Every business owner and sales manager dreams of increasing sales while reducing administrative workloads. For wholesalers and distributors, this is often a difficult task.
However, connecting a sales app with SAP Business One can help achieve these goals. This blog will explain how this integration can benefit your business and boost sales.
Understanding the basics of SAP and sales apps
SAP Business One is a popular financial tool used by many companies. It helps businesses manage their money by providing detailed accounting and reporting features. On the other hand, sales apps support sales teams by offering tools for managing customer relationships, processing orders, tracking sales, and more.
Combining these two systems allows data to flow easily between sales and accounting. This ensures your sales team can access up-to-date financial information, helping them make better decisions and improve sales performance.
Why integration matters
One of the main benefits of integrating a sales app with SAP Accounting is getting rid of data silos. Data silos happen when information is in separate systems that aren’t connected.
This makes it hard for different departments to share and access important information. By integrating these systems, everyone has access to the same data. This leads to better communication, improved teamwork, and, ultimately, more sales.
Also, integration allows for real-time data updates. This means any changes made in the sales app show up immediately in SAP Business One, and vice versa. Real-time data helps your sales team respond quickly to customer questions, giving accurate and current information about stock levels, pricing, and more.
Better customer relationships
A sales app usually has customer relationship management (CRM) features. These help you keep track of customer interactions, preferences, and purchase history. By integrating this with SAP Accounting, your sales team can view a customer’s information, like sales order history and preferences.
This full view of the customer lets your team personalise their approach, meet each customer’s needs, and build stronger relationships.
For example, if a customer often pays late, your sales team can address this issue early, offering different payment terms or discussing any concerns. Likewise, if a customer regularly buys a specific product, your team can suggest related products or offer special promotions, increasing sales.
Automated and accurate data entry
Manual data entry takes a lot of time and is prone to errors. Mistakes in data entry can lead to billing errors, stock discrepancies, and incorrect financial reports. By integrating a sales app with SAP Business One, you automate this process, reducing errors and freeing up your team’s time for more important tasks.
When a sales order is entered into the sales app, the information automatically goes to SAP . This means invoices are created accurately and quickly, leading to faster payment and better cash flow.
Improved inventory management
Accurate inventory management is crucial for wholesale distributors. Stock shortages can mean lost sales, while overstocking ties up valuable resources and can lead to outdated stock.
By integrating a sales app with SAP Business One, your sales team gets real-time inventory data, helping them make smart decisions about stock levels.
For example, if a customer orders a product that is almost out of stock, your sales app can updates this information in SAP immediately. This allows your purchasing team to reorder the product quickly, ensuring sufficient stock to meet demand.
Additionally, the integration can reveal sales trends, helping you see which products are in high demand and which are not. This lets you adjust your inventory levels accordingly, reducing the risk of overstocking and stock shortages.
Simpler order processing
Order processing can be complicated and time-consuming, especially for wholesale distributors with high order volumes. Integrating a sales app with SAP Business One simplifies this process, making it quicker and reducing the risk of errors.
When a sales order is entered into the sales app, the information goes automatically to SAP. This means invoices are created accurately and quickly, leading to faster payment and better cash flow.
Moreover, the integration lets your sales team see the status of orders in real-time. This means they can give customers accurate updates on their orders, improving customer satisfaction and building trust.
Reduced administrative workloads
Administrative tasks like data entry, order processing, and invoicing can take up a lot of your team’s time. Integration also means that you can automate many of these tasks, reducing your team’s administrative workload and letting them focus on more valuable activities.
For instance, when a sales order is entered into the sales app, the information automatically goes to SAP Business One. This means invoices are created accurately and quickly, leading to faster payment and better cash flow.
Also, automating these tasks reduces the risk of errors, ensuring that your financial data is accurate and up-to-date. This not only improves how you run your business but also helps you make better decisions.
Custom pricing and discounts
In B2B sales, prices often vary based on the client relationship, purchase volume, and past agreements. When you integrate a sales app with SAP, it becomes easier to manage these custom prices.
Your sales team can apply specific discounts and prices directly within the app. This information then automatically updates in SAP Business One, ensuring that invoices reflect the agreed terms. This not only makes customers happy but also reduces mistakes that can happen with pricing differences.
Order to cash cycle
The order to cash cycle in wholesale and distribution can be long and complicated, involving many steps from creating an order to collecting payment. An integrated system shortens this cycle by speeding up invoice generation once a sales order is completed in the sales app.
Faster invoicing leads to quicker payment, improving your cash flow. Also, by seeing where invoices are in the payment process, your sales team can follow up more effectively.
Customer-specific reporting
B2B distributors often need detailed insights into each customer’s buying behaviour, order history, and payment trends. By integrating a sales app with SAP, you can generate reports tailored to each client.
This helps you review customer activity, recognise your top clients, and identify those who might need more attention. Such detailed reporting helps in better planning and managing customer relationships.
Enhanced mobile capabilities
Sales teams in wholesale operations often work on the go, visiting clients and attending trade shows. A sales app integrated with SAP provides strong mobile capabilities.
Sales representatives can access financial data, customer account history, and inventory levels in real-time on their mobile devices. This helps them make decisions on the spot, negotiate better deals, and close sales faster.
Easier tax calculations
Wholesale transactions often involve complex tax calculations, especially if you deal with multiple regions or international markets. Integration can automate tax calculations based on the latest tax rules.
Your sales app can capture transaction details and sync with SAP Accounting to ensure that proper tax amounts are calculated and applied. This reduces the risk of tax errors and ensures your transactions follow local laws.
Integration with online ordering platforms
Many B2B distributors also run platforms where clients place orders directly. Integrating your sales app and SAP with your online ordering platform can streamline your entire order processing workflow.
Orders placed on your ordering platform can seamlessly move through your sales app into your SAP system, updating inventory levels and generating invoices without manual intervention.
More accurate reporting and analytics
Accurate and up-to-date data is crucial for making informed business decisions. Integrating a sales app with SAP Business One gives you a full view of your sales and financial data, allowing you to generate detailed reports and analytics.
For example, you can create reports that show sales performance by product, customer, or region, helping you identify trends and areas for improvement. You can also analyse your financial data, such as cash flow, profit margins, and expenses, providing valuable insights into your business’s financial health.
Moreover, the integration allows you to create customised dashboards that display key metrics, such as sales targets, order status, and inventory levels. This lets your sales team track their performance in real-time, helping them stay motivated and focused on achieving their goals.
In summary
Integrating a sales app with SAP Business One offers many benefits for wholesalers and distributors. By breaking down data silos, automating data entry, and providing real-time insights, this integration can help you increase sales, improve customer relationships, and streamline your operations.
While the integration process may seem challenging, the rewards are well worth the effort. By choosing the right sales app, assessing your current systems, working with an experienced partner, and providing training and support to your team, you can successfully integrate these systems and enjoy the many benefits they offer.
Investing in this integration can set your business on a path to increased sales and long-term success.
Integrating a sales app with SAP Business One can make your wholesale operations much simpler. Onsight’s sales app helps you manage orders, special pricing, and showcase your product catalogue in real-time. It also integrates with SAP, so your sales and accounting teams always have the same information. Sign up for a free trial to see how it can make your business run smoother.
