Accounting System Integration: Things to Look Out for

Our fast-paced business world demands collaboration and connectivity to meet rising customer demands. Achieving this usually requires system integrations to link your business apps into a streamlined management system. The benefits of connectivity throughout your business are clear, but there are several pitfalls to be aware of with traditional accounting system integrations.

Traditional Accounting System Integration

If you’re using accounting software that isn’t designed to work with the other business applications you’re using, this is a siloed system. System integration is needed to establish the connectivity to allow these business tools to share data with the accounting system. This helps you manage these applications- and the business areas they’re tied to- as a collective system instead of individual applications. However, the system integration required can be very expensive, difficult to maintain, and cause problems with your company’s data.

Costs and Maintenance

The more complex the integration, the bigger the price tag. This also means more data has to travel back and forth between the siloed applications which makes data sharing connections very fragile. Some software just doesn’t work well together which requires more complex system integrations to optimize data flow.

Traditional accounting system integrations rely on multiple actions to sync the disparate systems. All this activity makes the integrations prone to recurring dysfunctions that require continual maintenance to resolve. This forces businesses to invest more money in internal labor, middleware, and outside consultations just to keep integrations working. Despite this, bugs can still persist which may compromise the functionality of the system as a whole. 

More Hassle

If the accounting system integrations between siloed software are poorly constructed, you’ll end up doing more work just to keep the system functioning. If system dysfunctions continue, this can create gaps in the data shared between your various software. This means staff must reconcile the information between multiple applications just to make sure key data is accurate. Integration problems can also cause errors and delays for several key functions, demanding more work that cuts into your business’ target workflow.

Data Deficiencies

According to a 2016 report from Informatica and Capgemini, 40 percent of U.S. businesses feel that IT integration issues pose a significant challenge in operationalizing big data and turning it into a trusted business asset. Today, companies rely on data for everything from sales to accounting. All of this data is run and collected through individual applications.

If system integrations aren’t fully aligned, the organization is prone to having duplicate or inconsistent data throughout the various software. Siloed applications remain separate entities instead of a unified system. With accounting system integration, this compromises the value of the accounting data itself; staff will struggle to access and utilize accurate information just to do their jobs. This also increases the chance of data loss or for inaccurate data to remain in circulation.

Single-Platform Integration Makes Accounting Easier

Instead of using many applications that will require external, traditional accounting system integrations to work together, consider using a business IT platform to run your business. The benefits of a single platform are undeniable because there’s no need for complex system integrations to be written or supported.

Software built on the same platform, like a CRM such as Salesforce, are designed to automatically link data within the system. These applications use single-platform integrations to connect the various software. Don’t rely on multi-directional actions to share data between various software platforms. Use a single-platform integration that facilitates a straightforward connection from source table information to the target table destination. Data is able to move more fluidly and without disruption because of this single-environment structure. This lets you avoid integration pitfalls altogether. Also, it allows you to focus on customizing and automating your system to achieve business goals.

Check Out Our Free Accounting System Integration Guide

In a connected world, you need an accounting solution that links your mission-critical data. Powered by the Salesforce platform, Accounting Seed gives you the end-to-end visibility of your company’s performance to help you. We’re focused on breaking down silos and building connections. Schedule a free demo here or contact us to begin our conversation.