Flavor maker Amoretti came up with a novel way to save money on software licensing costs and improve visibility into its operations by using data integration software to connect its customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning engines.

The 30-year-old family business makes about 2,500 flavors used in recipes ranging from drink mixes to gourmet icings. The bulk of its business comes from wholesalers who buy things like its Amaretto liqueur concentrate to flavor delicious desserts or coffee creamers. The company has used Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision) for ERP since 2009 and added Microsoft Dynamics CRM in 2011. It also uses a configuration suite from Experlogix, Inc. to customize orders and quotes.

NAV keeps the master records of all of Amoretti’s customers, but at $3,000 per seat, the software was pricey for occasional use by the company’s roughly 100 employees. So Amoretti chose to make the more modestly priced Dynamics its principal tool for sales, operations, executives, legal staff and even warehouse staff.

Customizing workflows involved some delicate integration work, though. It was simple enough to rig up the configurator and CRM system to capture a sales order for 100 pounds of marzipan fruits, but that information also needed to ripple through to other departments such as accounting, warehousing and shipping. Even the legal department may need to become involved for an order involving kosher products, for example, or specific state laws.

Delay was not an option. Large bulk orders can easily exhaust warehouse inventories, so information needed to be updated in real time to be sure that customers got exactly the products they expected. “Instead of spawning 20 different emails, we needed the database to be updated automatically,” said CIO Roland Cooper (right).

Working with a local systems integrator, Amoretti customized Dynamics CRM to be the principal employee front-end. It then brought in data integration software from Scribe Software Corp. to handle the behind-the-scenes magic. Scribe provides out-of-the-box integration between disparate applications, particularly Microsoft platforms.

Scribe worked with Amoretti to customize the integration between Experlogix, Dynamics and NAV. The integration suite takes care of ensuring that data is constantly in sync, as well as spawning ancillary processes.

Scribe makes up-to-date inventory information available to the people who need it, a feature that is essential to Amoretti’s complex business. “I have 15,000 active SKUs and 80 percent of our products are on demand,” Cooper said. “I may make a product in sizes ranging from 500 pounds down to four ounces. Having accurate inventory information is critical.”

That integration provides complex functionality that most CRM users probably couldn’t imagine. For example, Cooper explained that when a sales person opens the configurator, it pulls inventory information from CRM for product selection. As the order is built, availability information is pulled from inventory. When the sales order is submitted, Scribe updates the Dynamics NAV database, pops up a confirmation for the customer and triggers a confirmation email. Simultaneously, a pick order goes to the warehouse staff. When the order heads out the door, a shipment confirmation is logged into Dynamics and another confirmation email goes out to the customer.

Cooper estimated that using Scribe for data integration has saved at least $60,000 in ERP license fees, not to mention annual maintenance costs. More importantly, it’s given Amoretti the means to fine-tune its workflows to the needs of the business. Scribe has provided the training and certification his staff needs and has been a good partner for Amoretti. “They’re very focused on getting people to take charge of their own future,” he said.