Businesses today understand there is no one system that can meet all their requirements – from selling online, to order & inventory management. This has made them conscious of the need for integrating their E-commerce and ERP systems . They understand that integration is the only way these systems can be made to work with each other seamlessly.

Despite this, what businesses fail to comprehend is the complexity associated with integration . Because of which the success rate for integration is not very encouraging. A successful integration is not one that merely synchronizes data from one system to another. We define a successful integration as one that gives businesses a platform they can use to grow their business to the next level.

In this blog, we will explore the top 5 challenges that we have witnessed businesses encounter and that they must overcome for a successful E-commerce ERP integration .

1) Lack of clear understanding of requirements

This, without a doubt, is the most important step and the biggest challenge that businesses face with E-commerce ERP integration projects. Often businesses and their integration partners do not spend enough time understanding the businesses’ integration requirements , which eventually leads to project delays and cost overruns.

Before the project begins, businesses must ask themselves (and their integration partners) the following questions for ERP e-commerce integration success.

• What am I trying to achieve with integration? What challenges am I trying to address with integration? Which specific instance (or instances) has triggered this need for integration?
• What systems should I integrate?
• What data should I synchronize between the systems identified?
• What processes or workflows can and should I automate?

Your answers to these can have a dramatic impact on the entire project, from who should you partner with to what benefits can you expect, and more.

For example, consider this:

You are a retail business, with an online e-commerce store and ERP in the backend. You are looking for a connector to sync order information from e-commerce to ERP. Your immediate goal is to sync only order information – not customer, product, or inventory information.

You find a solution that can do just that and implement it. But after implementing the solution you realize that order sync alone will do no good. Because orders are associated with a customer (and by not syncing customer information you have incomplete information in the ERP system) and they also impact the inventory you have on hand (and by not syncing inventory information you have incorrect data in your e-commerce system).

2) What do you do with the historical data?

Yes, you have read it right. On a number of occasions, we have seen customers struggle with this. They are convinced about the ROI of E-commerce and ERP integration and they know that they do not have to worry about data once the integration is in place. However, what worries them is all the historical data they have in multiple systems.

Businesses thrive on data that runs into terabytes accumulated over years. For businesses to get more out of integration, it is imperative to feed historical information into the integrated system (historical data from one system into another and vice versa). Hence, it is important to discuss this with your integration partner and ensure that you have a strategy in place to deal with this.

Remember, if you decide to synchronize historical data between systems, you and your partner have to invest time in cleaning the data, synchronizing it properly, and checking for any data integrity issues.

3) Getting the required commitments and budgets

Let me ask you a question, who benefits from ERP and e-commerce integration ?

Did you just answer the IT department? Well, you are right and wrong. Right for obvious reasons and wrong because it is not just the IT department that benefits from the integration. ERP and e-commerce integration benefits sales, marketing, IT, operations, customer service, e-commerce teams, and management.

However, this is a common belief in many organizations. That is why supporters of integration rarely receive the required commitment and budgets to make the project successful. Even if they do manage to get it in the beginning, support often tapers off as the project progresses.

Hence, it is important for businesses to keep stakeholders motivated and involved while ensuring budgets remain committed to the integration project.

4) Dealing with internal and external resistance (Change Management)

E-commerce and ERP integration has an organization-wide impact. Multiple people across departments will have to change the way they work. They will need to learn new technology and follow new processes, and changes like these are rarely welcomed.

Often lack of effective communication is the main reason for resistance. This can lead to poor consultation processes, lack of training, usability issues, and operational challenges.

Businesses must invest time in establishing a formal change management process and anticipate concerns from both internal and external stakeholders. Without proper adoption, even the best integration solution may fail to deliver value.

5) Getting the right support after Integration

This is one of the most cited reasons why customers migrate from existing integration solutions. Businesses need ongoing support for training, reporting, bug fixes, and customizations .

The availability of the right support can make the difference between a simple integration project and a truly successful integration.

Hence, it is important to validate and invest in a partner who can provide the level of support your business requires.

Conclusion

E-commerce and ERP integration has far-reaching benefits, but only when done correctly. Plan ahead and overcome these challenges, and integration will pay for itself in no time. Without proper attention, integration can easily become a black hole consuming time, energy, and resources.