Cloud-based integration between Acumatica ERP and the Skynamo outside sales platform means lower upfront costs, inclusion of outside sales teams into broader organizational structures, and simplified business growth.
Cloud-based ERP solutions offer ‘extended’ benefits
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools like Acumatica integrate various business software systems to make accurate information readily available to both internal and external stakeholders. ERPs are business management platforms that give company owners and business managers an overview of all business activities, connecting various organizational departments to one another, and helping them to work together and share information in a simple and effective manner. They are typically used by larger and medium-sized organizations but are becoming more popular with smaller businesses too.
Businesses invest substantial resources into choosing an ERP that best suits their organizational structure and needs. The return on investment and extent to which an ERP will help business owners successfully build their businesses depend on the level of software integration that is possible. Cloud-based ERP platforms like Acumatica offer these great benefits but seem to ‘extend’ them even further when they’re properly used.
Cloud solutions have been used to run ERP applications for some time now, giving us access to documented results of these benefits:
Lower operating costs, higher ROI
Midmarket companies not in the cloud show a 9% profitability improvement over a two-year period while cloud-enabled midmarket companies reported a 17% improvement in profitability over the same two years. This staggering eight-point difference is attributed to lower implementation and operational costs, compared to on-premise solutions that require hardware additions or restructuring.
Improvements will be made in a company whether they have cloud ERP or traditional systems, but these results suggest cloud implementations can result in significant ROI improvements for your business structure.
Greater visibility of business activities across the organization
Cloud solutions increase employee accessibility to information no matter where they are, as they are often able to work offline on certain software. Functionality included in software solutions is better used and adds more value. Ultimately, this improves visibility, affects collaboration, and enables efficiency and agility.
Midmarket organizations with cloud solutions are 41% more likely to have real-time visibility into the status of all processes, according to survey results, and 47% more likely to have automated notifications empowering managers to react immediately.
Integration with other technologies
Higher ROI, greater organizational visibility, and the extent to which ERP integration will help you successfully grow your business all depend on the level of software integration that is possible.
Cloud environments provide organizations with the flexibility to implement a wider range of technology that can improve processes across the organization. Survey results suggest that cloud-based ERP solutions are 13% more likely to integrate CRM software and 43% more likely to integrate with software that provides decision-makers with business analytics reports.
Outside sales software is often the missing link for businesses, resulting in a failure to integrate outside sales teams more closely with the finance team and the rest of the organization. Vital information gathered by field sales teams is not readily available when this is the case, while outside salespeople miss out on updated information when consulting customers in the sales field.
Skynamo is the ‘extended’ benefit
Acumatica Cloud ERP offers small to midmarket organizations an adaptable business management solution, perfect for growing businesses. Integration with Skynamo’s outside sales software means that Acumatica once again ‘extends’ typical ERP offers by including outside sales teams as a knowledge base into the ERP and empowering them as business consultants in the field.
Skynamo and Acumatica share the belief that empowering customers and putting customer success first, lies at the heart of quality software design. Integration allows for customized data to be at the fingertips of all key stakeholders within an organization when they need it the most: from finance teams to sales managers to sales teams out in the field. Not only are field sales activities and conversations visible to other stakeholders within the organization, but sales teams are able to address customer pain points better because of the information made available to them.
Three main customer pain points Skynamo addresses
1. Data accuracy
The problem?
The majority of field sales executives are still expected to manually capture data. Most of this is in the form of handwritten information in notebooks or diaries, which leads to inconsistencies in the volume and quality of data being captured into systems.
Skynamo solution:
Skynamo and ERP integration means that field sales executives have accurate data on pricing, stock availability, product catalogues, customer balances and other information. This enables them to place orders from the field directly into their ERP. Likewise, they are able to capture more accurate information for feedback to management.
2. Relationship friction
The problem?
There is a lack of transparency about what is happening out in the sales field. Sales managers cannot see what field sales executives are doing, where they are, or how long they visit a customer for, and this results in a lack of trust.
Skynamo solution:
Skynamo creates transparency because sales managers are able to see, in real-time, what is taking place in the field. It allows sales managers to coach their teams to success.
3. Time spent on admin
The problem?
A recent survey we conducted revealed that approximately 65% of a salesperson’s time is not spent selling.
Skynamo solution:
Skynamo users report that face-time with their customers increases from 15% to 25% within three months, and conversion rates increase by more than 15%.
Acumatica Cloud ERP is the connected business platform empowering customers to transform their business by putting customer success at the heart of all their operations. Learn more about Skynamo’s integration with Acumatica here.
