ERP and eCommerce Consulting

ERP and eCommerce have very different jobs to do, but increasingly, the success of one depends on the other.

ERP systems hold much of the business data that eCommerce channels need to create better customer experiences. Product information, inventory, pricing, availability, customer data and fulfilment information can all influence what a customer sees and experiences online.

But connecting the two systems is only part of the challenge.

ERP systems are designed around the needs of the business. eCommerce experiences must be designed around the needs of humans.

For wider business success, these two systems must become deeply connected, and someone needs to represent both, to protect the interests of the business and the customer.

That is the role Greg Randall plays: an independent eCommerce specialist helping create the marriage between these two critical systems.

ERP systems continue to improve its ability to hold and make available richer sources of data.

But making more data available to the eCommerce channel doesn't automatically create better customer experiences.

The real skill is understanding what information a customer needs, when they need it, and how it should appear within their journey.

Something as simple as choosing a size and colour, or knowing whether a product is available for Click & Collect, can depend on decisions made deep within the ERP and surrounding systems.

The customer journey defines the data requirement not the other way around.

When ERP data is difficult for the eCommerce platform to use, technology teams solve the problem by adding more logic into the integration layer or the eCommerce platform.

That can make the immediate problem disappear. But it creates bigger ones that are not immediately evident.

More integration logic and/or more customisation can slow page-load speeds and increase technical complexity, making future customer-experience improvements harder and slower to deliver.

The business then loses the advantage of speed to market. Plus all future change becomes expensive.

The right solution is not always another technology layer. Sometimes the real problem needs to be fixed upstream.

This is what Greg monitors, challenges, and controls when collaborating with ERP teams.

ERP and eCommerce projects need someone who can see beyond the technology and understand the customer journeys these systems ultimately need to create.

Greg brings 25+ years of eCommerce experience, customer behaviour and experience design expertise, combined with a deep understanding of platforms, data and the systems that support them.

Importantly, he is independent and is there to represent the business and the humans using it.