Make the systems you already have talk to each other
Your CRM, your accounting package and the tools your operations run on each hold part of the same picture. We connect them, so a record entered once turns up everywhere it belongs.
A change made in one system turns up in the others without anyone re-keying it, which removes the whole class of problem where two systems quietly disagree.
Numbers that currently live in four places can be read in one, so a question about how the business is doing stops turning into an afternoon of exports.
We connect the systems you have rather than proposing you replace them. Replacing one is a larger decision, and we will say so plainly if it is genuinely the better answer.
If you are weighing the two against each other, that is a real difference and you should have it before you choose.
What Integration work involves
Not every engagement needs all of it. We map what you run first, then tell you which connections are worth building and which are not worth maintaining.
The systems get connected
CRM, accounting, ERP, and whatever your operations run on, joined so they behave like one system rather than several that happen to belong to the same company.
Data stays in step
Records kept consistent across platforms, so the customer who updated their address did it once and it is right everywhere.
Work moves between systems on its own
The multi-step processes that currently need a person to carry them from one tool to the next, automated against your rules rather than a vendor's idea of them.
Reporting across everything, not per system
Dashboards that read from all the connected systems at once, so you are looking at the business rather than at one department's corner of it.
Connectors built where none exist
Custom API work for the systems that do not offer an integration, including the older applications that were never designed to talk to anything.
Reachable from a phone
Extending the connected systems to phones and tablets, so the people doing the work away from a desk can see and update it without ringing the office for an answer.
Watched and adjusted afterward
A connection that works on launch day is not finished. We watch the ones we build and repair them when something upstream shifts.
However it is scoped, the order is the same: we look, we recommend, then we build and run it. See how every engagement runs →
Is Integration the right place to begin?
Usually yes, if this sounds familiar
- Three or four systems each hold part of the same picture
- Someone re-keys the same record into a second system
- A cross-department question means exporting and reconciling first
- The tools work individually, but the business runs in the gaps between them
Somewhere else, if it does not
Most of the business still runs out of spreadsheets, so there is no system to connect yet.
Start with FoundationThe systems themselves are the problem, and what you need is one built around how you operate.
Start with Custom SystemsQuestions we get about Integration work
- What does system integration mean in practice?
- It means building the connections that let your separate business systems share data automatically. When a deal closes in the CRM, the invoice details reach the accounting system without anyone typing them again. The systems stay as they are; what changes is that they stop being islands.
- Do we have to replace any of our current systems?
- Usually not. The point of integration is to get more out of what you already own and have already trained people on. If one of your systems genuinely cannot do the job and replacing it would cost less than working around it, we will tell you that, but it is a separate decision and we do not lead with it.
- What if one of our systems has no API?
- That is common with older and industry-specific software, and it is workable. Depending on what the system allows, the connection can be built against its database, a scheduled file exchange, or a custom interface. We check that during the mapping stage, before quoting, so nobody finds out late that a connection is harder than it looked.
- What happens when a vendor changes their API or we switch tools?
- Integrations break when the things they connect change, so they need looking after. We monitor the connections we build and fix them when a vendor changes something. If you replace a system later, the integration to it is rebuilt against the new one, which is ordinary maintenance rather than starting over.
- How long does integration work take?
- Longer than a Foundation build, because it touches more systems and more vendors, and the pace often depends on how quickly those vendors respond. We map your systems first and give you a scope, a timeline and a price in writing before any building starts.
- Will you work with our existing vendors and internal IT?
- Yes, and usually we have to. Getting access and answers out of a software vendor is part of the work, and we would rather do that than ask your team to.
- How much does integration work cost?
- It is quoted per project rather than published as a rate, because the cost depends on how many systems are involved and how cooperative each one is. You get the scope and the cost in writing after we have mapped what you run and before anything is built.
Stop typing it twice
Tell us which systems you run and where somebody is currently carrying data between them by hand, and we'll tell you which connection to build first.