In my free time I am a firefighter. For better and worse, I help people in need. And it feels like it saves a purpose, it gives a meaning to my life and I feel that I make a difference in people’s lives every time the alarm goes. I now this is a completely different thing, but when I’m then back at my desk helping companies with their data integration needs I often think about how I can contribute to improving my customers’ lives during my workday. I truly believe that data integration does make life easier.
Data integration is also a life changer
The single biggest problem with CRM systems today is the need to capture data manually and having it disconnected from outer data sources such as ERP and a lot of other data sources that fuel the company processes with rich data to operate more efficiently and provide a better customer experience. Ask any sales person if they enjoy entering data into their system. The answer is always given.
With data integration, life is made easier because you avoid double data entries. Double data entries are found many places in any organization; from order taking to processing, expense management, customer and contact information, or product information. Even in a single location, the distributed systems and manual processes can consume a lot of time and destroy motivation. In a multisite or international organization, some systems are local for practical or statutory compliance reasons and here the challenges from a missing integration is becoming an even bigger problem.
For me personally, data integration has made life a lot easier. Our company is operating on three highly specialized platforms. Marketing has its own system for maintaining our website, providing nurturing to our stakeholders and keeping track of our communications. The output from this platform is sales opportunities which are automatically transferred to our CRM system with all the data that makes sense to bring forward in the sales process. It’s key for us that we deliver to our promises, so we track everything that has been said and done. As a sales person I don’t have to re-enter any information, I’m using the existing data and I can focus on helping my clients.
When a prospect becomes a customer, all required information is then transferred to our ERP system. I don’t have to ask someone to do it for me, I don’t have to do it myself. It’s just an automated integration that secures the consistency and quality. If I need data on the run – I can access it on my phone.
It gives me the opportunity to serve my customers better. I can spend time on the things that are important and urgent. I can mentally relax after work to be present when I’m with my family, and I have possibility to run when there is an alarm.
A good data integration actually means a lot more to - me than I’d thought of. What about you? Does data integration make your life easier? In what way?
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