This chapter was an introductory chapter to make sure that we are all on the same page and ready to go into greater depth in later chapters. We talked about different CRM-like applications, and then we talked about some of the terminology that we will be using throughout the book. Finally, we devoted a decent amount of time to looking at the different workflows in CRM that will benefit from CRM integration.

In the section on the different CRM-like applications we talked about how as your business grows, you are more likely to need a more fully featured CRM application. In order to implement an integration, your CRM needs to have the standard CRM features, which we listed, and it also needs to be customizable and extendable.

In the section on terminology we talked about users, teams, and user roles. Users are what we call the people who use the CRM application. They are grouped into teams and the work they do is described as a role. We talked about workflow. In the integration, we will be changing the CRM workflows so that they are linked with ERP. Finally in this section, we touched on security, and how we need to make sure the data is secure.

In the latter half of the chapter, we talked about different CRM features and workflows that benefit from an integration. We talked about the benefits for contact management, sales management, customer support, and management information for managers and team leaders.

In the next chapter, we will talk about building the integration. We will cover integration architectures and concepts such as synchronization of data, and real-time views, and when to do which method. We will cover the different design areas that need to be considered when doing an integration. This will prepare us for subsequent chapters when we will get down to detailed examples of actual integration use cases.