The Hidden Reasons Sage ERP and eCommerce Integrations Break Down
3 min read ● Silk Team
Why Sage ERP and eCommerce Fail Without a Structured Integration Strategy
The most common misconception about integrating a Sage ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system with an e-commerce platform is that once you connect the two systems, the data will flow seamlessly, and you’re done. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Many manufacturers have learned that while there is certainly technical merit to connecting their ERP and e-commerce platforms, the failure of these integrations is largely due to a lack of a formalized process and plan for the integration.
As such, many companies find themselves frustrated that rather than creating efficiencies, their integration efforts create more inefficiencies and frustrations. Here’s why these types of integration projects fail, and some tips to help manufacturers improve their integration strategies.
Integration Is a Business Decision, Not Only a Technical One
One of the biggest mistakes that manufacturers make when trying to integrate their Sage ERP and e-commerce systems is viewing integration solely as a technical issue. It is very easy for manufacturers to connect their Sage ERP and e-commerce systems, but if they haven’t aligned their business processes prior to doing so, they will begin to experience immediate issues with the integration.
Some common examples of issues that occur when there isn’t a process and plan for the integration include:
- Orders are synced correctly, but the price is wrong
- There is a delay in updating inventory levels to reflect the true amount available
- The finance team and operations team don’t trust the data coming from the e-commerce platform
A formalized process and plan for your integration begins by identifying how the company wants to run its business, and then identifies how the technology needs to support those business processes – NOT the other way around!
Lack of Clarity Around Data Ownership Creates Conflict
Both the ERP and e-commerce systems are capable of managing important data related to each respective area of the business, however neither should be the sole “source of truth.”
If you don’t identify who owns the data, including product data, pricing, customer data, etc., you will encounter issues such as:
- Product data overwrites
- Inconsistent customer pricing across platforms
- Discrepancies in inventory levels between the two systems
Identifying which system owns specific data elements (i.e., pricing, inventory levels, etc.) is key to establishing a stable integration process and minimizing the need for manual intervention or fixes.
Not Accounting for B2B Complexity
Too often, manufacturers design their integration projects based off of the complexity of B2C e-commerce platforms. Manufacturing operates much differently.
Examples of commonly overlooked complexities include:
- Custom pricing and contracts per customer
- Credit limits and payment terms
- Shipping and fulfillment rules
- Recurring high-volume orders
By failing to account for these complexities at the beginning of the project, manufacturers are left to bolt on workarounds after the initial integration launch — which often requires them to give up on automated processes and increase their costs.
Not Properly Addressing Exceptions Breaks Trust
While no integration is perfect all the time, orders fail, inventory conflicts exist, and customers modify transaction information during checkout.
Without a formalized process and plan for addressing exceptions:
- System errors are skipped silently
- Operations and Customer Service Teams have no visibility on where to resolve issues
- Manual processes creep back into the workflow
Effective integration plans provide for clear exception handling:
- Notify teams when orders fail
- Provide workflows for resolving discrepancies between systems
- Provide visibility to Operations and Customer Service Teams
By doing so, issues can be addressed quickly and efficiently without impacting customers.
Scalability Wasn’t Accounted For
Many manufacturing companies’ Sage ERP and eCommerce integrations work “fine” until the business grows.
With no scalability plan:
- More orders slow down synchronization times
- Adding warehouses complicates inventory logic
- Adding additional sales channels requires reworking the existing integration
A formalized integration process anticipates the growth of the business and provides the ability for the system to scale for new products, customers, and markets without having to completely rebuild the integration.
What a Formalized Process and Plan for Your Integration Should Look Like
Companies that successfully implement integration approaches do so with intent. Successful integration plans include:
- Define the company’s business workflows
- Define the data ownership rules
- Support real-world B2B business workflows
- Robust exception handling and monitoring
- Define a roadmap for future growth
This turns integration from a tenuous connection into a trusted operational backbone.
Final Thought
Sage ERP and eCommerce integrations don’t fail because the technology is defective, they fail because of the lack of a formalized strategy. If manufacturers do not develop a formalized plan for integration, they will struggle with continuous fire fighting and not a scalable, efficient digital business that drives sustainable long term growth.