What is the key to a successful business? It's pretty straightforward - customers. Customer loyalty leads to growth and profitability, and long-time customers can act as brand advocates to help spread the word about your products and services. While there are numerous strategies to facilitate extraordinary customer experience, ensuring that your ERP and CRM systems are integrated is the first step.
With ERP and CRM integration, you gain a single source of truth, improving visibility across your business, which helps you provide excellent customer experiences.
But First, What's the Difference Between ERP and CRM?
is business management software that helps organizations centralize, streamline and automate their back-end processes. That means a business can integrate its financials, supply chain operations, reporting, manufacturing, accounting, and human resources activities under one shared system. It helps improve efficiency, lower operational costs, optimize core processes, and enables cross-departmental collaboration.
On the other hand, CRM () software manages your organization's relationships with customers and leads. It collects and stores all customer data and interactions in one centralized platform and also helps flag opportunities that might require follow-ups or nurture. Essentially, it streamlines your sales, marketing, and customer service efforts, improves customer experience and retention, and increases sales.
The main difference between ERP and CRM solutions is that an ERP focuses on your company's back-office functions, while a CRM will help you with front-office tasks. To dive deeper into this topic, read more about the critical differences between ERP and CRM.
So, What Are the Benefits of ERP and CRM Integration?
Integrating your ERP and CRM can streamline your business processes for the better. Here are some of the benefits of integrating your standalone CRM with your ERP solution:
Unified Visibility into Your Customers
With your ERP and CRM integration, you'll get a unified 360-degree view of your customers at every step as information collected across marketing, sales, your service team, accounting, and more is consolidated. This information allows your company to make better business decisions and determine how to retain customers and improve their experience.
Reduced Data Duplication and Errors
When your ERP and CRM work in silos, your teams enter data into both standalone platforms – this can cause duplicate customer data and discrepancies. When your systems are integrated, duplication is eliminated, and customer data is stored in one common interface.
Accurate Sales Quotes & Order Management
ERP and CRM integration also means that your sales team can give more accurate sales quotes and lead times to potential customers. This is because they'll now have real-time access to the necessary data, such as the latest pricing, applicable discounts, and available inventory. Your customer service team will also be better able to provide shipping information when following up with customers.
Improved Forecasting
Your company can also improve its sales forecasting once your ERP and CRM are integrated, as financial information can be matched to demand, and your sales rep can use this information while they're forecasting. You'll also be able to improve financial forecasting as your accounting team will have up-to-date information about the sales pipeline.
Integrate Your ERP & CRM
Begin by selecting the right ERP and CRM for your organization. Some companies find that they can work with an ERP that already has in-built CRM capabilities (like Dynamics 365 Business Central), while larger companies with more complex marketing and sales may need a dedicated CRM as well. Others might already have a standalone ERP or CRM in place and need help with the integration. Kwixand Solutions can help your business. with the team to learn more about ERP and CRM integration and what makes sense for your organization.
About Kwixand Solutions
Kwixand Solutions is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner and digital transformation consultancy that guides companies in the United States and Canada through every stage of their ERP, CRM, or cloud transformation. For us, successful digital transformation is much more than just implementing a solution; it's about helping your company optimize its processes and maximize ROI.
