With a large number of users across Australia, New Zealand and increasingly other geographies, we regularly hear from PRONTO ERP users who are investigating developing their online channel through eCommerce. We also regularly get calls from companies who have invested in popular eCommerce platforms only to realise that there is a lot of difference between interfacing to PRONTO ERP versus integration.
In fact, a couple of years ago I wrote a blog identifying it as the 'elephant in the room' from an eCommerce implementation perspective. Given the continuing hype around integrated eCommerce and in particular organisations’ quests to lower their cost2serve whilst maintaining or improving customer service level, I thought it timely to revisit the topic of whether to interface or integrate.
At a very high level, interfacing is about getting data in and out of your PRONTO system but more on those differences shortly.
Our research over the last 13 years has identified some interesting statistics around integrating eCommerce to PRONTO. Our findings are that extracting and importing data is the relatively easy part of the integration puzzle representing some 20% of the total effort of the integration story. The next piece of the puzzle – getting data integrity right is not that simple involving consistency with PRONTO’s rules and handling of Order Status, Rounding, Account balances, Timing of integration and Stock availability. We have found that this represents around 20% of the integration puzzle.
So with 40% of the integration effort and puzzle being Data Extracting, Importing and Integrity what separates Integrated from interfaced? The answer of course is Business Logic representing a massive 60% of the integration effort.
You’ve invested significantly in the value that PRONTO ERP can deliver your business. Much of that value is realised through the business rules, logic and leading practices that you have implemented. Integrating these is the complex piece of integrating eCommerce to PRONTO especially encompassing complex rules around pricing, handling stock security across your customers along with support for licences, obeying pack quantity rules and for those customers who assemble - support for Kits.
So why do it? Do you just settle for Interfaced?
Here at Commerce Vision we believe that the eCommerce journey that organisations are taking is only going to grow. Opening up your business to customers and other business partners is now the new normal. To do it right you need to be able to provide consistency whatever channel your customers choose. You just can’t do that if you ignore business logic ……so our money is on Integrated.