With increasing technological dependency, businesses are becoming easier to operate and facilitate with regard to customer service. At the heart of this sea change in technology is the integration of eCommerce platforms with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.
This union allows a business to reconcile online sales with back-end operations, increasing efficiency, reducing errors, and ultimately improving overall business performance.
In a nutshell, the integration of these two critical systems can deliver an organization with real-time synchronization of data, automation of various processes, and increased visibility throughout the entire supply chain.
There are several different benefits to eCommerce ERP integration that can dramatically affect a business’s bottom line. Companies can automate order processing, inventory management, and financial transactions, which in turn reduce manual errors and save more time and order fulfillment accuracy.
Besides, in this regard, it gives insights into customer behavior, sales trends, and product performance for making correct, data-driven decisions.
At the very least, an eCommerce integration with ERP properly carried out will give the ability for a business to grow efficiently, with a proper allocation of its resources and providing great customer satisfaction.
What is eCommerce ERP Integration?
Ecommerce integration is a procedure that allows the flawless, tightly knit connection and synchronization between an online storefront and its backend systems of inventory management, order fulfillment, accounting, and customer relationship management.
It’s a process that does all this through a single platform, where data flows freely from one traditionally disparate system to the other, hence providing coherence and efficiency in the whole business operation.
As explained in the above lines, one of the most important modules for this entire infrastructure is integration with ecommerce ERPs.
Integrating an ecommerce platform with an ERP empowers a business to effectively manage all the complexities associated with online sales, including order processing, inventory management, financial reporting, and customer data management.
This integration acts as a base for smoothing the operations and decision-making process to reach the crux of business growth.
Why is eCommerce ERP Integration Important?
eCommerce ERP integration is, hence, critical for any business set to build a foothold in the emerging digital competitive marketplace.
This relinking of sales channels opened up to the web with their respective back-end operations allows an organization to achieve a great deal of efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.
Such a strategic union does away with silos of data, smoothening processes and giving valuable insights into business performance.
A place for eCommerce ERP integration that is well in place provides businesses with the capability to build data-driven decisions, drive inventory management optimally, and create spectacular customer experiences.
With this, timely insights into stock levels, order status, and financial metrics that would enable proactive handling of challenges, identification of growth opportunities, and revenue growth at the end can be obtained.
In an era of changing customer expectations, eCommerce integration with ERP is no more a luxury but a need if a company wants to thrive.
The eCommerce ERP Integration Process
System Analysis and Planning
That is a critical step of ecommerce integration and the first stage, which starts with a general analysis of existent systems and reveals the major players of the ecommerce platform, ERP, CRM inventory management, and shipping solutions.
What must be understood clearly here are the aforesaid systems, their functionalities, and the data they handle. After doing this analysis, a strategic plan will be formulated, and the desired scope of integration, data flow, and the desired results shall be incorporated.
Data Mapping
Now, after clear understanding of systems going in for integration, link their respective data points to one another: what is called data mapping.
It identifies corresponding fields and records in various systems: product information, customer details, order data—everything needs to be matched exactly. At this step, data quality and consistency need to be taken care of in order to avoid errors during the integration process.
API Integration
API integration is one of the ways to facilitate the smooth flow of data from one system to another. That is, an API serves as a channel through which various systems can talk to each other and share data.
This step either comprises the development of custom APIs or the utilization of pre-built connectors. The process is securely conducted because sensitive data are being shared through this process.
Testing Quality and Assurance
Testing is also necessary before the integration goes live. It will involve data accuracy validation, system performance, and error handling mechanisms at this phase. It’s very important to simulate real-world scenarios for detecting and correcting any issues.
User acceptance testing allows one to make sure that the integration addresses the specified business requirements and matches user expectations.
Deployment and Go-live
The integration is tested and refined, then deployed into production. The systems are configured to work together seamlessly.
Proper training of employees on the new system and the support provided to them while working with it are critical in making this transition seamless.
Maintenance and Optimization
eCommerce ERP integration is not a one-time thing. It requires constant monitoring and optimization. Mappings to data can require adjustments, performance problems can arise, or new integration opportunities can arise.
Quite often, due to the dynamic nature of business, reviewing and updating the integration becomes necessary to keep it effective and efficient.
Benefits of eCommerce ERP Integration
Better Communication
An integration improves communications both internally and externally at all levels. The ERP and CRM systems of the organization are able to exchange data in both directions, ensuring that crucial ordering information is always available in real-time to all departments.
Business operations can be enhanced and automated through integration, freeing up staff members to focus on other areas that will increase revenue and enhance customer service.
Better Work Environment
Posting and updating material is simple for content managers. When mind-numbing administrative activities are removed, workers are genuinely engaged in their work.
Workers have the ability to update their own personal data, including phone numbers and addresses, request requests for time off or vacation, and payroll withholding.
Customer Trust
Gaining consumers’ illusive trust is made easier with an effective, automated sales platform. The ordering procedure is expedited when inventory information is 100% accurate.
Through third-party connections, customers can schedule complex deliveries by directly connecting with various carriers on the website.
Every invoice computation is done automatically, taking into account all applicable price tiers, incentives, and reductions.
Multichannel Sales
Multichannel sales is becoming a more and more popular strategy used by B2B organizations to grow their businesses. Marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon provide businesses with more channels for product sales.
In addition, there are other specific B2B platforms that showcase the goods of numerous suppliers to the construction, cleaning, and other service industries.
Specialty catalogs, unique price tiers, and product customization possibilities are in high demand due to managing all of these sales channels in addition to traditional wholesale and retail sales through physical and mortar stores.
Managing pricing, custom product configurations, and catalogs is made simple with an integrated platform.
With accurate inventory counts, several channels for customer communication, and customer-specific displays, interfaces, and portals, B2B enterprises can manage the omnichannel experience seamlessly in real-time and help customers expedite the approval of their requests.
It becomes simpler for marketers to submit new content and change existing information with CMS.
Marketing Insights
B2B websites produce a tonne of data about the browsing and purchasing behaviors of its users. Through integration, a website can gather this information and share it with any pertinent business apps.
In order to automate email marketing campaigns involves offering marketing data on consumer preferences and purchasing patterns.
Compared to Facebook and Twitter marketing, direct and customized emails are 4,000 times more effective at generating leads and sales. Ninety-one percent of prospective clients check their emails at least once per day.
Marketers are able to anticipate consumer behavior, provide timely and appropriate marketing communications, and engage with customers on a deeper level by utilizing marketing data obtained from the corporate website.
Businesses can also communicate with their clients through other channels, like industry websites, social media platforms, traditional media websites, and neighborhood business associations.
This process depends on ERP integration, which is currently deemed essential by 85% of businesses in order to provide a satisfying client experience across all channels.
Point-to-point Integration
Selecting the correct developer can help speed up the integration process by creating a strong API layer that connects all business apps, even proprietary ones, that are frequently incompatible with conventional integration attempts.
Although NetSuite offers a point-to-point system, further connections will require development effort before it can support more than one.
Folio3 has overseen numerous NetSuite integrations. Although custom integration requires more work, the benefits are well worth the extra effort.
Choosing the Right eCommerce ERP Integration Service
Choosing the right eCommerce ERP integration service is just half the battle won toward business success. A number of factors need to be taken into consideration, which include the compatibility between your e-commerce platform and ERP system and the complexity of your business activities.
Not to forget, the expected integration level is most important. Providers are also to be judged upon the skills and experience in their respective arena and the kind of customer support they are willing to offer.
Seamlessly Integrate Your ERP with Your eCommerce Platform Today
Integrate NetSuite ERP seamlessly with your ecommerce platform today with Folio3. Our experienced team will customize the integrations that best optimize your business. Integrate your store with back-end systems for order processing, inventory updates in real-time, and accurate financial reporting.
If you want to maximize the chances of success in the NetSuite implementation, consider bringing us on board to support your in-house team. Be confident because we have the expertise and experience for NetSuite integration with a plethora of clients.
You can get in touch with us and check out our resources at Folio3.
