How ERP system integration improves financial operations.

You will have selected an ERP that best supports the size and type of your business. As your single source of truth, your ERP is the central nervous system for your financial operations.

However, ERPs can be insufficient when it comes to handling some of the more complex financial operations in an organization. That’s why most finance teams turn to specialist software (sometimes called transaction software) to support the workflows associated with different aspects of finance.

Common examples of transaction software are HRIS software for payroll, AR software to manage receivables, and AP software for payables. All of these must ultimately funnel data into the ERP so that it reflects the details of all activities.

This is where systems integrations come in.

I’ve spent the past six years developing specialist or transaction software for the procure-to-pay process. It’s arguably the most complex of specialist software because spending company money involves so much data and documentation — think payment and booking details, receipts, contracts, SOC reports, etc. It also involves almost everyone in the organization who needs to spend company money and who may operate anywhere in the world. It requires different stakeholders depending on the size and type of spend, and all of their activities need to be captured and ultimately transmitted to the central nervous system.

In the case of P2P, which includes transaction intake flows, you might think of those as the appendages that form the touchpoints with the outside world — other stakeholders and vendors. All those signals need to be transmitted back to the central nervous system, which is why a well-designed ERP integration is essential. Your P2P platform can consolidate transactional details, approvals, documentation, and payment data into your ERP.

Airbase has long recognized the importance of ERP integrations for operational efficiency and accurate, up-to-date data. Now, our P2P platform can be integrated with over 70 ERPs for real-time visibility into all non-payroll spend.

Benefits of an ERP integration.

Not all integrations are equal. Your bank might provide you with an export of all transactions that you want to upload into your ERP. This basic approach to integration requires a lot of time to prep and fix the data before uploading it.

A managed or native integration, on the other hand, is seamless. The benefits of using an automated integration will far surpass those of a time-intensive manual one. We’ll discuss the three ways to automate integrations below, and when implemented professionally, they will all yield meaningful time savings.

“Without [Airbase], I would be hiring another two employees to handle the work… [With Airbase] all the coding happens up front before it is fed to our ERP.” — G2 review.

With a well-designed integration, finance teams experience the benefits of a P2P system, with data flowing easily to the single source of truth. That also works in reverse. With a deep integration, more sophisticated functionality like amortization schedule templates can be accessed from the ERP for use in the P2P platform.

With these data flows in place, organizations also benefit from:

• Improved financial visibility: Real-time access to key financial data facilitates informed decision-making. Budget owners and other important stakeholders can see the current financial status at any time.
• Cost savings: An automated sync reduces time and resources spent on manual AP tasks transferring data to the ERP.
• Improved compliance: When all necessary documentation is in the same transaction record as a purchase takes place, the ERP has a complete audit trail with every sync.
• A more user-friendly interface: ERPs are not typically accessible by employees. When a user-friendly interface in an integrated P2P platform guides all purchasing through set steps before syncing to the ERP, finance teams can rest assured that all spend is compliant.
• Flexibility: Many well-established ERPs don’t have easily configured workflows to route approvals, which creates problems for more complex purchasing requirements involving multiple stakeholders. A more configurable P2P solution helps ensure collaboration and appropriate approvals occur before a transaction hits the ERP.

ERP integration options.

Airbase offers three different ERP integration options. All of them provide excellent ways to keep your single source of truth updated.

1. Fully managed integration.

This is a seamless integration with the code written and supported by Airbase, so Airbase automatically syncs all spend data to the GL.

During your Airbase onboarding, we guide you through your ERP integration. This is also a good opportunity to clean up your GL — reviewing the GL structure and classifications will optimize your ERP integration with clean data.

A fully managed integration is available for the following ERPs:

NetSuite: A deep integration means that Airbase doesn’t just push data into NetSuite, it can also access NetSuite’s tools like:

• Custom segments.
• Amortization schedules and structures.
• International and domestic multi-subsidiary capabilities.
  Reconciling the two systems is essential. Airbase’s Assisted Reconciliation automates the tedious task of reconciliation from hours to minutes. It surfaces all the reconciling items, and identifies the reason so you can efficiently and properly reconcile your books.

Sage Intacct: Sage Intacct users can save hours of work every month. The same reconciliation support offered for NetSuite is available in Sage Intacct.

Microsoft Dynamics Business Central (coming soon).

QuickBooks Online: Airbase automatically categorizes, routes approval requests, and syncs transactions in QuickBooks Online.

2. Customized API integration.

This option leverages Airbase’s ERP Integration API for a tailored integration built by your team or by an Airbase-certified partner. Airbase provides comprehensive documentation to guide you through a successful integration.

How does this work? In simple terms, API stands for application program interface. APIs acts as a data intermediary between software products like your ERP and Airbase. The API controls what kind of data is delivered and in what format, and the data exchange is secure, organized, and seamless. APIs give you maximum customizability — you can map data from Airbase into your ERP however you prefer. They also give you the ability to enrich data from a secondary source before syncing it over.

3. Enhanced file exchange.

With this approach, data files are transferred between systems. If a flat-file method is to be used, our team will collaborate with you to design a customized data export integration tailored to your ERP. We’ll determine the optimal file format, define the specific data fields for seamless transfer, and export data in exactly the format accepted by your ERP. You no longer have to worry about massaging data from one format into another before pushing it into your ERP.

Key integration processes for AP automation.

Regardless of the method you choose, Airbase’s ERP integrations streamline these critical AP automation processes:

• Vendor management: Sync and update vendor details from the vendor master automatically.
• Tax compliance: Leverage tax information provided by vendors.
• Fraud prevention: Screen vendor bank details against consortium databases.
• Invoice processing: Automate invoice workflows and reduce errors.
• Payments: Execute global payments with ease.
• Real-time insights: Access dashboards and reports for informed decisions.

Beyond AP: Expanding integrations.

Airbase’s Guided Procurement module integrates with procurement, legal, and IT security software, streamlining approvals and document tracking within your existing tech stack. And our API allows further connections across your software ecosystem.

Migrating to a new ERP.

As businesses grow and change, many find their ERP no longer meets their needs.

But migrating to a new ERP is not a simple undertaking and means that all of your other systems will need to be reintegrated. At Airbase, we work closely with our clients to ensure a smooth and painless migration.

Integrating a P2P platform with your new ERP will require the coordination of your P2P software provider and your migration partner.

Poorly managed migrations can be risky. According to G2, about half of ERP implementations fail, and even the successful implementations take an average of about 30% longer than anticipated. You can mitigate these risks by clearly evaluating how your new ERP will work with the other systems in your financial tech stack.

Integrations just keep getting better.

If you’re struggling with disconnected systems, manual processes, or a lack of financial visibility, it’s time to explore how integrations into your ERP can transform your operations. The expectations for integrations are higher now than ever, and companies like Airbase offer APIs to connect to your ERP and other business process systems.

We are clearly in the era of interconnected systems that reflect the cross-functional nature of modern business processes. It is essential to get data flowing seamlessly and effortlessly, especially for financial processes that rely on the ERP as the single source of truth.

This means that the data collected from a multitude of touchpoints — for example, the employee purchasing software on the other side of the globe or the marketing team using virtual cards for ad spend — moves to the central nervous system. To keep the system running efficiently, choose the integration method that best suits your situation so your ERP is complete, up-to-date, and comprehensive.