You know the drill: you’re managing ERP modernization, wrangling a mess of integrations, juggling compliance, and oh, keeping the business humming. With limited time, tighter budgets, and C-level eyes on everything, every tech decision matters more than ever.
ERP integration is not just a nice-to-have feature in your B2B business. ERP remains the central nervous system for organizations, so it’s the connective tissue of your digital transformation. Picking the right integration partner can either smooth the path ahead or set you up for years of costly complexity.
These 13 ERP integration tips are rooted in lived IT experience and powered by insights from OpenText, who know a thing or two about scaling integration at enterprise speed, regardless of the actual size or complexity of your organization.
13 ERP integration tips that IT buyers should know
1. Get brutally honest about your integration needs
Define your integration requirements. Before you evaluate tools, get granular about your current data flows. What systems feed your ERP? Finance, CRM, procurement, logistics, inventory, third-party tools? What data formats are in play such as APIs, EDI, PDFs, or flat files? Do you need real-time sync or batch updates? Mapping this out avoids under or over-engineering. It also aligns IT and business teams from day one.
Remember: successful ERP integration starts with mapping your workflows, not picking a platform. If you’re unsure where to begin, OpenText offers data discovery and process analysis services to help you build a complete integration blueprint.
2. Think like a futurist, build like a pragmatist
Your ERP integration should support the business you’re becoming. Whether you’re expanding into new markets, acquiring companies, or migrating workloads to the cloud, your integration layer needs to adapt, without requiring a full rebuild. Look for solutions that support hybrid environments (on-prem + cloud), handle multiple ERP instances, and can onboard new partners or applications quickly. This flexibility is critical during M&A, when consolidating systems and standardizing data flows can make or break your integration timeline.
Scalability isn’t just about performance. It’s about future-proofing your architecture so growth doesn’t come with technical debt.
3. Check compatibility, not just capability
Forget shiny feature lists. If an integration platform doesn’t work well with your current tech stack, it quickly becomes a costly mistake. Compatibility with legacy systems, custom-built applications, and region-specific compliance software is not just helpful—it’s essential. A platform that fits seamlessly into your ecosystem reduces the need for manual workarounds, minimizes risk, and lowers long-term costs. It also helps you scale operations more smoothly as business needs evolve.
Tailored compatibility isn’t just about convenience; it’s a smart way to future-proof your ERP integration strategy.
4. Avoid one-size-fits-all integration approaches
ERP integrations that rely on rigid templates or prebuilt connectors often fall short in real-world environments. Every business has unique workflows, partner requirements, and data models. This means that forcing them into a generic integration model can lead to workarounds, errors, and manual processes.
Prioritize integration solutions that let you customize workflows, business rules, and partner-specific mappings without heavy rework. That might mean supporting both EDI and API for the same process or handling regional compliance differences in data formatting.
While flexible integration may sound more costly upfront, it often saves time and money long term by reducing rework, support tickets, and failed transactions.
5. Research vendors
Reputation matters. Read customer reviews and even discussion forums and pay special attention to reliability and customer support. Look for an ERP integration partner who has already solved challenges as complex, or even more complex, as yours. This kind of experience is a strong indicator that they can anticipate issues before they surface and provide faster, more effective solutions when things get tough.
Determine if a vendor has actually done what you need them to do for you, at your scale, and under pressure. A vendor that only shines during the sales cycle won’t help when you’re deep in production.
6. Make security a dealbreaker
ERP systems process highly sensitive data, from financial and supply chain transactions to employee and customer records. That makes integration a major attack surface if security isn’t built in from the start. Ensure your integration layer includes end-to-end encryption (in transit and at rest), role-based access controls, audit logs, and automated patching. It should also support industry standards like ISO 27001, SOC 2, and data residency requirements for global compliance.
Whether you’re exchanging EDI documents, API payloads, or files with trading partners, secure data exchange must be embedded across every integration touchpoint.
7. Demand usability, not just horsepower
If your team can’t use it, it doesn’t matter how powerful it is. Choose a solution your users will enjoy using. Complex tools kill productivity and morale. Look for clear dashboards, intuitive interfaces, and in-system visibility that lets users trace transactions without having to toggle between platforms or dig through logs.
Bonus points if the vendor offers pre-built APIs that integrate transaction data visibility right inside the ERP screens your teams already knows. That kind of embedded visibility saves time, reduces errors, and builds trust in the system.
If the user experience is clunky, teams will abandon it and default back to spreadsheets—undermining the whole point of integration.
8. Look at total cost, not just the invoice
When evaluating ERP integration solutions, don’t just compare licensing fees. Consider the full cost of ownership, including implementation services, ongoing support, maintenance, upgrade cycles, and SLAs. Some low-cost solutions can become expensive over time if they require constant manual intervention or downtime during ERP updates or custom development. Others may lack the support or scalability needed as your integration needs grow. Ask questions about vendor responsiveness, roadmap alignment, and how upgrades are handled, especially if you’re working across hybrid ERP environments or complex B2B ecosystems.
The cheapest option upfront may cost more in lost productivity and delayed projects.
9. Expect around-the-world support
If your business operates globally, or plans to in the future, your integration partner must be able to support that scale. They should be able to provide 24/7 system monitoring, multilingual technical support, and the ability to handle regional data standards, regulatory requirements, and time zones. From VAT compliance in Europe to e-invoicing mandates, regional nuances matter.
Global ERP integrations often involve complex partner ecosystems, cross-border data flows, and varied compliance frameworks. Your provider should offer follow-the-sun support and infrastructure that ensures uptime, fast issue resolution, and consistent service levels no matter where your teams or partners are located.
10. Get curious about the roadmap
AI for supply chains, automation, e-invoicing compliance evolution, the market is evolving constantly. Integration is not set-and-forget. Your vendor should be innovating right alongside you, not playing catch-up. Working with a forward-looking provider helps you stay ahead of regulatory changes, adopt new technologies faster, and remain competitive as digital transformation accelerates.
Look for vendors with a clear innovation roadmap and proven ability to adapt to emerging trends. You want a platform that evolves with your business, not one you’ll outgrow.
11. Request a trial or demo before you commit
A trial or demo can help to validate functionality, usability, and compatibility with your business needs before making a commitment. This hands-on testing phase helps uncover configuration mismatches, performance bottlenecks, or usability gaps early, before they balloon into costly delays or rework. It also builds team confidence and speeds up deployment once you’re ready to go live.
A hands-on look beats theoretical promises every time.
12. Read the fine print like a lawyer
Once your ERP integration becomes central to daily operations, your vendor relationship becomes critical infrastructure. That’s why it’s essential to understand the terms you’re agreeing to. Review SLAs closely, looking at uptime guarantees, response times, support availability, and penalties for missed service levels all affect business continuity. Make sure exit clauses are clear, and that you retain ownership of your data and configurations in case you need to switch providers down the road.
Integration partnerships aren’t just technical decisions. They’re long-term commitments that should align with your risk tolerance, governance standards, and future plans.
13. Get real-world context from your peers
Ask vendors for references and have real conversations with their current customers. Find out what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised them in deployment. You’ll gain invaluable insight into how the integration performs under pressure and how responsive the vendor was when issues arose. But don’t stop there.
In addition to curated references, talk to other IT leaders to manage ERP integration risk. User groups, forums, and IT networks offer unfiltered, on-the-ground intel that no brochure or sales deck can provide. These communities are rich with lessons learned, best practices, and cautionary tales that can save you time, money, and a few gray hairs.
The value of ERP integration done right
ERP integration done right = momentum, not migraines.
When your ERP integration foundation is solid, you move faster. Disruptions shrink. Compliance headaches fade. And IT becomes the driver of change, not the bottleneck.
OpenText helps IT leaders:
- Seamlessly migrate to modern cloud ERPs
- Digitize and unify supply chains and trading partner ecosystems
- Scale securely and globally, without added complexity
- Maintain compliance across every data exchange
- Gain visibility through AI-driven insights and automation
With decades of experience and unmatched B2B network scale, OpenText is built for the pace of now.
ERP integration doesn’t have to be complex
Whether you’re modernizing a legacy system or scaling globally, OpenText helps simplify secure ERP integration at every step.
Learn about OpenText’s B2B integration solutions to start planning your next move.
