Enterprise resource planning (ERP) supports business processes by providing a platform that integrates key functions like finance, HR, and supply chain management. It acts as a unified solution that bridges the gap between all your enterprise applications, streamlining data sharing, and optimizing workflows across the organization.
According to a recent study, nearly all businesses that successfully implement ERP integration experience significant improvements in business processes, enhanced customer experience, standardized operations, and reduced IT costs.
But before you opt for ERP integrations, you need to understand their capabilities, the different types of integrations available, and how to choose the best one for your business.
In this post, we explain ERP integrations and highlight some of the most common ones along with their benefits and challenges.
Key takeaways:
- Understanding ERP integration: Learn how ERP integration works and how it can provide a single source of truth for all your business data, offering a centralized platform for cross-functional teams.
- Cost considerations: Learn about cost drivers influencing ERP implementation and how to manage these expenses effectively.
- Choosing the best ERP integration service: Discover why SuperSync stands out as the top choice for ERP integration, how it works, and how it can elevate your ERP performance.
What is ERP integration?
ERP integration connects your ERP software with other applications in your tech stack, such as your customer relationship management (CRM) or inventory management system, through application programming interfaces (APIs) or middleware. This creates an ecosystem where you can streamline processes and access real-time data.
Think of an integrated ERP as a unified product suite, seamlessly connecting various business functions and giving you a single source of truth for your organization’s data.
How does ERP integration work?
ERP integration combines several applications into a unified system, allowing for seamless data flow and process automation.
The first step toward integrations is to understand the applications that integrate into your ERP platform and their compatibility level. You also want to look for integration challenges, such as data incompatibility and system downtime, as an ERP integration aims to enhance efficiency and improve decision-making rather than disrupt operations.
Once you understand business requirements and workflows, the next step is to design and implement the ERP integration strategy.
The integration process can be done in several ways, such as native prebuilt integration, custom integration, or Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). The right method will depend on the business needs and system compatibility, but they all help create a centralized communication hub.
Many businesses today prefer iPaaS solutions, which allow for quicker setup with minimal coding and can easily connect various systems without requiring complex custom development.
Common ERP integrations
Let’s take a look at some of the most valuable ERP integrations for businesses today.
E-commerce
E-commerce businesses have many interfaces, such as payment gateways, inventory management systems, and CRM platforms. An integrated ERP system can help e-commerce businesses work more efficiently in various ways, like:
- Updating stock levels across all sales channels for real-time inventory management
- Automatically recording every transaction—from sales revenue to shipping costs
- Tracking transactions in real-time within the ERP for unified financial reporting
Innovative cloud synchronization solutions like SuperSync simplify product, order, inventory, fulfillment, and customer information management within the NetSuite ERP. SuperSync supports NetSuite integrations for major e-commerce stores like Amazon, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wayfair, Mirakl, Walmart, and Magento.
Project management
Every project manager knows how challenging managing resources, timelines, and budgets can be. ERP integrations for project management simplify this process by automating workflows, centralizing data, and providing real-time insights.
For example, an ERP integration can support resource allocation, task scheduling, and budget tracking, ensuring project managers can make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.
CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications handle customer interactions and data points. When your CRM and ERP are disconnected, gathering this data can delay response times and complicate decision-making.
Since customers increasingly expect seamless experiences and personalized service, it’s in the best interest of businesses to streamline and automate their CRM workflows with ERP integration.
ERP integrations enhance CRM by providing a centralized platform for businesses to manage customer data, inventory, and shipping. SuperSync is one of the best CRM integration options for NetSuite users, automating workflows and improving data synchronization.
Third-party logistics
Many businesses use third-party logistics (3PL) software to meet customers’ growing need for convenience and speed up delivery times. Yet, there is a gap between users’ product delivery expectations and the actual performance of these systems. Experts attribute this discrepancy to poor end-to-end visibility and unpredictable demand surges.
A 3PL and ERP integration can help close this gap by providing enhanced data synchronization and process automation. For example, when customers place orders on a website, the integration allows for real-time inventory updates and efficient order tracking, improving order fulfillment speed and accuracy.
NetSuite and 3PL system integrations enhance the efficiency and responsiveness of logistics operations, enabling users to achieve better accuracy and faster service.
Procurement
Procurement software platforms need to interact with other systems, such as inventory management, accounting, and supply chain management, to ensure efficient operations.
An ERP integration with your vendor catalogs allows for real-time data sharing and a more robust procurement workflow, ensuring that all systems align for optimal purchasing decisions and inventory control.
A solution like Netgain PunchOut streamlines these integrations, enabling smoother operations across procurement and related platforms.
Business intelligence
Increasing visibility and data accessibility is one of the most critical needs for businesses today, and business intelligence platforms excel at providing these insights. However, they could do even more.
With an ERP integration, you can extend the performance of your business intelligence tool or platform. These integrations power real-time data analytics, comprehensive reporting, and enhanced decision-making capabilities.
For instance, users can analyze financial data, track inventory performance, and monitor key operational metrics all in one place. This integration leads to faster insights, improved accuracy, and a more agile business response to market changes.
Customer service
Customers will always want better service, faster delivery, or better pricing. But you can’t do all of these efficiently without a system that offers a single source of truth for all customer data and interactions.
ERP integrations with customer service platforms centralize customer information, streamline operations, and help businesses deliver a seamless, personalized customer experience across all touchpoints.
Human resources
Businesses can get more out of their human resource management software when it integrates with other software solutions, such as payroll systems and time-tracking tools.
Human resources ERP integrations unify these systems, enabling seamless data flow. This way, your HR team won’t need to manually input data or switch between applications to manage employee information or process payroll.
Benefits of ERP integration
ERP integration has many benefits for businesses, including:
- Greater visibility: By integrating your applications with your ERP, you gain more visibility over your operations, data flows, and performance metrics that come with having a centralized system.
- Less context switching: ERP integration allows systems to communicate seamlessly, which means less context switching as users don’t need to toggle between applications to gather data and complete tasks.
- Higher efficiency: Connecting applications and software smooths data flows, resulting in higher efficiency for various departments.
- Reduced error rate: Data is automatically shared from one application to another, resulting in higher accuracy as there is minimal need for manual entry.
- Automated processes: ERP integrations allow for the automation of more processes. For instance, you can automate inventory updates, order purchases, and invoicing to reduce manual effort and speed up operations.
Challenges of ERP integration
Despite the many benefits of ERP integrations, some challenges still arise in the implementation, such as:
- Initial setup costs: As with any new technology or software implementation, there will be high initial set-up costs. ERP software usually costs around $7,000 to $8,000 per user. However, businesses should consider other costs like training, customization, app integration, maintenance, and upgrades.
- Data migration: ERP integration often involves data migration, which can be challenging as you may duplicate or lose some data in the process. Businesses might also face data incompatibilities when integrating various applications, requiring careful planning and validation to ensure accuracy.
- Complexities: ERP integration can present complexities such as cross-platform compatibility issues or cross-departmental workflow disruptions. However, you can address these challenges with thorough planning, proper testing, and training.
An integration partner like SuperSync can help mitigate these challenges by taking care of the technical aspects of the implementation and offering ongoing support.
ERP integration methods
Businesses can implement ERP integration using one of three methods: prebuilt native integration, custom integration, or iPaaS integration.
- Prebuilt native integration: The native integration method uses a prebuilt connector within the ERP, capable of receiving data from external applications. This seamless ERP integration method has pre-configured settings that simplify system connection.
- Custom integration: A custom integration uses a custom-built connector tailored to your specific business needs. This method can provide more flexibility, but it requires technical expertise to create the connector from scratch.
- Integration platform as a service (iPaaS): iPaaS offers a balance between prebuilt native integrations and custom integration. Essentially, iPaaS gives you the flexibility to create custom integrations while using the integration tools and connectors the platform provides, eliminating the need for extensive custom coding.
Learn more about ERP integration
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and answers about ERP integrations.
What does ERP mean?
ERP stands for enterprise resource planning, and it refers to a platform where you can manage critical parts of a business — such as HR, payroll, accounting, and customer service — in one place.
What are examples of ERP?
Some top examples of ERP systems include NetSuite, Sage Intacct, SAP, and QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise.
NetSuite is one of the most widely used ERPs thanks to its high customizability through native apps and integrations.
Why is ERP integration important?
ERP integration is crucial because, without it, many business functions would operate in silos, leaving data fragmented across different systems. Integration ensures streamlined operations and better decision-making.
Which types of systems integrate with ERP software?
Various systems integrate with ERP software, including CRM systems, human resources management systems, e-commerce, and supply chain management platforms.
Streamline your ERP integrations with SuperSync by Netgain
SuperSync by Netgain offers a suite of integrations for NetSuite users, supporting ERP integration for Amazon, Shopify, Salesforce, Outlook, and more. It removes the complexity, so you can get your integrations up and running without worrying about the technical implementation.
SuperSync also supports rapid deployment, reducing implementation costs while ensuring seamless synchronization across platforms, from CRM to order fulfillment and inventory management.
Want to see SuperSync in action? Reach out to our team to schedule a demo and discover how it can take your NetSuite instance to the next level.