Systems integration
Every business has one. Somebody pulls a file out of one system, tidies it up, and loads it into another. It works perfectly until they take annual leave. We replace that with something that runs on its own.
That person is doing an integration. They just happen to be a human being with a spreadsheet and a recurring calendar reminder.
Done properly, a job created in one system appears in the others with the right fields populated. A signed variation updates the contract value. Hours approved on site reach payroll without anyone re-keying them. Nobody has to remember Thursday.
The hard part isn't moving the data. It's the decisions: which system owns a customer record, what happens when two systems disagree, and what should occur when something fails at 2am. Get those right and integration is boring in the best way.
How we connect things
In rough order of preference, because the cheapest reliable option wins.
Supported, documented, survives upgrades. If both systems have a decent API this is nearly always the right answer.
The system tells us when something changes rather than us asking every five minutes. Faster, and much kinder to rate limits.
Where an API exists but events don't. Fine for anything that doesn't need to be instant, which is more than people expect.
Some systems only offer a file drop. That's still automatable, with proper validation and alerting, and it beats a person doing it on Thursdays.
Being straight with you
If two systems overlap heavily, connecting them can be more expensive than retiring one. We'd rather tell you that. Sometimes the honest recommendation is that you're paying for three tools that do the same job.
And integration inherits whatever process you have. Connecting a broken process to another system gives you the same problem, faster and in two places.
Vendor lock-in is worth thinking about before you build. If a tool has no API and no export, an integration will always be fragile, and that's a reason to question the tool rather than engineer around it. Our software research covers API quality and data portability for exactly this reason.
Integrations also need an owner. Things change at the vendor's end, and something has to notice. We build alerting in, and we'll tell you honestly what ongoing attention it needs.
In their words
I have had the pleasure of and reaped the benefits of Brendan supporting me in 2 separate businesses over the past 18 years!
My first was at Mischa Accessories, a fashion accessories import and wholesale business. He looked after everything technical, from our computers and systems to IT issues, setups and troubleshooting. Then later after I started Unlocking Retail, a retail analysis, planning and consulting business, Brendan continued to work with me and became an invaluable part of the business.
Over all those years, I completely trusted Brendan with everything technology-related. But more importantly, I genuinely trusted him as a good human being.
Brendan sincerely cares — not just about the technology, but about you, your business and what you are trying to achieve. He takes the time to understand how you work and then tailors his advice and solutions accordingly. He has a wonderful ability to make complicated IT issues feel easy, while leaving you completely confident that everything has been done properly.
After moving house and away from the area, I sourced a couple of different IT businesses locally, but what I came to realised was that I hadn’t found anyone who cared about my business in the same way or who could solve all the technical issues I needed help with. So after a fair gap from working with him, I called Brendan. That was seven years ago, and we’ve continued to work together remotely ever since!
After around 18 years of partnering with Brendan, I can confidently say that he is not only incredibly knowledgeable and capable, but someone who genuinely takes ownership and cares about the people and businesses he supports.
If you’re looking for technical help, I would absolutely recommend Brendan. But if you’re looking for something even better — a technical professional who feels like a true partner in your business, someone you can trust completely and know has your best interests at heart — then Brendan is your guy.
Brendan works very closely with our business as a trusted technical partner. He understands how Knight operates, the standards our clients expect and where technology can make a real difference. We trust him to take ownership of the technical side and get it right.
A lot of our work starts with an idea or a problem that does not fit neatly into an existing product. Brendan can take that idea, work through the detail with us and turn it into something practical. He has built the ClickUp to Procore integration that supports our project delivery, along with reporting and analytics solutions we have delivered to clients such as Project One.
He works as part of our team and stays involved well beyond the initial build. I would happily recommend Brendan to any business looking for a technical partner who can understand the problem and deliver a solution that works.
Robert Hudman Managing Director, Knight SolutionsReal projects for Australian businesses, including what it actually took.
We helped Knight Solutions automate project communication by syncing task data from ClickUp to Procore, enabling efficiency and better customer experiences.
View the project
Delivered with Knight Solutions, custom Power BI reporting turned Project One’s Procore data into sales forecasts, project financial views and clearer management decisions.
View the project
Using Power Apps, we helped Hyforce Engineering replace their rigid field service system with a flexible, integrated solution that streamlines time tracking, sales, and field operations.
View the projectName the file that gets exported and re-imported, or the thing that gets typed twice. That's the integration, and it's usually obvious to whoever does it.
Related: reporting and dashboards once the data is flowing, and business automation for the steps that shouldn't need a person at all.
Let's look at what it would take to remove it.
