System integration

System integration means getting two or more software systems to exchange data automatically, so a record typed once shows up wherever it needs to. The sign that integration is missing is always the same: someone copies from one screen and pastes into another.

The four paths

The table's order is the order of preference. A native integration breaks less often because whoever maintains it is exactly whoever changes the API.

Define the source of truth before connecting the wire

For every shared field — phone, address, order value — one system sends and the other obeys. Without that decision, a record fixed in the CRM gets overwritten by the ERP at midnight, someone fixes it again, and the operation starts distrusting both systems. Two-way sync with no precedence rule is the known recipe for data that "comes back on its own."

The cost that shows up in year two

The project ends; maintenance does not. A discontinued API version, a new required field, an expired token, a changed rate limit. Every integration needs an owner, visible error logging, and a way to reprocess what failed — without that, it dies silently and nobody notices until a customer complains.

When not to integrate

When the volume is ten records a week and the integration costs weeks of work. When both systems will be replaced in six months. And when the process behind it is broken: integrating a confusing process just makes the confusion travel faster.