26 Nov 2021

Should You Integrate Your CRM & ERP Systems?

A practical guide from an ERP CRM consultant

Customers expect seamless, informed, and consistent experiences across every touchpoint. For many organisations, that means asking whether their CRM and ERP systems should work as one.

This guide explores the benefits, challenges, and realities of CRM and ERP integration, helping you understand when integration makes sense, what’s involved, and how the right ERP CRM consultant can support better decision-making, data quality, and customer experience.

Why customer experience now depends on joined-up systems

We all know, customers are becoming more and more savvy and expecting more for their money. Delivering the ultimate customer experience through optimised touchpoints is essential for gaining a competitive advantage.

In the mission to keep customers happy, a functional and fully adopted CRM system is a must for managing customer data. Your CRM platform will manage your business processes and log all exchanges with your customer.

Many customer facing organisations will also use an ERP system for internal business functions, such as finance, sales, marketing and demand planning with the supply chain.

The question is:

Should this all live in one application?
Or should systems be integrated to work together?

Either way, the goal is the same: a fully automated solution where reliable information is shared, creating a single source of truth. This is where guidance from an ERP CRM consultant can be invaluable.

Should CRM and ERP systems be integrated?

The answer lies in your bespoke business requirements. Every organisation is different, and what delivers value for one may not deliver the same return for another.

Integration is possible through application integration methods, and there are clear benefits. However, it’s not a simple switch-on exercise.

Before integration, you’ll need:

Clean, accurate, and up-to-date data
Clear ownership of systems and processes
Time, budget, and internal alignment

An experienced partner like Nine Feet Tall can help assess whether integration is the right strategic move or whether optimisation of existing systems will deliver greater value.

What would the benefits of CRM & ERP integration?

1. Shared knowledge & better planning

If your sales teams can access warehouse information whilst talking to customers, they will be able to manage expectations and forecasts will become more accurate.

Giving your sales teams an insight into margins and material costs will help them educate the customers and build relationships.

Allowing all departments to access the information available on the platforms offers more control and visibility.

2. Eliminating duplication

If your CRM offers you a sales forecasting tool, it is likely you are repeating some of this in your finance department through the ERP and duplicating record keeping.

By mapping what information is being captured and reported in each system, integration can:

Streamline business processes
Remove duplicated effort
Improve efficiency and consistency

3. Increased productivity

If your forecasting becomes more accurate and inefficient reporting processes are removed, your teams will become more productive and have more time to focus on sales conversions and growing the business.

4. Standardised data

Sales orders may be entered in the CRM, while invoices and fulfilment are handled through the ERP.

If data isn’t standardised and aligned, discrepancies can occur, which could lead to errors in orders, delivery issues, and customer dissatisfaction.

Successful integration creates:

Standardised, synchronised data
Less friction between teams
A smoother customer experience

5. Knowing Your Customer

When CRM data is enriched with ERP data such as invoicing and delivery history, you gain a fully rounded view of the customer.

This deeper insight can support:

Better segmentation
More accurate forecasting
Stronger predictions around future buying behaviour

Why isn’t everyone integrating CRM and ERP?

The benefits are clear, but the reality sometimes falls short of the vision.

1. IT Resource Constraints

Integrating two complex systems will drain the IT budget and take resource away from delivering BAU. If you are trying to run a helpdesk and deliver other projects, finding the necessary resource and won’t be easy.

2. The IT Ecosystem

Many organisations will have other systems which feed off the data from the ERP and CRM. Integrating the platforms can cause a knock-on effect which is sometimes overlooked. Mapping the skeleton of systems and their connections will paint a picture of the complexities involved.

3. Data Anxiety

Bad data can foil the whole operation, if inaccurate information is used during the integration, it means the whole system will lack consistency and this can impact the customer. Moreover, there are sometimes reports of “fudged” sales data in a CRM system which could have costly implications if that data is automatically transferred into the ERP.

4. Issues with legacy systems

If your ERP or CRM is built with custom code it may be difficult to integrate and scale up. This means that synchronisation won’t be possible unless the legacy system is fully replaced which will be a large and complex project in itself.

Need help with your CRM and ERP strategy?

This is where Nine Feet Tall can help.

As a trusted transformation partner, Nine Feet Tall supports organisations by:

Shaping your CRM and ERP strategy
Selecting the right systems and implementation partners
Managing complex implementations and integrations
Improving user adoption
Ensuring the right data is at your fingertips
Delivering measurable business benefits
Optimising customer experience

With years of experience delivering complex digital change, Nine Feet Tall acts as a strategic ERP CRM consultant, helping you make confident, informed decisions.