It Might Be Time To Upgrade Your System Integration

System integration is the process of linking multiple IT systems. It is becoming more important to include online as part of your system integration.

Whether you are a small business with a direct link into your inventory and accounting system or a large organisation with sophisticated ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, integrating your system offers huge efficiencies for your customers. System integration is also fundamental to helping you improve profitability and remain competitive.

Good System Integration Is Invisible To Customers

The ironic thing about system integration is that the better it is, the less anyone notices. The ideal situation for customers is to have no desire at all to know about your system integration. All they want to know is how easy it is for them to do business with you.

Don't Give Your Customers A Reason To Leave You

You know how hard it is to win a new customer (the cost, the time, the effort). Well it works the other way as well. Once you have a regular customer they don't want to leave you. They don't want to have to shop around, compare other businesses, hunt for reviews and recommendations. They don't have time.

And the NUMBER ONE reason customers will leave is if you let them down. And this will almost always come down to poor system integration. If customers get slow service, poor response, can't find information they need or can't get onto you they will get frustrated and they will look elsewhere.

And if your competitors are working hard at improving offerings and services - look out!

The Online Environment Makes System Integration Ever More Important

This is partly because customers are now getting accustomed to instant answers, quick response times and immediate satisfaction online. So your systems (online and offline) need to be able to keep up with customer expectations.

The second impacting factor is that it now only takes a customer about 30 seconds to find your competitors online. If you let them down all they have to do is run a search to find a whole list of your competitors vying for their business.

And if you do business online, system integration needs to go one step further again

How do your clients access information? Can they place orders 24 x 7? Can they track shipments? Can they access information you are developing for them?

Is the data on your web site current? If you are selling online, you must ensure your data is dynamic.

Real time data exchange allows visitors information about availability or delivery times based on stock levels within your inventory and ordering system.

System integration can require technical expertise but it is not an impossible task. For advice about how to best integrate your current systems and incorporate online into your system integration contact us.