LS Retail
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
AS 400
Shopify Plus
Blue Link ERP
Shopify EDI
Netsuite
D365 Finance and Operations
D365 Business Central
Cova
Here a VL, we often hear horror stories of merchants who have overpaid for a complex mess of plug-and-play or custom coded integrations. Usually when that occurs, the merchant will come to VL at their wit’s end. Not only have they overpaid for a solution that isn’t working, but the whole process has taken an absurd amount of time from signing to implementation.
One merchant we’ve spoken with, for example, has been waiting for their data integration solution to go live for over 18 months. We see time and time again that merchants are often stuck in the implementation or onboarding phases without a clear go-live data for months; in some cases, the integration solution never goes live. It’s clear that some merchants are being talked into wasting valuable time and money on integrations solutions that aren’t the right fit — either in the solution proposed itself, or with the partner providing the solution — causing these massive delays.
Let us be crystal clear:
Implementation and onboarding for a data integration solution should not take 18 months!
With BFCM soon approaching, now is the time to be thinking about your data integration strategy and beginning to automate data in meaningful ways to free you and your resources to grow your business. But if you’re going upmarket with a data integration solution that’s not out-of-the-box (“plug-and-play”), you should come prepared with knowing how long an upmarket solution should take before your project is live. So we’ve decided to take a tongue-in-cheek look at all the things that should take merchants longer to accomplish than integrating their technology stack seamlessly with VL OMNI! Read on!
1. Carrying a baby to term – 9 months
Have you already had your child and still don’t have your integration solution up and running? That a great indication you are wasting valuable time and money. It takes a whole 9 months to make a perfect little human! Perfect integrations? Much less.
2. Home Renovations – 4 months
We’ve all been there. Has your over-enthusiastic DIY husband or wife promised you that your 80’s style kitchen will look like a cover of Style At Home magazine in 8 weeks or less? Depending on the how amateur your spouse or shady contractor is at renovations, it might end up taking much, much longer than that. Even still, your integration project should be completed with much more efficiency (and grace).
3. Completing a Bachelor’s Degree – 4 years
Education is key! We all know that. Completing a degree can be one of the greatest accomplishments of someone’s life. All those hours in the library (or let’s be real – the bar) studying for endless exams and thesis projects is time well wasted! But your integrations should definitely not take that long.
4. Waiting for the next season of your favourite series – 1 year
Game of Thrones fans — we feel you! We are over here still waiting for season 8! (Ugh.) Other great shows can take just as long to come back when their creators decide to take their own sweet time (or axe the show all together)! God bless Torrentz? What’s for sure is your integrations projects should never keep you waiting this long.
5. Planning a wedding – 1 year ++
Your wedding day! The most beautiful day of your life right? Too bad none of your guests know the mental anguish of planning a wedding. The dress, flowers, the food and god-forbid unhappy in-laws? (That last one can hold up plans for weeks!) But your integration projects should never be as much trouble as your in-laws or delay your plans for this long.
In reality, creating and implementing an integration solution that is both agile, flexible and scalable with VL OMNI can take only take a couple of weeks.* The overall benefit and ROI of these integrations should be immediately evident to your business. For merchants, our biggest advice is having a complete data integration strategy realized before implementing a solution to avoid heading down the wrong path, partnering with a solution that may not fit your goals, or ultimately getting stuck in an “it’s almost ready!” loop for weeks (or months).
Here at VL OMNI, we have a tried, tested and true onboarding process that allows the merchant to be fully involved in the implementation and kickoff. That’s the difference a great data integration provider like VL OMNI makes — one that looks at your business holistically, understands your business’ needs deeply, and deploys a solution to match your needs.
*This is an average time length for implementing VL OMNI projects for merchants who are responsive to our requests and have fully bought-in to co-ownership of their data integration project. VL OMNI also has many merchants with more complex projects, or with multiple third parties involved — all of which can slow down our implementation timelines. But not to fret! Even the most complex of projects only take an average of 1-2 months for VL OMNI to implement.
