Integration of Salesforce and Your ERP with Mulesoft

29 Nov Integration of Salesforce and Your ERP with Mulesoft

To ensure that the business processes run efficiently and effectively, business owners often have to employ two systems – a Client Relationship Management (CRM) and an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. While a CRM system is an approach for a company to manage their interaction with current and potential customers, an ERP system aids and assists a business to achieve its primary business processes, often in real-time.
A CRM system primarily deals with the information present in the forefront that consists of customer data and details regarding customer interaction. On the other hand, an ERP system handles essential information in the back-end like transaction details, billing, and shipping details, etc.

You can easily understand that both CRM and the ERP systems are essential for a business to ensure smooth overall functioning. Hence, if a sturdy integration solution is applied, providing seamless connectivity between the CRM and the ERP systems; it can be exceedingly beneficial for the business.

What are the challenges in the path of integrating CRM and ERP?

The CRM and ERP systems may have vastly different architectures that make it exceedingly difficult to integrate the two systems.

The existing point-to-point methods for integration are delicate and frail. Moreover, it is costly as the entire burden of managing the connectivity, and implementation changes lie on the shoulders of the developer. The most significant disadvantage of employing the traditional point-to-point solution is that it is not a long-term solution, and with time, it grows more complex, making it exceedingly difficult to manage.

Apart from point-to-point methods, there exists a swivel-chair method as well. Under this method, again, it is the responsibility of an individual to put in a considerable amount of manual effort for pulling data from one system and entering the same into another. As you can understand, this method requires a great deal of time and since a large number of human resources are required; the chances of an error cropping up in between is exceptionally high.

How does a lack of integration impact the business?

Since the two critical systems are unable to communicate effectively with one another, a significant percentage of manual efforts are required to keep track of everything. Sales representatives involved have to consistently swivel between the two applications to provide the customers with an overall picture. These inefficiencies impact the speed of the sales processes, slowing down the entire business and creating an exceedingly inefficient work atmosphere.

What is the solution?

Mulesoft (Salesforce Integration Cloud) , as everybody knows, provides integration software for connecting applications, data, and devices.

For integrating CRM and ERP, Mulesoft should be used as an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), a component of Any Point Platform that provides connectivity on business premises as well as in the cloud. Mulesoft as an ESB has a big library of Any Point Connectors that provide easy connectivity between popular platforms such as Salesforce and SAP. With Mulesoft as an ESB, businesses can easily integrate their CRM and ERP systems, thereby increasing productivity and simplifying the business processes.