As the link between company resources and customer information becomes more vital, the need for CRM and ERP integrations is quickly growing. Having succinct connections between inventory and sales, purchasing and customer reporting, and other resource-sales correspondence has become the solution to many paint points for companies in every industry.
As the more popular choices for a CRM-ERP combo, integration products for Salesforce and Epicor have been popping up as the optimal answer to the disconnect between the two. However prevalent those integration products are, custom integrations present a powerful edge over them in several ways. Even with integration tools that boast seamless connectivity between systems, sales staff will often still feel hindered by their new “optimized” solution.
So, how do custom integrations compare to run-in-the-mill integration products? In our experience, we’ve found five main reasons to go with a custom integration versus an integration product.
Flexibility
Most Integration products for Salesforce and Epicor are too rigid and can limit further customization in integration needs. Customized integration solutions don’t have those qualities; in fact, they present a wide range of opportunities for further integrations and realignment as the business changes. Integration products build a single point of connection with few offshoots while custom integrations develop elaborate highways to guarantee that whatever your goal is, you can meet it.
Cost-Saving
More often than not, integration products can be costly: there’s the initial product fee, licensing fee, recurring licensing fee, maintenance fee, additional support fee, etc. When you crunch the numbers, integration products have the potential to break the bank. On the other hand, custom integrations don’t even compare when it comes to pricing. The price of your integration directly correlates to the solution you need and, once it’s implemented, there are few annual costs to your business. Unless you want continued support or additional tools, you’re looking at a one-and-done fee.
Configuration
Whether you opt for a custom integration or a product, there’s no way to get around the upfront investment of configuration. However, the choice of a distinct, specialized configuration versus a standard, pre-built configuration is up to you. You can opt for a product, which can satisfy a number of your criteria, or you can choose to partner with experts that can check off every checkbox for configuration and even offer additional features.
Usability
There’s nothing worse than when your company puts loads of effort into implementing an integration product for Salesforce and Epicor that ultimately flops when it comes to user experience. Sales and marketing don’t get the visibility they need, and team members on the other side are stuck performing redundant tasks in two separate systems. By engaging with a partner who can develop a custom integration, you can pinpoint user preferences, wants, and needs to design the perfect link between Salesforce and Epicor.
Get What You Need
Customized solutions ensure the customer gets exactly what they need from their Salesforce-Epicor integration. Almost every customer has their own exceptions and custom rules that are easier to implement with a custom integration. Integration products themselves are confined to the parameters their manufacturer sets, which is typically based on general use cases. More than likely, your business doesn’t fit into the umbrella model that integration products employ — the needs of your business are entirely unique to you. And, whatever those unique needs are, a custom integration can meet them head-on.
Salesforce-Epicor Integrations from XTIVIA
Given the flexibility and savings alone, custom integrations offer much more for a business than a “one size fits all” integration product. If you want to enhance the link between your business resources and your sales team, you’ll be surprised at the incredible benefits you leverage from a tailored solution. At XTIVIA, we’ve had several customers struggling to bridge the gap between customer information and resource planning, which is why we’ve focused our efforts toward delivering custom integration solutions that exceed the potential of any integration product.
If your company is struggling with its Salesforce-Epicor integration — or any other CRM to ERP for that matter — feel free to reach out to us via the comments below or contact us here. We’d love to learn more about your business and how we can develop a solution for you.
This post was originally published here.