5 Steps for a Smooth ERP-Salesforce Implementation

It’s no secret that Salesforce is king when it comes to customer relationship management (CRM).

While Salesforce is highly effective in this realm, however, it doesn’t have a lot of features that businesses need from sophisticated enterprise resource planning (ERP).

Luckily, it’s possible for organizations to get the customer benefits of Salesforce’s CRM along with another ERP. Here are 5 steps for a smooth ERP-Salesforce implementation.

 

Use an ERP Compatible with Salesforce

While it’s possible to implement Salesforce with just about any ERP system, it’s a whole lot easier, and more effective, when the ERP is Salesforce-friendly.

There are several ERPs that are built specifically around Salesforce. Since Salesforce is top dog in the world of CRM, it makes sense that ERP providers want to cater their services to make integration with Salesforce seamless.

If you don’t have an ERP that has intuitive Salesforce integration, it’s still possible to have a custom protocol. Although, this tends to be more confusing for employees.

For companies set on using Salesforce, it might be easiest to switch to a compatible ERP as opposed to attempting a custom crossover with a less pliable system.

 

Understand What You Want from Each Component

Since CRM and ERP cloud services are still relatively new to the business world many people are unfamiliar with what differentiates them.

This is something you need to understand before making large capital expenditures on software. CRM is primarily for processes related to customer relationships.

This is a broad category and includes many aspects of a business—such as work order management and marketing. Salesforce order management is one of the most sophisticated ways to ensure a stellar customer experience.

ERP, on the other hand, is usually a much broader platform than CRM. Essentially, ERP software allows businesses to integrate their departments and workflows onto one centralized system.

Many modern ERP platforms include a CRM element. Some of the best ones, however, have realized that Salesforce more or less owns the CRM world right now, and have molded their user experience around side-by-side Salesforce implementation.

 

Migrate Relevant Data and Contacts across Platforms

When implementing Salesforce along with your business’s ERP, it’s imperative that you accurately migrate key data onto both platforms.

This will be a lot less complicated for businesses using an ERP compatible with Salesforce. By having all relevant information inputted into both Salesforce data integration tool and your company’s ERP of choice, you will get all the benefits offered by each provider.

 

Provide Your Staff with Adequate Training

It’s hard enough to get employees to get on board with switching over to a new CRM or ERP service. Having to justify the integration of the two will almost certainly cause some headaches.

Try to remember that learning new protocols can be stressful for employees who are accustomed to your old system.

Take the time to explain how Salesforce will work along with your company’s ERP—and why you made the decision to implement the two in the first place. This will make the transition easier for everyone.

 

Make Time to Answer Questions

It doesn’t have to be you personally responding to every question from employees about your Salesforce-ERP implementation; however, it’s important that you make someone available to help clear up any issues after the move.

This resource won’t only benefit your staff’s peace of mind. It will limit issues in the days and weeks following integration—ensuring customers and employees are both kept satisfied during a transitory time.

Implementing new major cloud services within your business’s daily workflow can be a challenging process. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the difficulties involved with bringing Salesforce and your organization’s ERP into symbiosis.