Most businesses say that they put their customers first, but do they really? Sure, that might be the truth for some of them, but for many, they don’t know why they actually need to understand their consumers or streamline their business operations.
That’s where ERP and CRM solutions come in. CRM is designed as a tool to stay engaged with and understand your customers, while ERP is all about streamlining and organizing. When you have both integrated into your business, you have the right set of tools to grow and thrive.
So, I bet you’re wondering what the benefits are other than just surface-level promises. Below, we go into all of the main benefits of integrating CRM and ERP solutions into your business.
The Benefits of Integrating ERP and CRM Solutions
Reduce Errors
While necessary, manually transferring or updating data between a CRM and ERP can be a plain boring task that eats up tons of valuable time and resources. The results could be catastrophic when you throw in the likelihood of human error when entering data manually.
With ERP and CRM solutions integrated, data is automatically synced between platforms. Any updates in the CRM are instantly reflected on the ERP side and vice versa. On top of that, your employees and resources will have extra time to direct their efforts toward more high-value tasks.
Eliminate Duplicate Data
Both your CRM and ERP solutions store customer data, although they utilize it for very different purposes. With CRMs, the goals are more sales and support-centric, while with ERPs, inventory and task management tend to be the main focus.
Between the two solutions, there’s bound to be a good amount of overlap, which can create redundant (and sometimes even inconsistent) information. This can be frustrating, especially if you intend to utilize that data to drive up value across your entire company.
CRM and ERP Integration essentially verifies your data and helps eliminate any redundancies and inaccuracies. With the most valuable and relevant data at your disposal, you’re able to gain valuable insights into your business that will be more in line with your goals for the future.
End-To-End Customer Visibility
Strong customer relationships are vital for any business that’s looking to grow and thrive, but you need to honestly know your customers. To do that, you need a 360-degree view of all of your customer interactions, both past, and present. Once you integrate your CRM and ERP solutions, that’s precisely what you’ll get.
With information from across all of your different departments, such as sales, marketing, service, and finance, CRM and ERP solutions provide you with a complete view of your customers. With enhanced visibility into your customers’ shopping preferences and order history, you can provide them with more personalized experiences in real-time and make informed decisions about how you can build successful relationships with them.
Improved Order Management And Quote Generation
While quotes are created in the CRM system, the ERP system is what keeps track of all the orders and inventory. Solid integration between the two effectively bridges the gap between CRM quotes and ERP orders, optimizing the overall process.
Because of this, your CRM solution can access all of the products in your inventory. This ensures that your sales representatives always have access to the latest prices, relevant discounts, and available balances for all of your products when creating quotes for either a customer or prospect. Additionally, sales representatives also gain unparalleled insight into order statuses, along with the ability to track and update them.
Better Sales Forecasting
Similar to what we discussed above, easy access to inventory data in your CRM also allows you to be more proactive in your approach, making it easier to anticipate product demand. Some CRM solutions even allow you to leverage intuitive pipeline management and real-time sales analytics to identify and focus your efforts on new products/services and prospects that are likely to yield a higher return on your investments.
Improved Employee Cooperation
The bi-directional synchronization between an ERP and CRM solutions in real-time allows for seamless communication and improved synergies between your customer-facing representatives, like sales or service, and those in charge of inventory and finance. Making sure that everyone is on the same page enables your organization to make smarter business decisions while providing exceptional customer experiences.
Better Customer Service
The customer support module is often utilized when companies integrate CRM solutions. Doing so provides mutual visibility between the sales and support teams, which can be helpful in maintaining positive customer relationships. For example, if customer support receives a ticket with a seemingly minor complaint from a customer, they can see through the CRM system that it’s a multi-million dollar account, so it deserves a high priority regardless. Or, if a sales representative is calling on an account, he or she can use the CRM software to see any existing support tickets.
Now that you’ve learned about all of the benefits that ERP and CRM solutions provide, are you still willing to miss out? Or are you ready to start your ERP and CRM journey today?
Erphub is a leading US-based system consulting, ERP solution development, and administration service that can ensure your business efficiency is raised to its optimum level. At Erphub, we provide access to informational tools, a variety of basic ERP software packages, and the option to choose a completely custom ERP solution for your business. For more information, contact us by email.
