Why is using an integrated suite better than 10 independent apps?
All business leaders want to see their company grow from year to year. But with business growth also comes the recruitment of many employees and the use of applications at all levels of the company to maximise the efficiency of all internal processes.
Indeed, as a business grows, it discovers many new needs, in project management, human resources, marketing and much more besides. When a company's digitalisation process is gradual, it often results in an accumulation of third-party applications.
For example, a company might use application X from company X for its project management, but use application Y from company Y to issue its quotes and invoices.
As well as slowing down a company's growth because of the problems associated with integrating these applications, this behaviour adds new barriers, such as difficult communication, or needs that can only be met by buying yet another independent application.
So wouldn't it be better to use an integrated suite? And why are these integrations vital to the future of a fast-growing business?
Information accessible by everyone, everywhere
Opting for a suite of integrated applications, such as Odoo for example, means ensuring continuous, real-time communication between all the applications, and therefore between all the departments in your company, at every level.
It is therefore entirely possible to harmonise CRM, sales applications, project management and other tools together.
Thanks to the integration between your CRM and your sales application, you can issue invoices to your contacts in just a few clicks, or you can simply automate the creation of a project when a quote for a certain type of service is issued.
All the information linked to these workflows can then be accessed by the whole company according to the rights and needs of each individual. The recurring presence of discussion channels across the various applications, as offered by Odoo in particular, also means that discussions can be held directly within a project or project team.This saves time and prevents information from being lost, as it is saved on the server.
Complete, customised reports in just a few clicks
In addition to sharing, having all the information in a single database also means that all the data can be traced through all the modules installed on the system.
In fact, if it's useful to track a product to the outside world, it's equally useful to track a product's internal journey.
With integrated applications, all this can be tracked easily.
For example, when a purchase is made, a request is made to the inventory for the product to be prepared.
The customer's name and address are, of course, already known thanks to the CRM application, enabling complete synergy between CRM, sales and inventory.
And if the product is no longer in stock? Well, a few rules can be used to automate an order from a supplier, leading to the integration of another application.
Everything works in harmony, with each action automatically triggering another. And, once everything is complete, two clicks show the entire route taken by the product. A problem later?
Thanks to integration and traceability, recalling a product has never been so easy.
These tailor-made solutions enable you to draw up comprehensive and accurate reports, taking into account information relating to each department, at any point in the workflow. This also makes it easier to take corrective and preventive action.
From interested visitor to satisfied customer
The automation of workflows and the horizontal nature of communication enabled by integration between applications have positive effects not only for the company. It also has a significant effect on current and potential customers.
Firstly, automation makes every action faster. A few clicks are all it takes to complete a sale, then a purchase, and finally inventory actions (reserving a product, printing a dispatch note, calling in the carrier).
What's more, everything can be done from within the applications, without ever having to open and close the various software packages, at least that's what Odoo allows. Another major time-saver.
And if everything is faster, who wins in the end? The customer, of course. Their orders can be processed more quickly, and they receive their purchases much more quickly than would have been the case in an environment where the applications are not integrated and where each employee has to physically tell their colleagues what needs to be done.
What's more, no sales-related information is lost, as everything is available within the applications' internal documents.
What's more, when a problem occurs at the customer's premises, the high level of traceability offered by the integrations means that the customer can contact the company and have the problem dealt with more quickly.
No need to search through scattered or lost documents. A simple search for the buyer's name and that's it.
Not to mention mass-produced products that may have to be recalled. With traceability, each buyer concerned can be contacted personally and the problem resolved before it arises. This can significantly increase customer satisfaction, making them more inclined to try again with the company concerned.
So any company looking to boost employee productivity and automate part of its workflow will have no hesitation in turning to a suite of integrated applications.
Article translated from French