A Comprehensive Guide on ERP Integration

September 30, 2022 A Comprehensive Guide on ERP Integration By admin
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ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a software solution that integrates almost every aspect of a company’s operations. It allows sharing of critical business information across different functions such as accounting, human resources, and supply chain management. It also helps streamline processes and simplify employee training, purchasing, sales, and many other business functions. But all that is possible when the ERP is integrated with other business applications. That’s where ERP integration comes into the picture. ERP integration is the process of integrating the ERP software with other business applications to allow various departments/functions in an organization to access data from a single source of truth. To know more about ERP system integration, continue reading this post till the end. 

The Importance of ERP Integration

ERP integration is a key strategic initiative that allows businesses to tap into the value of their data and improve their performance. It helps companies make the most of critical business information and thereby maximize the impact of their efforts. ERP integration allows businesses to link their business systems together, offering one seamless view and giving business owners and process managers visibility into everything happening within the organization, anytime and anywhere. In addition, the automation of the entire process allows the administrator to stay on top of things and helps save critical time that’s wasted on manual data entry. 

Benefits of ERP Integration

  • It allows business process automation.

ERP integration helps businesses automate their business operations and ensure seamless workflows across several departments. ERP integration allows ERP software to automatically receive information such as customer data and order details from different sources, such as CRM, EDT, and EAM, as soon as it becomes available in the system. Lack of ERP integration, on the other hand, means breaking one’s neck and wasting valuable time on manual data entry into the ERP.  

  • It helps boost productivity.

ERP integration helps businesses eliminate one of the most time-consuming aspects of their business, which is the manual integration of vital business information from different sources. This, in turn, allows businesses to focus on tasks that will be more beneficial to their business, such as marketing, product development, process optimization, and procurement. ERP integration makes accurate real-time data available in the system so that businesses can immediately use the information to derive high-level actionable insights and make decisions that help them move to the next level.

  • It helps improve workflow.

ERP integration allows businesses to improve their workflow. The integration of work-related data into the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system enables everyone in the firm to see what others are doing. It also allows process managers to ensure that ongoing activities are aligned with corporate objectives. The managers can also assign priorities to projects so that the team knows where to focus their efforts. 

  • It helps maintain a single source of truth.

A single source of truth (SSOT) is the practice of aggregating data from various sources in an organization and storing it at a centralized location so that people from all departments can easily access it. This, in turn, helps different departments work to improve their efficiency and ensure seamless processes. For example, if the procurement team has real-time access to the inventory details, they can place fresh orders as soon as the inventory goes below a certain level. 

Types of systems that integrate with ERP software

Here are some of the main types of third-party software that are usually integrated with ERP software solutions.

  • AP automation software
  • Business intelligence software (BI)
  • CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
  • eCommerce platforms
  • Product lifecycle management (PLM) software
  • Project management software

ERP Integration Methods

There are three main ERP integration methods. 

Point-to-point (point integration)

Point Integration is a type of ERP integration method that links one piece of software to another. It is recommended for organizations with few applications as it is easy to link them together quickly. However, as the number of applications used in an organization increases, establishing and maintaining point-to-point connections among those applications becomes a nerve-wracking task for the IT 

Enterprise service bus (ESB)

The Enterprise Service Bus, or ESB, is an on-premise method of ERP integration that allows connecting of multiple apps in order to communicate and share data. It’s a traditional on-premises solution that connects different applications using connectors and adapters. While ESBs are ideal for on-premises integrations, the downside is that it struggles to scale horizontally. ESB is, therefore, a bad fit for organizations that need to interface with SaaS and various other third-party solutions.

Integration PaaS (platform as a service)

Integration PaaS (platform as a service) is the use of cloud based ERP software services for connecting and integrating existing applications with other platforms. The best thing about Integration PaaS is that it syncs together various applications at speed much faster than ESB (Enterprise Service Bus). Another advantage of Integration PaaS is that it doesn’t require any coding to connect ERP systems to SaaS products. Also, it’s versatile and affordable.

The demand for ERP integration is on the rise as companies realize the benefits of a centralized system to manage critical business information. If you, too, are planning to take the plunge, we at Autus Cyber Tech would be glad to help. If you have any questions or want to discuss a requirement, call us at 91 74288 24488 or drop us a line at info@autuscybertech.com

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