COBOXAPI and business system integrations that stop your tools working in silos.
When accounting, payments, shipping, CRM and ERP each hold a different version of the truth, your team becomes the integration. We connect them properly and watch the connections for you.
The cost of disconnected business systems
Every disconnected system creates manual work. Someone copies an order into the accounting package, someone else updates stock after a shipment, and a third person reconciles the payment report on Friday. Each handoff is slow and introduces mistakes that surface later as wrong invoices, oversold stock or unhappy customers.
Integration replaces those handoffs with automatic, validated data flow. It is one of the most direct ways to apply business process automation because the saved time is easy to measure.
Systems we commonly integrate
Most projects connect some combination of the following:
- Accounting and invoicing: invoices, payments, tax and ledgers
- Payment gateways: orders, refunds, settlements and reconciliation
- Shipping and courier services: rates, labels, tracking and delivery status
- CRM: leads, customers, deals and activity history
- ERP and inventory: stock, purchasing, production and fulfilment
- Websites, storefronts and marketplaces: orders, products and customers
Where a system has no usable API, we assess alternatives such as file exchange, scheduled exports or a lightweight bridge, and tell you honestly which is more reliable.
Designing integrations that don’t create duplicate entry
The key design decision is which system owns each piece of data. If both the CRM and the ERP can edit a customer’s address, they will eventually disagree. We define a single source of truth for each record type, then sync changes one way or both ways according to clear rules.
We also handle the unglamorous details that make integrations dependable: matching records with stable identifiers, handling rate limits, avoiding duplicate creation when a request is retried, and keeping a log of what was sent and received.
Monitoring and recovering from failed synchronisation
Every integration fails eventually, because a partner has downtime, a token expires or a field changes. What matters is whether you find out immediately. We build monitoring in from the start:
- Automatic retries for temporary failures
- A failure queue that holds records that couldn’t sync
- Alerts to the right person with a plain-language reason
- A dashboard showing sync status and recent activity
- A way to replay failed records once the cause is fixed
Ongoing monitoring can continue after launch under software maintenance and managed support.
Where integrations fit in a larger project
Integrations are rarely a project on their own. They underpin B2B e-commerce platforms, CRM and customer portals and reporting in analytics dashboards. Planning them early avoids discovering at launch that two systems can’t exchange the data you assumed.
Integration methods and when to use them
| Method | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| REST / modern API | Real-time exchange with current platforms | Rate limits and version changes |
| Webhooks | Reacting instantly to events such as a paid order | Missed or duplicated deliveries |
| Scheduled sync | Large, non-urgent data such as nightly stock | Data is only as fresh as the schedule |
| File exchange (CSV/XML) | Older systems without an API | Format errors, manual handling |
Frequently asked questions
What is API integration?
API integration connects two or more software systems through their application programming interfaces so data moves between them automatically, without anyone re-typing it.
Which systems can you integrate?
Commonly accounting software, payment gateways, shipping and courier services, CRM, ERP, inventory systems and online storefronts. If a system has an API, or can export data reliably, it can usually be connected.
What happens when a sync fails?
Temporary failures are retried automatically. Records that still fail are held in a queue, the right person is alerted with a clear reason, and the records can be replayed once the cause is fixed.
Can you integrate a system that has no API?
Often, yes, through file exchange, scheduled exports or a small bridge. We assess the options during planning and recommend the most reliable one rather than the most impressive.
How do we avoid duplicate data between systems?
By deciding which system is the source of truth for each type of data, matching records with stable identifiers and defining one-way or two-way sync rules before building.
Tired of re-entering data between systems?
List the tools you use and we’ll map how they should connect.
Map My Integrations