If you have found your way into reading this article then you were probably looking for information regarding ERP system integration with the e-commerce business platform. Well, don’t feel lost, you are in the right place!

Gone are the days when one had to stand in long lines and didn’t have the option to shop from the convenience of their home.

Now everything has become online and so anyone can buy anything from anywhere simply by tapping a few buttons.

Now with such globalization of e-commerce business in the world market, the urge of ERP system getting integrated with it also became ever so essential. But has it ever occurred to you why is that so? What are the main challenges and benefits of ERP system integration for e-commerce?

If so then all your questions are about to get answered right here.

Common Challenges & Potential Pitfalls of ERP Integration for E-Commerce

The benefits of implementing an ERP solution is obvious but at the same time, its implementation challenge is also real.

In fact, stats suggest that more than 60% of the ERP implementation fails one way or another. So what are the challenges & complexity that ERP integration commonly faces these days? Let’s find out.

Adaptation

At the start of any ERP implementations, enterprises tend to install modules from the same ERP solution providers. But as time progresses, the company feels the need to expand it with several other modules to be integrated.

So they get themselves modules from various other vendors of ERP.

And this requires the company to adapt to the currently integrated modules with the new ones. Moreover, to and from a various range of additional data format, the support of data transformation is highly essential.

The tight linkage of existing integration will turn it expensive to modify and exceedingly fragile.

Maintenance & Upgradation Expenses

The process of updating and maintaining the ERP integration process is never cheap. And depending on the integrated ERP system, this cost of maintaining and updating varies.

As more elements are included and omitted while the process of point to point integration takes place, the company demands to change and update the system.

This up-gradation of the system generally involves a subsequent expense for it. And so before moving on with the ERP integration process one must always keep this factor in mind.

Complicatedness in ERP System Integration

The ERP solution is often known to be a complex thing to handle & manage. So this demands the need for expert knowledge to control the operations of the ERP system.

Also due to this, the new solution becomes not so easy to use for some departments of the business.

Before taking any critical decision regarding integrating any new ERP system, it is essential to make sure the main decision-makers and the team managers are aware of this complexity of the new integration.

So that they can estimate a timeframe to get themselves prepared for it.

Getting Trained-Up

Now due to the complexity in managing ERP system, the companies need to train their employees on how to use it. This associates additional time and money.

In case you are creating a custom solution to connect the ERP & CRM for your e-commerce business, you will need to provide additional training for the team

Customization Opportunuties

Companies, with the intention of wanting to use out of the box technologies, ERP system integration often requires full-on customization. Specifically, in the case of ERP implementations, this customization becomes inevitable.

In order to link the ERP system with the current IT systems, the process of customization is highly popular. Even if it has a custom interface or application.

Archetypes Of ERP Integrations

• CRM
• HRM
• Project Management
• Business Intelligence
• E-Commerce/Marketplace

Benefits & Effectiveness of ERP System Integration For E-Commerce

In most practical cases, entrepreneurs make it quite difficult to manage the e-commerce platform and the ERP application by using them as two different elements.

Now when this is the case, both solution works as an independent hub without any linkage of communication between these two software. Now with an integrated ERP system with an e-commerce business, you wouldn’t miss out on these benefits and more.

As one can effortlessly maintain the online trade along with the effective operational business management.

So what are the major advantages of having an integrated ERP system for e-commerce? Let’s find out in brief detail below.

Data Centralization

Team manager needing to look for updated accounts or other related business details every month can be quite a hassle.

This is why with ERP integration, the data present centrally can be accessed from anywhere.

This enhances the interior flow of work. Moreover having all the data at a centralized location saves valuable time for the employees those who needed to wait for information from various departments within the company to get their task done.

Enhanced Operational Functionality

The application of ERP solution integration enables real-time data storage of an e-commerce store.

This allows the customers to get access and view the concerning available inventory information, order status as well as product shipping update using the tracking number provided by the shipping vendor.

Now, this augmentation of operational functionality totally enhances the user experience of the customer roaming around in your e-commerce store reducing the overall cost of operation.

Workflow & Task Automation

Centralization of data and workflow automation of proper task visualization goes hand in hand in businesses.

Moreover, integration with an effective project management solution will allow the team to know what their other colleagues are working on.

Now, this becomes quite useful when you are required to request for feedback or assign a priority level task to your fellow working associates.

Say for instance, if one might need a general report from the team manager and but you find out they are currently working on a project assigned directly by the company head then you might just think about re-adjusting or depreciate the severity level of that task respectively.

This would only be possible with the proper task & workflow automation

Reduced Human Error & Data Redundancy

It dents the name of your business brand when you send emails to wrong customers or makes too many mistakes while replying to them. The data redundancy and the amount of human error are increasing day by day.

So being able to reduce them through ERP system integration with e-commerce may just give your business that extra edge over others.

As with the integration, there is will be a rise in the automation of business workflows. And this would diminish the chances of the error caused by human hands.

Moreover, the inventory and product details can be uploaded directly from the integrated ERP system to the e-commerce gateway killing the need to re-inserting the data every time.

So this not just lessens human responsibility but also reduces data redundancy and human error caused over the two platforms.

Saves Time, Money & Boost Productivity

Multiple business processes get streamlined due to the integration of the ERP system. And this reduces the needfulness of manual insertion of data from platform to another by humans.

And in case of an e-commerce business, product information, inventory or stock levels and shipping details.

All this workflow automation simply enables the employees to concentrate better on other significant duties that require genuine human input. And because of multiple tasks being automated, this not just saves time and money but also improves the overall productivity of the company in order to reach its ultimate business goal.

More Control Over Your Business

ERP business solution being integrated with E-Commerce allows the user to control their whole business process seamlessly from the same location. It provides complete freedom for communicating with the internal business departments.

You get complete information of inventory, stock, product details, accounts, CRM related issues all at one place along with the status update of the product shipment tracking.

Also, it enables you to make money both online and offline ensuring complete control over your business.

Improved Consumer Satisfaction

With the real-time, tracking detail, inventory level & product information update after the ERP system integration with E-Commerce, the bar of customer satisfaction automatically gets uplifted in a quick time.

Also, the real-time update of what is going on in the backend of the e-commerce business like stock availability or providing information related to its delay if there is any that makes the customer experience even more satisfying.

Not to mention its ability to notify the client about their shipping details along with its shipment tracking trail. This just raises consumer satisfaction to a great extent.

Integrate ERP System for E-Commerce to Enhance your Business Process

So far we have established the fact that if you want your e-commerce business to be more organized and profitable for you then it is absolutely inevitable to have the ERP system integrated with it.

Most e-commerce or multi-vendor marketplace businesses nowadays find updating product information, manual data entry and then uploading the products on their online store to be a big burden that they just want to get it off their shoulder.

With proper integration with the ERP system, there is ample chance to improve your customer satisfaction as well.

It will eventually lead to increased business & sales getting your employers to get involved in more productive things rather than wasting time in manual data entry & processing.

And if you want a marketplace solution that integrates with an ERP solution seamlessly then you may want to try out

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Nowadays there are a number of applicable ERP solution that already allows this integration e-commerce site. but when talking about the perfect ERP system integration, then WP ERP will always come first due to it’s cost-effective & value for money features.

This solution comes with its amazing & useful set of separate modules CRM, HRM, Accounting & Project Management. A user of it can easily manage their employees, customers as well as all the basic accounts in their organization.

And WP ERP’s integration with your e-commerce will not just improve your customer satisfaction but will also skyrocket your business taking it to a new height of success.