Connect your systems and stop retyping data
Your systems should talk to each other. Your people shouldn't be the cable. In most small businesses we meet, somebody spends hours every week copying orders, invoices or timesheets from one screen into another. It's slow, it's boring, and it's where the mistakes creep in.
We do system integration for small businesses: connecting the software you already pay for, so information is typed once and moves on its own. We're based in Manchester and work with businesses across the UK, most of it remotely.
Sound familiar?
If someone's copying and pasting it, we can probably connect it. The aim is simple: type it once.
- Someone spends Monday morning copying last week's orders into the accounts system.
- There are spreadsheets nobody quite trusts, but everybody uses.
- You have three versions of the customer list, and they disagree.
- Mistakes from manual entry: a wrong price, a missed invoice, a duplicated order.
- You pay for software you don't really use, because nobody had time to set it up properly.
What we actually do
Practical work on the tools you already have. We fix the process first, then connect what's left, so we're not just making a messy process run faster.
Connect sales, CRM and accounts
Most modern business software has an API, a proper way for other systems to read and write its data. We use those to connect your online shop, CRM and accounting software, so a sale becomes an invoice and a payment gets matched without anyone retyping it. [PLACEHOLDER: founders to list tools they've connected, for example Shopify, HubSpot and Xero.]
Payroll and timesheet feeds
Hours recorded once, in one place, flowing through to payroll and to job costing. No more chasing paper timesheets on the last Thursday of the month, and no more re-keying them.
Stock syncing
Stock levels that agree across your shop, your warehouse and your accounts, so you stop selling things you haven't got and stop buying things you already have.
Simple dashboards
The handful of numbers you check every day, in one place, updated on their own. Built on top of the connected data, so they're right without anyone preparing them.
Process mapping before any connecting
We sit with the people doing the work and map what actually happens, step by step. Often the quickest win is removing a step altogether, before we connect anything.
Making the most of what you've got
Many businesses use a fraction of the software they pay for. We switch on the features that save time, tidy up the settings, and cancel what you don't need.
Before and after
Do we need new software?
Usually not. The best system is often the one your team already knows. We start with what you've got and only suggest a change when keeping the old tool genuinely costs you more than replacing it. We don't sell software and we don't take commission from anyone who does, so we've no reason to push you towards a new platform.
When a change does make sense, we help you pick something that fits a business of your size, move the data across carefully, and keep the old system running until the new one is proven.
How it works
A free 30-minute chat
Tell us where the copying and pasting happens. We'll tell you honestly whether it's worth fixing.
Map the process
We spend time with the people who do the work, and draw what really happens. Usually a morning or two.
A fixed-price plan
What we'll connect, what it replaces, the hours it should give back, and the price. Agreed before we start.
Build, test, hand over
We connect the systems, run them side by side with the old way until you're confident, then hand over plain-English notes your team can follow.
What it gives back
We measure every piece of work in time back: the hours your team no longer spends copying data around. Fewer errors, faster month-ends and quicker answers follow from that. What you do with the time is up to you. We'd suggest spending some of it outside.
Related
Other ways we help
Joined-up systems: questions
What does it cost to connect two systems?
Most connections are a Quick Win: fixed scope and a fixed price agreed up front, from £[PLACEHOLDER] [founders to confirm]. Some tools also charge a small monthly fee for their connectors, and we'll tell you about that before you commit.
Is our data safe?
We use each system's official connection methods, give every connection the least access it needs, and document exactly what reads and writes what. You own the accounts and the data throughout.
What happens if a connection breaks?
Connections fail occasionally, usually when one of the software companies changes something. We set them up to tell someone when they stop working rather than failing quietly, and we include support for an agreed period after handover.
Can you connect our old or unusual software?
Often, yes. If it can export a file or has any kind of API, there's usually a way. We'll tell you in the first chat if we think it isn't worth the effort.