Software Integration

What Is software integration?

Software integration is simply the process of getting your different software systems to communicate with each other and to work together as one. By linking your separates systems and/or applications, you can share data between them rather than duplicating your data entry efforts whilst struggling to understand what data is correct and up to date.

If you’re like most of our clients, you probably use several systems every day - one for quotes, another for orders, a third for dispatch and yet another for tracking. You probably also spend far too much time manually copying data between them to try and ensure your data is consistent across all of your systems.

The good news is - you don't have to! You don’t need to throw out the systems you’ve already invested in, rather, we can help them work together through a tailored software integration built around your specific workflows and the outcomes you want to achieve.

Benefits of software integration

There are countless benefits to integrating your software, here are some of the key ones:

Get more done with less effort

By integrating new or existing software systems, your business can improve operations tenfold by reducing manual data entry and repetitive tasks across multiple systems. Integration essentially allows you to do everything in one system, once!  

Single source of truth (at last!)

Software integration provides your users with live time access to information from multiple sources all in one place. This ensures consistency and helps to improve decision making across your business because regardless of the user, everyone is able to see the same information at the same time.

Save yourself some cash

Integrating the systems you already have can be much more cost effective than replacing it. You protect your existing investments, reduce maintenance costs and can choose to automate the irritating manual tasks that drain your resources (and your budget). Fewer systems = fewer surprises = lower costs.

Better collaboration

Another core benefit of integrated software systems is that they can really help collaboration within your organisation. This is because your departments can communicate via one unified platform rather than setting tasks in one system only to realise a week later the assignee doesn't have access...

Bespoke software friendly

Have you got bespoke software that already works as you want it to for your business? Fantastic - let’s keep it that way. Custom integrations can connect your existing systems, so you get all the benefits of modern connectivity without ditching your oldie but goodie technologies.

Examples of software integration

Software integration can take many forms, here are a few common examples that may or may not be relevant to your business:

• Ecommerce platform integration with payment gateways
• CRM integration with email marketing software
• Export orders to an external warehouse for dispatch
• Integrating a HR system with payroll software
• Integrating accounting software with a CRM system
• Website integration with analytics tools
• Adding bank information to business software systems via Open Banking
• Exporting information to systems such as Mailchimp to manage communications
• Importing and exporting product information to eBay and Amazon

Remember, if it's not listed, it's probably still possible!

How can we help?

Our UK based development team will take the time to understand your specific business and what you want to achieve via a bespoke software integration. We will map out your current workflows and then work closely with you to determine which workflows need to be integrated to allow for more streamlined and efficient working. During this process, we will ensure you are fully aware of all potential timescales, risks and costs to allow you to make informed decisions. We give you software integration solutions that truly improve your operations, your way.

FAQs

Q) Can you integrate all of my software?

A) That depends on your current set-up and what you want to achieve, we would be more than happy to discuss what we could do for you.

Q) Why should I integrate my software?

A) There are many different reason as to why a company may choose to integrate their software. Some key examples are - automation, to reduce costs, accessibility, flexibility on working practices, centralised data and scalability.

Q) Will integration harm our data integrity?

A) Integration should maintain or improve data integrity. You should always ensure the integrator you use is clear as to how they ensure the integrity of your data and highlight any risks

Q) How difficult is software integration?

A) This entirely depends on what software is being integrated, how many different pieces there are and how they need to function.

Further reading

How do we prepare for a software integration project?

What are the key challenges we might face when integrating our software systems?