Northbound Freight
A shipment portal built over an existing transport management system, so customers can answer their own status questions.
Self-service replaces status calls
03 · Build
Digital systems, integration and automation
Most businesses do not have a software problem. They have a joining problem: a CRM, an ERP, a store, a helpdesk, a finance package and three spreadsheets, none of which agree with each other, connected by people copying values between screens.
This is the work that rarely appears in a portfolio and almost always produces the clearest return – because the cost of the gaps is already being paid, in hours, every week.
What disconnected systems cost
The cost is usually invisible in the accounts because it is distributed across everybody's week. It surfaces as re-keyed data, reconciliation, and reporting that is out of date by the time it is read.
- The same customer record exists in three systems with three different spellings.
- Orders are re-entered by hand between the store and the ERP.
- A monthly report takes two days to assemble.
- Nobody can answer a straightforward question without exporting to a spreadsheet first.
- A supplier quoted for an integration and could not explain what happens when it fails.
- A process runs on a scheduled task that one person maintains and nobody else understands.
What we do
API development
Well-documented REST APIs over your data and processes, with authentication, versioning, rate limiting and error semantics that let other systems integrate without guessing.
System integration
Connecting CRM, ERP, e-commerce, helpdesk, marketing, accounting and logistics systems – through native APIs where they exist and through an integration layer where they do not.
Data synchronisation
Keeping records consistent across systems with an explicit source of truth per field, defined conflict resolution, and reconciliation you can inspect rather than trust.
Process automation
Removing manual steps from repeated workflows: order routing, document generation, notifications, approvals, data validation and scheduled operations.
Dashboards and reporting systems
Operational and analytical dashboards built on the joined data, so reporting is a query rather than a two-day assembly job.
Legacy system modernisation
Putting a documented interface in front of a system that cannot be replaced yet, so the rest of the estate can move forward without waiting for it.
Diagram
How we build integrations
Integrations fail at the edges, not in the happy path. Our approach is mostly about the edges.
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Name the source of truth for every field Written down, field by field, before any code. Most integration disasters are two systems both believing they own the same value.
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Design for the failure cases The API will be down, the record will be malformed, the job will run twice, and the network will time out after the write but before the acknowledgement. Idempotency, retries with backoff, dead-letter handling and alerting are part of the build, not a later hardening phase.
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Make it observable Every sync is logged and inspectable. When someone asks why an order did not reach the ERP, the answer should take a minute, not a day.
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Reconcile, do not assume Scheduled reconciliation that compares both sides and reports divergence. Systems drift; the question is whether you find out from a report or from a customer.
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Automate the process that is worth automating We measure the manual effort first. Automating a process that runs twice a month is usually the wrong investment, and we will say so.
What you receive
- Integration architecture and data flow documentation
- Field-level source-of-truth mapping
- Working integrations with monitoring and alerting
- Documented API with authentication and versioning
- Reconciliation reporting
- Automated workflows with an audit trail
- Operational runbook for the people who support it
- Handover documentation and training
How this runs
Every engagement follows the same sequence, with a defined output at each stage and nothing proceeding on an assumption that has not been written down. Build work sits inside that process rather than alongside it.
Common questions
Our systems are old and poorly documented. Can you still integrate them?
Usually. Where there is no API, options include a database-level integration, file exchange, or a documented service layer built in front of the legacy system. We assess feasibility in a short technical review before quoting.
Why not use an off-the-shelf integration platform?
Often you should, and we will recommend it when it fits. Those platforms are strong for standard connectors and simple mappings, and weak where the logic is specific to your business or the volume makes per-operation pricing expensive. It is a cost and complexity decision, not an ideological one.
How do you handle sensitive data?
Least-privilege access, encryption in transit, secrets held outside the codebase, no production data in development environments, and logging that records the operation without recording the payload. Specific regulatory requirements are scoped explicitly during discovery.
Related services
Systems that do not talk to each other?
Tell us which systems and what gets re-typed between them. We can usually tell you what the fix looks like from that alone.
Or email hello@applystudio.com – we reply within one business day.