Intelligent Analytics for Informed Business Decisions: Connecting ERP and CRM Data

In today’s fast-paced business world, it is crucial not only to collect data, but also to use and evaluate it intelligently. The combination of CRM and ERP data plays a crucial role here, as it not only provides valuable insights into customers’ master data, but also provides an overview of their behavior and needs. In our blog post, we would like to explain in more detail why it is so important for companies to combine this data and how they benefit from it.

Connecting CRM and ERP data plays a critical role in gaining deep insights into customer interactions and business processes. While CRM data provides insight into customer behavior and preferences, ERP data maps business processes and transactions. By linking these two data sources, a comprehensive picture of customers is created to better understand needs and ultimately increase customer satisfaction. These synergies enable companies to make informed business decisions and ensure more effective customer service.

Of course, in addition to the CRM, other IT systems can also be included to create a comprehensive database and improve the 360-degree view. This should take into account all systems that are in some way integrated into the company’s processes and in which data is collected. Examples would be e-commerce systems, marketing tools or even service applications. It is not absolutely necessary that all data is fed into the ERP or CRM, but it is important that there is a place – a so-called data warehouse – in which all data is collected and merged in order to be able to evaluate it intelligently.

An example: In mechanical engineering, external CPQ systems are often used to prepare quotations. Such systems help with the configuration of products with a wide range of variants. However, it is also important that the information from the offer finds its way back into the ERP or CRM. After all, you want to know how many offers have been created in the first place, with which configurations, and also which configurations have been commissioned and which have not. All this information needs to be brought together in one place so that it can be evaluated in a well-founded way.

Linking ERP and CRM data opens up a wide range of opportunities for companies to optimize their business processes and increase efficiency. Combined with artificial intelligence, it opens up even more possibilities for data-driven decision-making and automated recommendations. This is of enormous importance, for example, in the area of quotations or in webshops, as the information obtained can be used for data-based analysis and, in addition to recommendations to customers, corresponding predictions can even be made in the direction of sales with regard to purchasing behavior and closing probabilities.

Let’s stay for a moment with recommendations in webshops. In the past, features were entered into the backend of the shop system to indicate which products could still be of interest to the buyer. Today, this should be controlled in a data-driven manner and triggered on the basis of all recent purchases. And where is the information about which products have been bought the most recently by which customer group? Correct! Partly also in the surrounding systems. Which brings us back to the topic of “a uniform database”.

The linking of ERP and CRM data thus gives companies a comprehensive 360-degree view of customers and processes, the possibility of carrying out operational and strategic evaluations and forms the basis for applications with artificial intelligence. In the best case, the systems then fall back on the same database in order to be able to carry out complete and meaningful evaluations.

If you would like to learn more about this topic and which tools can be used to implement this, please do not hesitate to contact us.

In the accompanying podcast, Robin Hartmann also gives you more detailed information.

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