access to the quotes. Sales reps often enter sales orders into the CRM, but the ERP is responsible for managing the orders, producing invoices, fulfilling orders, and shipping products. Your CRM and ERP systems should be in sync to ensure that quotations and orders are correct and that sales personnel can access all information from the CRM.
Order History for Sales
Due to the value of sales order history, businesses employ artificial intelligence (AI) to forecast upcoming purchases. Since the ERP frequently holds the history of booked invoices, the records must be linked with the CRM in order for sales people to access the data.
Payments
The process of going from a sales quote to cash is finished with payment. Payment information is kept in the ERP. A sales person can be informed of payments that are overdue and assist with collections if your payment information is available to the CRM.
Inventory, a Quote, a Product, and a Price
Inventory, pricing, and product quotations are frequently stored in an ERP. Sales professionals must access to the data in order to check product availability and make customer proposals. Integrating product information with the CRM keeps your sales process running smoothly because they also need to let customers know the status of their orders.
Benefits of ERP and CRM Integration
Integration of ERP and CRM has the major advantage of automating corporate procedures that affect the customer lifecycle. To offer a 360-degree view of your customer data, it combines customer order information (orders, invoices), product supply chain information (quotes, prices, inventories), financial information (accounts receivable, revenue recognition), and other information.
Increase your Efficiency
The dispersion of sales-related documentation among many repositories might slow down order processing. Manufacturers can decrease bottlenecks in the order-to-cash work stream and time delays in the fulfillment, shipping, and billing processes by automating the operations to gather documents from various systems. Order-to-cash bottlenecks are reduced, and order turnaround time is improved, thanks to access to all customer and product information in a single digital process.
Obtain a Customer 360 View
A client’s whole profile, including their overall relationship with the business, is depicted in a customer 360. The presentation of consumer data in a relevant way is referred to as a 360-degree view. Integration of CRM and ERP is necessary to gather customer data and provide a precise picture of the client’s state. The sales, finance, product manufacturing, and other departments work more closely together and share insights as a result of this perspective. Your employees can make wise decisions more quickly and accurately thanks to real-time data access, which leads to better sales projections and more precise planning.
Final Words
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) system integration is essential for coordinating seamless client journeys. We already covered the subjects of CRM integration and ERP integration individually. Let’s now look at the advantages that linking CRM and ERP solutions might bring to your company.
