All businesses, from a small team of multi-taskers, to a large business with departments managing accounts, marketing, sales and customer service, have a few things in common. That is a desire for efficiency, a shortfall of time to get everything done, a vision to be the best in their industry and of course to create exceptional customer experiences.
With these common desires in mind, sometimes, it is the simplest things that are overlooked. For example, how your accounting can be integrated with the rest of your business to save you time, reduce mundane tasks and provide a smoother efficiency for your team.
For small and medium-sized businesses, there are a few preferred accounting systems, each with varying benefits. The leading accounting platforms for SMEs include MYOB, Quickbooks and Xero. Integrating your accounting system with your Act! CRM system can provide your business with immediate cost and time savings. As 30 June approaches, and your team are preparing for tax time, it’s a great idea to put this on the agenda.
Whether you currently have Act! CRM or are considering implementing Act! into your business, it is important to understand the benefit of integrating with your accounting system.
Save time on data entry
Data entry can be a tedious task in anyone’s books. But, when you have to enter the same data in multiple systems it can be frustrating and waste valuable time. In most businesses the customer appears in the CRM first (it’s a lead or opportunity) and then at some stage (either when an account is requested or the first sale made) it needs to be sent to the accounting system. By linking Act! to MYOB, Quickbooks or Xero, the transfer can be performed with a single click. No waiting for accounts and no need to give the sales team access to your accounting software.
Reduce risk of error by eliminating duplicate data
When data is entered more than once into various systems manually, there is a high risk of duplication or confusion as to which record is the most up to date or holds the most truth. Eliminating duplicate records in your data means your team will have more confidence that they are accessing the correct version of the information and be able to be more efficient in their day to day roles.
Using Act! add-on for your accounting system, you can automatically establish a link between the two. If you already have records in both systems, the AddOn will allow you to link all existing records matching on a company name or contact name; and/or manually select records to link. You can also link multiple Act! contacts to one account customer or vendor record.
Improved communications and teamwork
When your systems are all working in silos, it can often also mean your employees are doing the same thing. Many customer service issues can arise from your systems not being integrated. These include tasks such as sending invoices and taking payments and chasing payments. Often accounting system is not designed to handle this which means there is often a lot of double handling between sales, accounts and customer service teams. It also means each team is spending time internally chasing and following up before even reaching the customer.
Better customer service
With accounting and CRM system integration, your business can manage the relationships with your customers more seamlessly and reduce the risk of mishandling customers. For example, if you are talking to a customer about an existing issue, you can review their history, check if they have any outstanding payments, or follow up on a renewal.
From within Act!, you can also view a snapshot of the customer’s status. View balance due information and know whether the customer is in good standing, as well as the dates of the customer’s last purchase and last payment. Review a complete history of what your customer has purchased and call when it’s time to reorder. By having access to your customer’s most up-to-date data, your team will appear well organised and efficient and this will help build customer loyalty.
Increased productivity
Using an accounting link increases your staff productivity by saving time switching between systems. All vital accounting information is available to your entire team who would otherwise have to ask accounts people for detailed sales or credit history. When set up correctly, your CRM can quickly alert your team to the status of each of your customers, so if you are on the phone, taking an order or assisting with customer service, you can easily check sales history, credit-worthiness or simply update a customer’s account card details directly from within Act!
Act Today
Our local consultants can guide you through the process of integrating your Act! CRM with your accounting platform and prove that this is an essential ingredient for your business to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Get in touch with the team at Act Today or visit our Accounting Integration Add-ons page and allow us to assist you with the integration to ensure it is set up correctly and working efficiently for your business.