AI integration with CRM and ERP
How do we connect AI to our CRM and ERP so it can read customer records and update orders safely?
Last updated
Connect AI to your CRM and ERP through each vendor's API, using a dedicated service account that can only see what its role allows. Start read-only, so the AI looks up customers, orders and stock. Add write-back later, with a person approving each update and every read and write logged. One AI agent can work across Salesforce and Business Central this way.
Who this is for
Application managers, CRM and ERP administrators, IT leads and operations managers in multi-site organisations: field services, wholesale and distribution, logistics, construction and professional services. The CRM is usually Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365. The ERP is usually Business Central, NetSuite, SAP, Pronto Xi or Xero, often beside simPRO, Uptick or AroFlo and Microsoft 365.
Solve8 works in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and across Australia and New Zealand, with workshops on site. The work runs in fixed-fee phases, set out under How to start, and you can stop after any phase and keep the work.
AI CRM and ERP integration methods compared
| Method | What it suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor APIs | Reading and updating customers, quotes, orders and stock. Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Business Central and NetSuite all publish documented APIs. | API limits, integration user licence terms, and which records your version exposes. |
| Webhooks and change events | Reacting when a record changes, such as a new enquiry or an order on credit hold, without polling. | Business Central waits 30 seconds after the first change by default before it notifies, and can group many changes into one notice. |
| Integration platform or middleware | Several systems, shared mappings, retries and alerts in one place. | Another component to run. Worth it once more than two systems are involved. |
| Read replica or reporting views | Read-only lookups and analysis without load on the live system. | Only as fresh as the copy. Never write back this way. |
| File drops | Older systems with no usable API, as a last resort. | Delays, partial files and weak error handling. |
Read-only first, then write-back with approval
Read-only lookups
The AI reads customer, contract, order and stock records to answer questions and prepare work. It cannot change anything.
Drafts and suggestions
The AI proposes a change, such as a sales order line or a CRM status, and shows the records it used.
Approved write-back
A person approves each change and the integration writes it through the vendor API, with the approver recorded.
Selective straight-through
Once agreement is consistently high for one record type, that type can post without a person. Exceptions stay with a person.
Identity and permissions
Least privilege
Grant only the objects and actions the workflow needs. Business Central does not allow the SUPER permission set on Microsoft Entra applications and asks that integrations follow least privilege.
Salesforce
The Integration user licence comes with an API only profile, so the user cannot sign in to the interface. Permission sets add access to the objects the AI needs.
Dynamics 365
An application user linked to a Microsoft Entra app registration is given a business unit and security roles, which limit what it can see and do.
Staff-facing assistants
When the AI answers a staff member, filter results to that person's role, so a branch user does not see another branch's customers or margins.
Secrets
Keep keys and client secrets in your own secrets vault and rotate them on a schedule.
Logging and audit trail
What is logged
Each request, the records read, the change proposed, who approved it, the values before and after, and the system's response.
Where the log lives
In your environment, kept for your retention period and searchable by record number.
Exception report
A daily list of failed writes and rejected proposals, owned by a named person.
Real-time routing across CRM and ERP data
Routing is often the first useful AI decision. An enquiry or order arrives by email or web form. The AI reads the CRM account for territory, owner and contract terms, then the ERP for credit status, open orders and branch stock. Agreed rules pick the branch, and the AI notes why so the receiving person can see the reasoning.
Anything outside the rules goes to a person: a customer on credit hold, stock split across branches or an account with no owner. Real time here means seconds to about a minute, depending on whether the systems push change events or are checked on a schedule.
Keeping data in Australia
The integration layer, the AI model and the logs can run on your own infrastructure in an Australian region, inside your existing security controls. Solve8 built AI that categorises defect records and suggests quote lines for a national fire protection provider this way, in the client's own cloud in Sydney, and it is now entering shadow mode beside the quoting team.
How to start
Discover
Pick one workflow at one site, such as enquiry routing or order entry, and one system pair, such as Salesforce and Business Central. Measure volume, handling time and errors as a baseline.
Prove
Run the AI in shadow mode on live records. It proposes decisions beside the team without writing anything, and your team sets the accuracy bar.
Build
Connect write-back through service accounts, with a person approving changes and every action logged.
Run
Solve8 supports it, or hands over the code, documentation and training to your team.
Sources
Microsoft Learn, Using Service to Service Authentication, Business Central: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/administration/automation-apis-using-s2s-authentication
Microsoft Learn, Working with webhooks, Business Central: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/api-reference/v2.0/dynamics-subscriptions
Microsoft Learn, Manage application users in the Power Platform admin center: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/manage-application-users
Salesforce Help, Salesforce Integration user licence and the Minimum Access API Only Integrations profile: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.integration_user.htm&type=5
Questions
We use Salesforce and Business Central. Can one AI agent work across both?
Yes. It connects to Salesforce as an integration user with permission sets and to Business Central as a Microsoft Entra application with limited permissions. It reads accounts and contracts in one and orders, stock and credit in the other, then proposes changes for a person to approve. Every read and write is logged in your environment.
Should the AI log in as a staff member or have its own account?
Its own account in each system. A staff login gives it more access than it needs, stops working when that person leaves and hides which changes the AI made. A separate account can be limited to specific records, reviewed by IT and switched off without affecting anyone.
Can AI update orders in the ERP without a person checking?
Not at first. Have the AI propose order changes for a person to approve while you measure how often the person agrees. Once agreement is consistently high for one order type, that type can post automatically, with anything unusual still going to a person.
How does AI route an enquiry to the right branch in real time?
It reads the enquiry, looks up territory, owner and contract in the CRM, then checks stock, credit and open orders in the ERP. Agreed rules choose the branch or person and the AI records why. Anything outside the rules goes to a person to assign.
What if one of our systems has a limited API?
Use a read replica or reporting views for read-only lookups, and ask the vendor or your ERP partner which APIs your version and licence include. File drops can fill a gap as a last resort. Keep write-back to systems with a supported API so every change can be checked and logged.
Related
- System integrationConnections between the systems you run.
- AI agents for Australian organisations, built inside your systemsAn AI agent is software that reads incoming work, decides within your rules and acts across your systems. A person approves the result.
- Customers email us PDF purchase orders and staff retype them into the ERP. Can AI do this reliably?How AI reads emailed PDF purchase orders, checks them against customer, item and price data, routes exceptions to a person, and writes orders to your ERP.
- We key jobs from simPRO, Uptick or AroFlo into Pronto, Xero or MYOB by hand. How do we stop the double entry?How to stop rekeying jobs from simPRO, Uptick or AroFlo into Pronto Xi, Xero or MYOB: which connectors exist, their limits, and where AI helps.
- Should our ERP partner do our AI quoting and order entry, or should we use an AI consultancy?ERP partner or AI consultancy for AI quoting and order entry? When each one fits, when to hire, how they work together and ten questions to ask any provider.
- Fire protection quotingDefect records categorised and quote lines suggested.
Have this problem across your branches?
A 30-minute review with a senior consultant. You leave with a written one-page summary you can share internally.
Fixed-fee phases, agreed before we start. Stop after any phase.