Companies have divisions. Most companies must overcome communication problems between departments to establish new processes. Once in place, joint business processes usually run well. The same holds true for data flows. When an IT process links data between departments, that link is usually stable until a change is needed. Sales & manufacturing departments are linked in their processes. The rivalry also comes down to these departments’ over the preferred enterprise application as sales departments rely on their customer relationship management (CRM) system and manufacturing uses an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Linking the two enterprise applications is to be taken seriously. There are many ways and benefits for interchanging data. David Gillman (Analyst with Studio B), writes in his article about some ways in which CRM data can improve manufacturing operations when the two areas work together. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/4-ways-crm-improves-manufacturing-operations-70695