Many organizations live and die by the value of the data contained in their customer relationship management (CRM) systems. From understanding buying patterns to tracking interactions, businesses rely on their CRM software to achieve revenue goals. In fact, 92% of businesses cite their CRM as crucial to achieving those goals. Users report that their CRM helps improve sales forecasting accuracy by 42%, increase reporting accuracy by 42%, and even boost conversion rates by as much as 300%. 

All impressive numbers that should have you running to find a CRM solution for your organization if you’re not using one already. 

But if you are, you might be thinking to yourself, “That’s all great, but trying to record and manage all that data in the first place is a big job.” You’re right, too. Which is why adding CRM integration to the mix is a wise next move. 

CRM Software 101

Before we dig into CRM integration, a quick crash course on CRM software as a whole for those newer to the game. As the name implies, CRM software is designed to manage customer relationships (bet you hadn’t guessed that, right?), relying on the collection and analysis of customer data collected throughout each customer’s lifecycle with the business. That lifecycle runs from initial prospect contact all the way to post-sale interactions or subscriber/client retention. 

The CRM platform consolidates all that customer-related information—including bio details, account information, sales data, company records, etc.— into a database to streamline access and analysis. But first, all that information needs to be entered into the CRM. Sometimes this is done manually, but this is 2024 and we believe it’s even better when your CRM can collect information automatically. You do this through—you guessed it—integration. 

What Is CRM Integration, Exactly?

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Integrating a software doesn’t mean the original software is lacking anything. Instead, integration is designed to provide opportunity for your CRM to be even more powerful when it’s connected than it can be alone. Integration actually provides an opportunity for your CRM to reach its full potential by seamlessly connecting data between the CRM and third-party systems. Those third-party systems could be unrelated to the CRM system, yet the data they generate or contain can function to make the CRM work even better. 

Each organization’s integrations will be different based on the needs of the business. Some may only choose to use integration between the CRM and the company website, whereas others will need more complicated CRM integration between a variety of systems. Common examples of CRM integration include e-commerce (contacts, products, orders), Marketing (customer life cycle data), and Customer Service (tickets, communications). 

CRM integration allows invaluable access to information, capacity for automation, and potential to supplement employee awareness. In short, the integration links the customer-facing side of your operation with the “back of house” where all the services are generated. Streamlining the flow of information between your different elements keeps the whole thing running smoothly and, ultimately, should result in happier customers. 

Great, So What Should I Integrate?

Now that you know why you should add CRM integration to your organization, the next natural question is where to even start.

We’re glad you asked. 

While many of your CRM integrations will be specific to your business, there’s one integration that you’ll want to consider no matter what industry you’re in—and that’s email and CRM integration. Why? Well, first let’s look at the fact that 124.5 billion work emails are sent and received every day. Your average employee alone will exchange 126 emails per day. 

How many of those emails contain important customer information that would be great to have included in your CRM? 

How much of that information actually gets to your CRM? 

Wouldn’t it be great if that information could automatically end up in your CRM? 

We thought so, too. That’s why we built ExtendSync, an email to NetSuite CRM integration app that works with two of the most popular business email solutions, Microsoft Outlook and Gmail, to allow users to create, edit, and delete NetSuite contact records as well as automatically attach emails to records by thread or email address, all without ever having to click out of their inbox. 

>>Here’s how Noon International saves 100 hours / year with email and CRM integration

But that’s not all we can help you do.

HubSpot CRM Integration Joins the Party

Just last month, we introduced our newest integration capabilities, including integration between HubSpot—a popular CRM and marketing automation tool—and Excel for the easiest automated reporting you can build. Another facet of CRM integration, this connection empowers users to see more clearly what the data is saying. Pull analysis-ready data into Excel reports and dashboards, set the data to automatically refresh on a schedule or get a to-the-moment picture any time with on-demand refreshing. Work with your HubSpot data, effortlessly combine it with data from other sources, even transform it in Excel to populate Power BI.

Once you start your CRM integration journey, the possibilities are endless. The only question left is: Which one will you start with first?

Try any of our CRM integration solutions free for two weeks! Here’s how you get started.