An email address is not always a customer account

When connecting CRM and ERP, an email address can seem a convenient key. Whether it is suitable, however, depends on the type of record being matched. A contact person may work for several companies. Their contact address then does not automatically identify the correct business account.

One contact, two companies

In this hypothetical example, one purchasing contact handles two separate companies. Both business accounts use the same contact address. The company mappings have been confirmed by the business; the identifiers and address are fictional.

If the integration merged the companies solely by this address, two business accounts would become conflated. An order could be assigned to the wrong company. The relationship to the purchasing contact therefore needs to remain intact without treating the companies as identical.

CRM systems can model these relationships differently. Salesforce, for example, documents a separate feature for contacts related to multiple accounts. This does not establish a general rule that every email address can be used for multiple records in every system.

What must support the mapping

For this example, the integration should use the confirmed mapping between business accounts. An identifier belongs with its source system: matching-looking numbers from different systems do not, on their own, establish the same identity. A mapping table can record the link.

If the link is missing or several destination accounts fit, this write operation should be held for clarification. Choosing the first match or immediately creating a new customer can compound the problem. Also define what happens to the mapping when identifiers change or accounts are deleted.

Even a technically unique mapping grants no permission to view prices or write orders. Those rights need a separate check in the relevant business context.

When email matching can make sense

Within a clearly bounded set of personal contacts, a verified rule based on unique email addresses can be suitable for matching. Address changes must then be handled by a defined policy too. That rule cannot be applied to company accounts without checking it.

Before the first transfer, ask for a demonstration involving a shared contact and two business accounts. Check which company identifier arrives in the destination on the test order. This case reveals more about identity mapping than comparing fields with identical names.

Sources

• Salesforce — Understand Account and Contact Relationships

• Salesforce — Improve Data Quality

• PostgreSQL — Constraints