Some things just go together: Peanut butter and jelly, shoes and socks… So it is with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) software. These two were made for each other.
Indeed, “Working smarter” is not a cliché when pairing CRM with ERP. It is a great, close relationship that actually works. Life is happier when partners communicate. Sales orders originate in CRM. ERP is where operations completes the order and handles the billing and accounting. Thus, connecting the two makes a lot of things go better in a business. Integrating CRM with ERP is the elegant solution to provide the information that everyone needs when they need it. When employees can easily access all sales, operational and financial data, all departments can be more efficient. The whole cash cycle runs faster.
Turning Data into Dollars
Your company’s CRM data is full of future sales opportunities. An integrated CRM/ERP solution helps turn that data into dollars—as rapidly as possible. This occurs because everyone who needs to know about a customer can find customer data in a single place. The information employees need to create or fulfill an order is in one combined system. Managers get unified visibility with integrated reporting, too. Multiple teams can work with each other when they use a tool that follows the quote-to-cash process from start to finish.
Working Smarter, Together
An integrated CRM/ERP solution, such as the one that’s possible with Acumatica Cloud ERP, offers a 360-degree view of the customer. Living comfortably in the cloud, Acumatica gives employees access to records including quotes, invoices and deals. At a glance, employees can get a complete update on a customer’s orders, sales quotes, invoices and more. They can see if there are payment problems, service issues or customer support tickets that need resolution. Marketing managers can track the revenue impact of campaigns in real time. Discounts that pop up and ongoing contracts are searchable with or without notifications.
Customers benefit as well. With self-service portals for order tracking and customer service, the business can be in real time contact with accounts. All relevant departments will have a record of a customer’s communication, so questions can be addressed quickly. This dynamic leads to stronger customer engagement and greater retention.
Flowing and Growing
The Quote-to-Cash cycle time should become shorter when ERP and CRM get connected. With fewer manual handoffs and human errors, the workflow that drives the cash cycle will inevitably speed up. Separate departments involved in Quote-to-Cash also gain a clearer perspective of how the business is working. They can detect and remediate problems in operations or service before they disrupt cash flow.
Integrated ERP and CRM from Acumatica helps a busines run better and speeds up its cash cycle. The combination can even drive increased revenue growth as sales teams gain the knowledge to close deals more quickly—using the same toolset to expedite the order intake and fulfillment processes. Sales, Marketing and Operations benefit from shared information and clear communication. Having all relevant information one place will save time and make work for less unprofitable administrative work.
To learn more about how your ERP and CRM solutions can function as one, contact us for a demo and free consultation.
Interested in Learning More? Get a Virtual Tour of Acumatica CRM
Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is central to strategic and optimized management of customer information. This means that you will be empowered with a single source of customer information that puts an end to barriers between departments that are in regular contact with current and potential customers.
Watch our Acumatica CRM Demo, which includes standard CRM functionality for managing leads, contacts, opportunities, and more. In addition, post-sales service and customer portals help improve the total customer experience.
Additional CRM Resources
Top Reasons Your Business Needs CRM Software
