7 benefits of integrating ERP and CRM
In a competitive market, customer loyalty is key to maintaining your margins and ensuring long-term success for your business. There are numerous strategies for building brand loyalty, but what you may not realize is that integrating your ERP and CRM solutions is an essential step to creating and sustaining loyal customers.
At a high level, integrating ERP and CRM empowers your employees to provide fast, informed and more personalized customer service. You can reduce inconsistencies between sales and inventory, increase accuracy of quotes, reduce manual data entry, and increase information available about each customer. Integration means gaining connected, 360-degree visibility into your customers and providing an experience that helps you stand out from your competition.
Traditionally, ERP and CRM solutions have been considered two separate systems for separate functions and you might feel that integration isn’t worth the trouble. However, we want to share some of the major advantages our customers enjoy most from integrating their systems.
Why you should consider integrating ERP and CRM:
1. Accurate quoting and inventory/ordering
When salespeople have real-time access to inventory levels and current product pricing, they can provide more accurate quotes, lead times and shipment dates. This level of consistency and accuracy is key to building happy, loyal customers.
2. Deeper understanding of buying behaviors and trends
As a business, you want to provide the products that fulfill customers’ needs and improve their lives. When the sales team can view information such as order histories and customer support calls, they can proactively anticipate customer needs and offer the right products at the right times.
3. Improved budgeting and forecasting
When ERP financials and CRM are linked to each other, forecasts can be easily matched to demand. Prevent excess inventory or shortages, improve delivery times, plan around customer trends and, ultimately, boost customer satisfaction in the process.
4. Empower every employee to help your customers
When employees throughout your organization can see the full customer picture—call history, preferences, orders, service requests, contracts, resolutions and other information—in real time, they can seamlessly work together to help customers. This requires consolidated, centralized insight between your systems.
5. More sales opportunities
By understanding the order history of clients, salespeople can have the leg up they need to proactively up-sell or cross-sell. Additionally, with modern business intelligence tools such as predictive analytics, salespeople can take advantage of machine learning to get automated and targeted recommendations.
6. Accelerated invoicing and payments
Fast, accurate invoicing builds business credibility by demonstrating consistency and making things easier for your customers. When your ERP and CRM are integrated, you can create automations across your quote-to-cash process.
7. Personalized customer experience from start to finish
With the full visibility provided by integrated CRM and ERP, you can get customers what they need, when they need it, on the channels they prefer. You can even create self-service portals for your customers. This level of personalization is a powerful path to loyal customers.
Want to learn more about integrating your ERP and CRM systems?
Arbela specializes in helping clients achieve their strategic goals through innovative, impactful and integrated solutions. Contact us to learn more from our experts about how to build loyal customers and achieve your long-term goals.