If someone on your team retypes information from one system into another, you have an integration problem. It costs time, creates errors, and is one of the most common reasons businesses look at custom software. Here is how it works, in plain English.
The problem: swivel-chair work
You enter a customer in your CRM, then again in your accounting package, then again in your email tool. Each copy is a chance for a typo and a delay, and nobody trusts which version is right.
What an API is
An API is simply a way for one piece of software to talk to another, with rules about what can be asked and answered. When your accounting system "connects" to your online shop, they are usually talking through APIs.
Three ways to connect systems
Built-in connectors. Many products offer ready-made links to popular tools. Quickest to set up, but limited to what the vendor chose to build.
Connection platforms. Tools that sit in the middle and link many products with configurable rules. Good for common, simple flows.
Custom integration. Code written to connect your specific systems in the way your business needs. More effort, but handles unusual rules and keeps everything under your control.
The right choice depends on how standard your needs are and how important the flow is to the business.
Questions to answer before connecting anything
What is the source of truth? For each piece of information (a customer's address, a stock level), which system is in charge? If two systems can both change it, you will get conflicts.
How often should data sync? Instantly, hourly, nightly? More frequent is not always better. It depends on how stale data can be before it causes problems.
What happens when something fails? Connections break: a service is down, a record is malformed. Decide how failures are noticed, retried and reported.
Who owns the connection? Integrations need maintenance when either system changes. Someone must be responsible.
Mapping the data
Different systems describe the same thing differently: one has "company name", another "organisation". Mapping decides how fields translate, and what to do when information is missing or does not fit. It is detailed work, and it is where many integrations succeed or fail.
Common pitfalls
- Duplicate records when the same person exists in several systems under slightly different details.
- Rate limits where a service restricts how often you can ask it for information.
- Changing interfaces, when a vendor updates their API and breaks the connection.
- Silent failures, where something stops working and nobody notices for weeks.
Test and monitor
Test with realistic data, including the awkward cases. Once live, monitor: alerts when a sync fails, and a way to see what was sent and received.
When not to integrate
If two systems rarely exchange information, the effort may not be worth it. And sometimes the better fix is replacing one of the systems. See our guide to replacing legacy software.
If you are tired of retyping, tell us which systems you use. Integrations are a core part of what we build.