Customer data and financial data are arguably the most valuable currencies for small businesses. The more customer data and financial data you have in your hands, the more successful your business will be as you can make accurate and strategic decisions. But there is a BIG catch here. When these data reside in disparate systems, you miss out on the full potential of the insights generated. You start experiencing a blind spot due to this fragmentation that hinders your sales, marketing, and customer service teams from performing at their productive best.  So what’s the way out?  Simple – Integrate your CRM with your accounting software to enhance your team’s output. In this article, we are going to delve into 6 key reasons to connect these two systems. 

Streamlines your invoicing and collections process

What if your invoices get automatically generated as soon as a deal is closed in your CRM? This is achievable if you integrate your CRM with the accounting software. Not just that, you can set up automated reminders for overdue invoices or view the statuses of all your invoices within the same platform.

This enables your team to focus on other strategic activities that can help in maintaining a steady cash flow. Such automation also creates a more professional experience for your customers, leading to improved satisfaction and faster payments.

Helps identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities

When you integrate CRM with your accounting tool, you can effortlessly analyze customer purchase history and their spending habits. This, in turn, lets you proactively identify opportunities to offer additional products or services over and above their existing purchases. 

This has multiple benefits for you. The most obvious benefit is higher sales. However, it can also strengthen customer relationships. This is because you effectively demonstrate that you understand customers’ needs and offer them additional solutions to their pain points.

Make more accurate sales forecasts

According to a survey by Oracle, the superpower that most salespeople(30%) wish they had was predicting the future. And what’s the easiest way to acquire this superpower? Again, simply integrate your CRM with your accounting tool. 

Because a connected ecosystem allows for real-time tracking of your sales pipeline, contract values, payment histories, and a lot more to give you a clearer picture of expected revenues. 

Your sales teams can use this data to identify trends, understand customer buying cycles, and predict future sales more accurately. Additionally, your finance departments can verify that sales forecasts are aligned with actual financial performance, ensuring that your projections are grounded in accurate data.

Builds audit trail accountability

In a disconnected system, it’s not easy to identify which sales rep deserves credit for an invoice. Think about how much time you’d waste communicating outside the system trying to match the correct sales order to the invoice. Then, you map it to the right sales rep so they can receive credit. In this whole process, you are bound to experience delays and inefficiencies. 

Now, imagine if all the data is housed in a single integrated solution. With just a couple of clicks, you can instantly view which sales rep is responsible for an order. You can link it to the corresponding invoice, and ensure accurate crediting. This streamline your operations, ensures full accountability and transparency in the sales process.

Reduces financial errors due to manual data entry

You often sales and accounting teams often have to enter, map, and edit information like sales figures, invoices, customer details, and so on. When your CRM and accounting software are not tied, they need to input the data into both platforms manually and also verify if the data matches. 

This increases the chances of typos, duplicate entries, or missing data. By automating the transfer of data between CRM and accounting software, you ensure that financial and customer records are always accurate and up-to-date. This not only minimizes costly mistakes but also improves compliance with financial reporting standards.

Fun fact:  72% of sellers need to have at least three screens or windows open at once to coordinate a sales process. 

Reason #6: Improves Productivity

Integrating CRM with accounting software boosts productivity by eliminating redundant tasks and streamlining workflows. The integration allows real-time data sharing between the systems. This means sales teams can focus on selling, while finance teams can focus on payments and invoices without needing to chase down information. The result is faster decision-making, quicker invoice processing, and more efficient collaboration between departments.

Now that you know the benefits of integrating CRM with accounting software, let us answer a question that has been baffling many people –

Why do small businesses still not integrate their CRM and accounting software? 

Despite knowing the obvious benefits of an integrated system, many business owners still stay away from integrating their CRM and accounting software. This is primarily attributed to the perceived complexity, cost concerns, and a lack of technical expertise. 

Many small business owners think integrating CRM and accounting software is reserved only for large enterprises. as it is time-consuming and requires resources they don’t have. Similarly, the cost of integrated systems might also seem prohibitive to many small business owners, especially when they are working on tight budgets. 

Together, these factors contribute to resistance or delays in adopting integrated solutions. While all of these may be true to an extent, there is a simple solution: outsource the integration process to an expert. 

How can AppGlide help?

We are an operations and integration expert who partners with global SaaS startups and tech companies to help them rapidly scale. We have years of experience and expertise in integrating different systems, including CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot with all the popular accounting software currently available. Want to know more about us and our integration capabilities? Contact us now.