How to connect HubSpot to your ERP

Connecting HubSpot to your ERP lets sales see orders, invoices and prices without asking accounting. It also stops people from typing the same order into two systems. The link moves the right data between them on its own.

Sales and marketing work in HubSpot. Orders, invoices, prices and stock live in the ERP. Once they're linked, reps can check order history before a call. Marketing can email customers who bought one product line but not another. Owners can see which marketing brought in paid orders. And the Friday afternoon spent copying quotes from one screen to another goes away.

With our help, Photon Brothers, a Colorado solar installer, connected its design, inventory, finance and permitting systems to HubSpot. Data now moves on its own, which saves the team about 10 hours of data entry every week.

Start by sending customer accounts and order history from the ERP into HubSpot. That covers most of what sales and marketing need. Add quotes, invoices, products and stock later, once the first sync runs cleanly.

Data can also flow the other way. When a deal is won in HubSpot, some companies want the ERP to create the customer or sales order on its own. That saves time, but a mistake in HubSpot now reaches your books. We usually add that step after the first sync has run cleanly for a while.

• ERP to HubSpot: customer accounts, account numbers, credit status, order history, invoices, open quotes, products.
• HubSpot to ERP: new customers from won deals, contact details, sales order requests.
• Usually left in place: pricing rules, inventory counts, production schedules and accounting entries stay in the ERP.

Pick one system to own each field, and write it down before you build anything. The ERP should usually own account numbers, billing addresses, credit terms, prices and orders. HubSpot should usually own contacts, email opt-ins, deal stages and sales activity.

This is the most important step, and the one most often skipped. When two systems can both edit a field, they overwrite each other. A rep fixes an address in HubSpot. The nightly sync puts the old one back. The mistake stays hidden until a shipment goes to the wrong place.

Put the rules in a simple table. Each row is one field, with its owner, which way it syncs and how often. Have sales and accounting sign off before anyone starts building. Later, the same table tells your team how the sync works.

Use the simplest option that does the job. A ready-made connector from HubSpot's App Marketplace is quickest when it covers your data. Middleware gives you more control without much code, and a custom build fits unusual data or rules.

HubSpot's App Marketplace lists connectors for many ERPs, including NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. HubSpot builds some of them, and other companies build the rest. Check what each one syncs, whether it handles your custom fields, and what happens when a record fails. Some connectors move only a few kinds of records, which may be all you need.

Middleware is a separate tool that sits between the two systems. You use it to match fields and set rules without writing much code. It's a good fit when your ERP has no strong connector. It also helps when you need a rule in the middle. For example, an ERP order might become a HubSpot deal only above a certain dollar amount.

A custom build is a small piece of software that talks to both systems. It costs more to build and keep running, but it can handle anything. Older or heavily customized ERPs often need this route.

Use the ERP customer number to match records. Store it on each HubSpot company, and match on it instead of names or web domains. Names change and get spelled differently, but account numbers stay the same.

Before the first sync, clean up both sides. Add the ERP number to every HubSpot company that should match an ERP account. Merge duplicates in HubSpot. Then decide two edge cases. ERP customers missing from HubSpot usually get created there. HubSpot companies that never bought anything usually stay as prospects.

Contacts are harder, because many ERPs hold only a billing contact. Most companies keep contacts in HubSpot and sync only the company and order data.

Most ERP connectors work on HubSpot's Professional plans, but check each one before you buy. Custom objects, often used for orders or projects, need an Enterprise plan. Some data sync tools come with HubSpot's Data Hub, which used to be called Operations Hub.

List the records you need in HubSpot. Check whether your chosen connector needs a certain plan. Then ask whether HubSpot's built-in records, like deals and line items, can hold your order data. They often can, which saves you an upgrade.

Most ERP integrations go wrong for a few avoidable reasons. Two systems edit the same field, too much data syncs too soon, or sync errors go unchecked. Planning before the build heads off all of them.

Watch for sync errors from day one. Every integration fails sometimes, like when a required field is blank. Someone needs to get an alert and fix it. Without that, errors pile up quietly and the two systems drift apart.

Test with your own customer records before going live. Pick a handful of customers, run the sync, and have sales and accounting check every field. And build around how your team works today, even if the process on paper says something else.

Name one person on your team to own the integration after launch, plus someone to call when it breaks. Integrations need small changes over time, like a new field, a new product line or an ERP upgrade. Any of those can break the sync, so someone needs to check it after each change.

The owner decides what should sync. A technical person watches for errors and makes changes. That can be your own staff, the partner who built it, or both. Update the sync rules table every time something changes, so the next person doesn't have to guess.

A simple connector with clean data can be live in a few weeks. A custom build, or one that needs a lot of cleanup first, takes longer. Planning and cleanup usually take more time than the build itself.

If your HubSpot setup isn't stable yet, fix that first. Our guide on HubSpot for manufacturers covers what to set up before the ERP. For help with the whole project, see our HubSpot services.