Magento and Dynamics GP integration
Challenges – and Solutions

Now that the world is online, it is normal that like almost every business your e-website is also in the virtual marketplace. Further, with time businesses understood the need for integrating their e-commerce platform with their internal ERP.

However, the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP itself has challenges that you may face.

We bring you an article that will not just explain the challenges of Magento and Microsoft Dynamics GP integration; it will also help you in solving them! It will give you a better understanding of the integration and describers why the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP is considered one of the best options.

What do we understand by Magento and Dynamics GP integration?
The founder of Conversion XL, Peep Laja, said, ‘Remember, every mistake a user makes is not because they are stupid; but because your website sucks!‘ If you can ignore the somewhat-offensive tone of the quote you will realize that this is what is expected of every e-commerce website. Customers are king and they do not stick around for long, while business keeps making things right!

When eCommerce businesses realize that almost all the problems could be solved by the integration of their e-commerce platform with ERP, they went for it.

To put in simpler terms, businesses need e-commerce and ERP integration when:

• They keep overselling
• They are shipping orders wrong or late
• They waste their employees’ and the business’ time on manual entry of data
• Their offline and online experiences are not consistent
• They do not have visibility into the data of their suppliers
• Their product information is messy and inaccurate
• They start investing more time and effort in customer service to fix their errors

Magento and Microsoft Dynamics GP integration: The Challenges

Not being able to understand the “real” requirements!
Everybody wants to make his or her business automated. However, you must understand – when you automate a bad process, you are making the bad process run faster!

Conceptually, the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP is easy to understand and the basic idea is the same too. However, you must invest time and put a good effort to analyze the process, understand how it will work and that you will be able to know when you have a clear understanding of the requirements.

You must identify the usage of the software and the pain points related to it. An ideal way to get started is to map out all the critical processes before the migration.

You can talk to experts (like us) as they will help you understand the requirements, and how exactly the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP will take your business to a new height.

Engaging the RIGHT people in the integration process
Whenever a business chooses the integration of their eShop and ERP, they tend to involve mostly just the IT department. It is a common perception that the integration is a work for the IT staff and they will know better; this is where the first challenge occurs – not understanding the requirement properly.

To get a clear picture of what you want out of the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP, you will have to involve all the key people across your entire company from warehouse, manufacturing, operations to the finance department.

When you involve the entire organization in the process, you will know the problems that they are facing and in the process, you will be able to assess what exactly you want from the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP.

How much should you spend?
While we all know it that automating the entire business process by integrating Magento and Dynamics GP is much cost-effective, you must have a clear understanding of how much you should spend. Neither you should overspend nor should you compromise on the necessary expenses.

Primarily you should consider the expense, which is associated with the implementation and maintenance and then take into account the expense related to the level of talent or required workforce to get your project successfully off the ground.

Therefore, take your time to budget properly and take into consideration the required talent along with the implementation, execution, and maintenance.

Identifying industry-specific features
While it is a good feeling to have a system that will take care of every operation, you still need to have a clear understanding of the features that are particularly beneficial to your business and to the industry you are in. To put it in simpler terms: the features that can be more beneficial for an FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) company may not be very useful for a clothing brand!

Therefore, it is always a good idea to know what the features are and which of these will be beneficial for your business.

Easy to get confused with the bedazzling features!
You must be thinking – Is it not a good thing? It is; however, when we find a product that has too many features, we tend to get overwhelmed and assume that it has everything! Imagine, a smartphone that said you can do almost everything a phone and a high-end camera can do, and after you purchase it, you find that you cannot forward an SMS from that phone!

Remember that you chose the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP to make your business better and therefore, you should know how it is going to help. If you face any difficulties, you can always contact the customer service of the service provider and ask them.

Should you implement the entire system at once?

This is a tough one – determining how to implement the system. ERP systems are generally complex and determining every implementation requirement is tough.

The ideal way to go forward is to choose an agile approach and the implementation should be done in small steps. Further, as mentioned before you should involve the right people at all steps to understand the requirements, determine the gaps, test the system, and then go ahead.

Change management
Although the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP will make things a lot better, the change management should be considered seriously. The systems and analysis need deep analysis along with the people factor that requires careful consideration as well and then you should go with the strategic planning.

An organization can assume that with the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP will bring in much configurable and manageable business operations, but the migration from one system to another will require a lot of thinking, identifying, and then implementation. The integration is not as quick as many assume it to be as there are important things that need to be lined up before the entire system is changed for a better approach.

Neglecting change management can lead an organization to struggle to adopt the new process.

Having a maintenance plan in place
Implementing the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP will take time; however, the work will not stop once the integration is in place successfully and the system is up and running. Your business should keep a maintenance strategy in line, which will make sure your employees are aligned and they have a clear idea and understanding of what should be done to improve and maintain the new system regularly so it does not become obsolete and outdated.

An outdated system will put your company at risk; there could be security issues as well as gaps in the many business processes. However, with a well-planned maintenance plan, you will have a clear understanding of processes and the right people responsible for every role.

Further, with a good maintenance plan, your system will run smoothly and will be up-to-date with every latest application.

These are the most common challenges that a company faces before, while or after integrating Magento and Dynamics GP. These challenges can hamper business in the end if not addressed at the right time.

Takeaway points!
Businesses trust the integration of Magento and Microsoft Dynamics GP because it ensures that the business runs smoothly and effectively, and EVERYBODY IS USING IT!

The fact that almost everybody (even the competitors) are going for the integration makes it mandatory for almost every business. The disadvantage of choosing an integration without understanding how it works can lead to many problems. While the features and benefits of the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP are bedazzling, most businesses face the above challenges while and before implementing the integration of Magento and Dynamics GP.

Want to know more, talk to us, and get a free consultation today!