Enterprise Resource Planning is software that automates business processes. It covers everything, including financial systems, customer relationship management, and supply chain management.
ERPs allow organizations to create one source of truth for all their data and connect different APIs for a more cohesive enterprise network.
An ecommerce ERP integration, also known as a unified view, is what this is. It is the real-time unified view of all data from all sources. This converts data into actionable information and fully leverages it to enhance processes and meet company needs and customer experience.
This is frequently seen in integrated finance systems, where accounting was named by 89% of respondents to one survey as being the most important ERP function. This software can automate common accounting tasks, allowing for more accurate and efficient financial forecasting.
Why is ERP Integration Important?
ERP software can provide a comprehensive view of enterprise applications, showing real-time performance and data quality snapshots. They allow businesses to merge legacy systems that may not work with new applications into one system with one source.
Centralized Data
Data can only be helpful if it is put to use. Businesses can make this happen by gathering relevant data in one place. Instead, businesses can use siloed data sources that exist in a vacuum but need help to gain real insights.
An ERP solution links data points together, which enables business intelligence analysis to draw real insights.
Process Automation
Automating business processes is a growing trend, and ERPs don’t stand out. Automating data transfer allows you to create systems that operate 24 hours a day and avoid human errors.
Automating processes, from ordering purchase orders to automatically updating the availability of items, improves workflows and makes companies more responsive to customers’ needs.
Personalized Customer Experience
Personalized shopping has become standard. Customers expect this, and 75% of CIOs aim to engage customers in real time with content specific to them and their wants.
This applies to all channels. Omnichannel customer interactions are the norm.
Reduction of Human Errors
Humans make errors sometimes, and even the most hardworking worker can fall short of perfection. ERP integrations fully leveraging automation remove this manual step and ensure reliable data.
Reports are highly accurate and can be relied upon to provide a high level of certainty. This allows workers to focus on more strategic work that immediately impacts the business. You can automate inventory management to ensure that what you sell is actually in your warehouse.
ERP Integration: What Are The Challenges?
ERP system integration takes work. A properly-planned project will use a high-quality integration solution to ensure it works as planned.
However, the integration process may be disastrous if you don’t account for different systems or architectures and their interaction with one another. Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, and Oracle are all common software systems used by many. But they only sometimes work well together.
Implementation Is Straightforward and Budget-Friendly
ERP integrations are often cursed with “you’re not sure what you’re missing.” Unexpected consequences of bringing together multiple systems for software interconnections can lead to costly overruns. Even the most carefully planned integrations won’t fully understand how they work until the “on switch” is flipped.
Too Complicated
It is impossible to underestimate the difficulty of integrating legacy and new systems, each with its architecture. Each application could have certain needs that are incompatible with those of other applications. Every ERP integration is a challenging engineering problem.