The Integration Layer Your Business Is Missing

Your systems don’t talk to each other.

You know this. You’ve known it for years. Every workaround, every manual export, every “Can someone check if this synced?”—all symptoms of the same problem. You’re missing an integration layer.

The Point-to-Point Problem

Here’s how most businesses connect their systems: You need the POS to talk to inventory. You build a connection. POS → Inventory. Done. Then you need the ecommerce platform to talk to inventory too. Another connection. Ecommerce → Inventory. Then you need POS to talk to accounting. POS → Accounting.

Then ecommerce needs to talk to accounting. And to the warehouse. And to the email marketing platform. Every system talks directly to other systems. Point-to-point connections everywhere.

The math problem:

With 3 systems, you need up to 3 connections.
With 5 systems, you need up to 10 connections.
With 10 systems, you need up to 45 connections.

.Complexity grows exponentially. The formula is:

But it’s not just the number of connections. It’s that each connection is custom. Each one has its own logic. Its own failure modes. Its own maintainer. When something breaks, you’re debugging a spiderweb.

What an Integration Layer Is

An integration layer is a hub. Everything connects to the hub. The hub handles the logic. Every system connects once—to the layer. The layer handles everything else.

With 10 systems:

• Point-to-point: up to 45 connections
• Integration layer: 10 connections

But the benefit isn’t just fewer connections. It’s where the logic lives.

Without an integration layer: Business logic is scattered. “When an order comes in, update inventory, then notify warehouse, then create a shipping label, then email the customer” lives across four different connections. Each one maintained separately.

With an integration layer: That logic lives in one place. When requirements change, you update one thing. When it breaks, you look in one place. When someone new joins, they learn one system.

What It Looks Like in Practice

Example: Order flow without integration layer

1. Customer places order on website
2. Ecommerce sends order to POS (custom webhook)
3. POS updates inventory (native integration, sometimes lags)
4. Someone manually exports orders to accounting (daily CSV)
5. Someone manually creates shipping labels (copy-paste)
6. Warehouse picks based on printed list (generated from ecommerce, misses POS orders)

Three manual steps. Two custom integrations. Multiple sources of truth. When something goes wrong, nobody knows which system is correct.

Same flow with integration layer

1. Customer places order on website
2. Ecommerce sends order to integration layer
3. Integration layer: Creates unified order record, updates inventory in real-time, syncs to accounting, generates shipping label, sends to warehouse system, triggers customer email
4. All systems reflect the same order data

One event. One flow. One source of truth. When something breaks, you check the integration layer logs. When requirements change, you update the integration layer logic. When you add a new system, it connects to the existing layer.

How to Build One

Building an integration layer doesn’t require starting from scratch. It’s about organizing what you already have.

Step 1: Map your current flows

Before building anything, document what exists. Every connection. Every manual step. Every export-import cycle. Create a diagram. It’ll be ugly. That’s the point. You need to see the spiderweb before you can untangle it.

Step 2: Identify your core entities

What are the things that move between systems? For most businesses: Orders, Customers, Products, Inventory, Payments. These are your core entities. Your integration layer will handle how these entities flow between systems.

Step 3: Define the canonical schema

Each core entity needs a standard format. When an order enters the integration layer, what fields does it have? What’s required? What’s optional? This schema becomes the contract. All systems translate to and from this format.

Step 4: Choose your approach

Three options:

Option A: iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service)
Tools like Make, Zapier, Workato, Tray. Good for non-technical teams and quick wins. Watch out for costs at scale.

Option B: Custom middleware
Build it yourself with code. Good for complex logic and full control. Watch out for engineering investment.

Option C: Hybrid
iPaaS for simple flows, custom code for complex ones. Good for most mid-market businesses. Needs clear boundaries between the two.

Step 5: Start with one flow

Don’t try to integrate everything at once. Pick your most painful flow. The one that causes the most manual work or the most errors. Build that integration properly. Get it running. Learn from it. Then do the next one. Each integration you add to the layer makes the next one easier.

The Compounding Effect

Here’s what happens over time:

Month 1: You integrate orders from ecommerce to inventory. It’s work. You’re building the layer.

Month 3: You integrate orders from POS. Half the work—the inventory side already exists.

Month 6: You add a new sales channel. A few hours of work—everything downstream is handled.

Year 2: New warehouse system. One connection to the layer. Everything flows automatically.

This is systems-first design. Each integration makes the next one easier. You’re not adding complexity. You’re reducing it.

First Thing Tomorrow

You don’t need to build a full integration layer today. But you can start.

1. List your systems. Every tool that holds business data. POS, inventory, accounting, ecommerce, CRM, email, warehouse, shipping. All of them.
2. Draw the connections. How does data move between them? Include the manual steps. Especially the manual steps.
3. Count the integrations. How many point-to-point connections do you have? How many manual exports?
4. Find the messiest flow. The one with the most steps. The most errors. The most “can someone check this?” That’s your starting point.
5. Ask the question: If we had one place where all data flowed through, what would that look like?

You don’t need to answer it today. But asking it changes how you see the problem.

The Bottom Line

Your systems don’t talk to each other because you’ve been connecting them point-to-point. Each connection adds complexity. Each workaround adds friction. Each new tool makes everything harder. The fix isn’t better connections. It’s a layer that handles all of them. Build the layer. Every system gets easier.

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Need help building your integration layer? We design and implement the connections that make your systems work together. Let’s talk.