Data Integration ROI
Working out data integration ROI starts with what re-keying costs you now. Here's how to tell whether connecting your systems will pay for itself.
- 20+ years connecting business systems
- Works with Xero, MYOB and the systems you already use
- Fixed quote after a free chat
What Disconnected Systems Actually Cost You
Your team retypes orders, invoices and customer details from one system into another. Everyone knows it happens, but few businesses know what it costs. And it isn't only the typing: there are the mistakes, the decisions made on old numbers, the slow month-end, and the chances missed because nobody had the right figures in time.
We connect your systems so that information goes across on its own. Below is where the costs come from, so you can judge whether fixing it would pay for itself.
The Hidden Costs of Manual Processes
Most businesses don't track these costs, but they add up.
Staff Time Spent Re-Keying
Staff typing the same information into more than one system: invoices, orders, stock counts, customer details. For example, if it added up to 10 hours a week at $40 an hour including on-costs, that would be about $20,800 a year. Use your own figures.
Fixing Mistakes
Typing things in by hand causes mistakes. Each one means tracking it down, fixing it, explaining it to a customer, and sometimes adjusting the accounts.
Decisions Made on Old Numbers
When reports take days to put together, decisions get made on old figures. Opportunities are missed, problems grow, and you find out about things after the fact.
A Slower Month-End
Making figures from separate systems agree slows down month-end. Your finance team spends its time matching records instead of looking at the results.
Most of these costs go unnoticed because they are spread across several people and accepted as "just how we work."
Signs It Would Pay for Itself
If any of these sound like your business, it is worth getting a quote to connect your systems:
- Staff spend part of every week typing information from one system into another
- Your month-end drags on while someone makes the figures agree
- You have had invoicing or ordering mistakes caused by retyping
- Management reports are put together by hand from several places each week
- You run several business systems that don't share information automatically
- Stock counts in your system don't match what is on the shelves
Frequently Asked Questions
Add up what the manual work costs now: staff time spent re-keying and reconciling, time spent fixing errors, and how long you wait for reports. Then compare it with the cost of building and running the integration. For many businesses the biggest saving comes from no longer typing the same thing into two systems, followed by a quicker month-end. Our Process & Systems Audit works this out from your own figures.
It depends on how much manual work the integration removes, so we work it out from your own figures rather than quote a typical number. Connecting two systems (for example your CRM, the software that holds your customers and sales pipeline, to your accounts) usually pays for itself sooner because it costs less to build. Bigger projects that connect several systems take longer to pay back, but keep saving as more manual steps disappear.
It depends on how many systems are involved (connecting Xero to a CRM is a much smaller job than connecting five systems), how much information moves, and how much has to be built. So we look at your setup first and give you a fixed quote after a free initial chat. If you want a deeper look first, our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit gives you a written report.
Often, yes. Smaller businesses feel manual work more, because the people doing the data entry are the same people who should be serving customers and bringing in revenue. If your team spends a real part of each week moving information between systems by hand, it is worth getting a quote.
Accounting software (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks), CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot), larger business systems (NetSuite, SAP, MYOB Advanced), online stores (Shopify, WooCommerce), stock systems (Cin7, Unleashed), project tools, HR and payroll systems, and in-house databases. If a system lets other software connect to it, or can export its data, we can usually connect it.
Want to Know If It Would Pay for Itself?
Our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit looks at your actual systems, processes and team, and gives you a written estimate of what connecting them would save and cost, with figures you can take to your board. Or start with a free initial chat.