The Importance of ERP and CRM Integration
This article will discuss the importance of integrating your CRM, or customer relationship management software, with an ERP, also known as enterprise resource planning software.
What Is CRM-ERP Integration?
When we talk about CRM-ERP integration, we refer to a system where information about new prospects and sales entered into the CRM by your sales team flows into the ERP for operational purposes, enabling the operations team to act on it efficiently without delays.
Likewise, it means sales reps have access to production schedules, resource availability, and inventory data in the ERP to assist in making sales. Information from a sale can then be fed back into the ERP to reserve inventory promised to a customer, ensuring it isn’t sold by someone else working on a similar deal.
Benefits of Integrating CRM with ERP
Having a Streamlined Sales Process
The first benefit of integrating your CRM with an ERP is a streamlined sales process. Suppose you have a sales rep meeting with a customer, responding quickly to an email about whether a job can be started and finished by a certain date or whether you have inventory on hand for a specific product at a specific location.
Integrating CRM and ERP enables sales reps to close deals faster by providing quick answers. When a customer asks about product availability, the sales rep can quickly check the ERP, confirm it’s in stock, and respond with, “Yes, we have it.”
Likewise, when the customer replies, “Okay, hold it for me. I want it,” the sales rep can change the status of that to closed-won, and that can set aside the inventory in the ERP so that it’s now no longer available for sale to someone else.
Improving Your Customer’s Experience
ERP and CRM integration often improves customer experience when a customer asks whether you can complete a job by a certain time. When the sales rep can respond confidently with, “Yes, I see in the ERP that we do have the capacity for that,” the customer enjoys a better experience.
As the production schedule progresses, sales reps can act proactively if there are any changes, delays, or problems. The sales rep can be alerted immediately to any changes or issues with the order and reach out to the customer, providing full transparency. This ensures the customer has the maximum time to adjust to the change.
Benefits of Proactive Customer Notifications
With ERP and CRM integration, you may even create notification systems that contact the customer automatically in certain circumstances. Once the deal is closed, your sales reps might be focused on other deals and may not have an ongoing relationship with the customer, but you still want the customer to be informed of any changes.
For instance, if the delivery date has been moved up, they must be prepared to receive it earlier. With ERP and CRM integration, you can send a notification—via SMS, phone call, customer service call, or email—to update the customer on their order status.
Additionally, you might consider providing a customer portal where they can log in and check their order status anytime. Ultimately, integrating CRM with ERP enhances the overall customer experience.
Increasing Your Business’ Operational Efficiency
ERP and CRM integration can also significantly improve your operational efficiency. You’ve probably encountered situations in your own business where sales reps don’t promptly pass information about closed sales to the operations team.
Perhaps they’re on the road, forget to do it, or get caught up in another deal, causing it to slip their mind. As a result, valuable time is lost between when the sale is closed and when inventory is reserved or the work order is issued—whether it’s for production or another part of your business.
This unnecessary lag time reduces inventory turns yearly, delays revenue, and creates inefficiencies. It’s a problem that can easily be avoided.
Eliminating Communication Delays
By integrating CRM with ERP, there’s no more lag time, delays, or forgotten promises between your sales and operations teams. Both teams can access relevant information, allowing the operations team to view the sales activities when appropriate.
Of course, you can customize role permissions to ensure that only the right people see the information they need to perform their jobs effectively. However, you likely want the operations team to have visibility into certain aspects of the communication between the customer and the sales rep, so they can support the sales rep by fulfilling what was promised.
Improved Sales Forecasting
Another benefit of integrating CRM and ERP is improved forecasting. With the two systems integrated, your ERP can access data from the CRM, including sales pipeline, sales volume, likelihood to close, forecasted close dates, and more.
This integration allows your operations team to better forecast and plan for the materials needed, ensuring they have the necessary team capacity to execute the job, meet deliverables, and deliver on time.
How CRM & ERP Integration Can Improve Financial Forecasting
Integrating CRM and ERP will enable you to forecast more effectively since the combined system covers both the sales and cost sides of your business, which is most valuable if you’re involved in the finance or accounting function—whether you’re a controller, director of finance, or CFO. Your integrated CRM and ERP include the sales pipeline as well as direct and indirect costs and materials costs related to your jobs and pending sales.
The integration provides better, more accurate, real-time information about your business, helping you create more reliable financial forecasts.
Avoiding Resource Conflicts by Integrating CRM with ERP
Without integrating those two systems, multiple sales reps may commit the same resources to different customers, leading to disappointment for one of them.
Two customers might be told, “Yes, we have the product,” but their sales reps are actually referring to the same item. Only one can receive it, meaning one customer has been promised more than can be delivered.
How Watkyn Can Help Your Business Integrate CRM with ERP
At Watkyn, we are ready to help you integrate CRM with ERP. We specialize in building custom CRMs and ERPs and providing software solutions tailored to your unique functional needs. We’d be happy to discuss how we can assist you.
Contact Watkyn today to schedule a call with our team to integrate CRM with ERP for your business.