System integrations in your company: how to stop retyping data between programs
In many companies the most important “integration system” is an employee who retypes data from one program into another. It is slow, costly over a year and prone to errors.
What an integration is
An integration is an automatic exchange of data between programs. When an order, an invoice or a new employee appears in one place, the information goes wherever it is needed, without anyone having to step in.
The most common integrations in companies
- accounting and HR software,
- CRM and sales system,
- online shop and warehouse,
- calendars, for example Google Calendar,
- marketing tools and forms,
- partner and supplier systems.
Questions to ask before an integration
- Which program is the source of truth for each type of data?
- Which way does the data flow: one way or both ways?
- How often does the data need updating: in real time or once a day?
- What happens when one of the programs is temporarily unavailable?
- Who gets notified when a data exchange fails?
Why integrations break
Usually not because of the technology, but because nobody is watching. An integration runs for months until one of the programs changes the way it shares data. If no one monitors the exchange, the problem only comes to light when reports have gaps. That is why every integration should log events and send alerts about errors.
Examples from practice
- Meeting room booking synchronised with Google Calendar: see the case.
- Promotions with entry validation and integration with the iPresso marketing tool: see the case.
If data in your company is still being retyped by hand, book a consultation.
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