To understand CRM integration, we must first address the role of these systems in an enterprise. CRM systems are valuable assets for businesses across various industries. These systems hold customer data that can enable teams from marketing and customer service to sales and operations to better understand their customers how those customers interact with the business.
This data, however, is most valuable when it contributes to the creation of a single customer view through CRM integration. This enables organizations to understand their customer base and deliver better the right products and services to them. Creating a single customer view is only possible when the CRM system is fully integrated with a business’ entire technology stack––whether it is shipping applications, billing systems, order status systems, etc.
Challenges with CRM integration
One of the main benefits of CRM integration if the creation of a single customer view, but businesses face challenges when it comes to integrating CRM systems with other applications. One of the main obstacles is bringing together data from disparate sources. A customer’s contact information, for example, might be stored in a CRM like Salesforce, their order history data might be in SAP, their purchase data might be in a POS system, and their social media data might be on Facebook, and so on.
Without integration, it becomes difficult to track the customer data and customer interactions that make up a full customer journey. In other words, having a CRM as well as various other applications, data, and other devices make it challenging for the business to integrate this data and quickly realize a single customer view.
Solutions for CRM integration
Most companies resort to approaches such as point-to-point integration for CRM integration, in order to connect their CRM systems to other applications, whether it is a POS system, SAP, etc. However, traditional approaches are no longer suitable. With point-to-point integration, developers to build custom code between CRMs and numerous systems. Although this approach quickly and easily enables communication between a few applications, it is not future-proof and does not scale.
Point-to-point integration leads to “spaghetti code,” creating a system that is tangled, fragile, and troublesome to maintain. As business requirements change, this spaghetti architecture makes even changes difficult.
This is why many business are turning to Anypoint Platform for CRM integration. This connectivity platform enables businesses to easily integrate CRM systems with any application within their system––from POS to ERP systems. Using an approach known as API-led connectivity, in which applications and data are exposed as APIs, businesses are better able to implement CRM integration.
Learn more about API-led connectivity and see how you can use this approach to build a single customer view through CRM integration.