Automating your front office is typically completely separate from your back office. In the 1980s, many organizations installed their first ERP system, followed by the first CRM implementations in the 1990s. Both systems have separate tasks and typically work in separate silos, a no-go for efficient customer relationships. Your customers do not do business with your front or back office; they do business with you and your organization. They expect you to have the necessary end-to-end capabilities. It's high time to integrate these two worlds!
Globally, modern organizations are looking to integrate their CRM and ERP systems. But why is this integration so important now? Unintegrated systems demand manual data entry, which often leads to longer processing times. This increases the possibility of unintentional errors. Furthermore, it also creates inefficient business processes, which ultimately results in dissatisfied customers.
Logically, you would think so! Yet, many of the world's most well-known cloud providers position their apps and services around that outdated concept. They still offer stand-alone ERP solutions or stand-alone CRM solutions, without integration.
Microsoft is doing things differently and opting for a better strategic approach. Alysa Taylor, Corporate Vice President, Industry, Apps and Data marketing, was recently asked about “Microsoft's investment priorities in front-office versus back-office applications.” She responded, “The lines between front-office and back-office have blurred. And that blurring is occurring because traditional CRM and ERP systems never truly talked to each other.”
Taylor continues: “Consider how quickly every industry is currently evolving. Take retail. Almost every retailer offers take-away options today. However, you cannot provide that service with just a front-office or back-office system. After all, you need to see and understand real-time inventory visibility. You also need to be able to send alerts to the employees serving the customers. Our digital and physical worlds are completely merging. Therefore, you must know your customer in a virtual environment and be able to bring that into the physical environment.”
“Customers assume it doesn't matter whether I communicate with them online or in person. They expect you to know them in both cases. Therefore, you cannot have separate and disparate systems for two service levels. That's why, at Microsoft, we've moved to a functional model. The secret to Microsoft Dynamics 365 is that we have individual services by function: sales, service, marketing, finance, supply chain, operations, and commerce,” said Taylor.
“There is a common data service that runs through everything. We call that Dataverse. Thanks to this approach, you can seamlessly flow your supply chain from your logistics systems to the sales department and to the services that apply to you. So there are no more silos. And that is our value proposition: breaking down those traditional silos and enabling a data-first, AI-first set of applications that meet any business need.”
Does this vision appeal to you? And do you also wonder how much longer your customers will accept your traditional silo approach? Scapta can help you with this, shall we chat?