Welcome to Elevated the Snackable Weekly podcast, helping kitchen and bath designers build a better business. I'm your host Brandi Lawson, and in this episode we're talking about something that can make or break your software success integrations. You know, that moment in kitchen design when you realize the. Fancy new smart fridge won't actually connect to the home automation system the client already has. Yeah. Software integrations are like that, except for an instead of an annoyed client. You get an entire team ready to revolt. Let me tell you about Michelle's Adventure in integration land. Picture this, she just invested in this amazing project management system, uh, monday.com if you're curious. Everything was perfect. Task management, project tracking, even client communications. And then grab your worksheet@fieryeffects.com slash choose if you haven't yet, because Michelle's story is about to save you from making a $10,000 mistake. First up, let's talk about the non-negotiables. Here's the golden rule of software integration. If it doesn't play nice with your email and files. It's a no go full stop. No exceptions. Michelle learned this the hard way. Her new system advertised Gmail integration, but guess what? That only meant? It could trigger automated emails. Want to see client emails in your project workspace? Sorry. That's a whole different product. Ah, so then let's talk about your integration investigation checklist Before you fall in love with any software, ask these questions. One, does it truly integrate with your office suite, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365 email, sending and receiving calendar, syncing, file storage, access, and contact management. All right, number two, how deep do those integrations go? Is it one way or two way sync? Real time or delayed direct integration or duct tape solution. Um, speaking of duct tape, let's talk about Zapier, what I lovingly call the duct tape of the internet. When software companies say we integrate with everything, what they often mean is you can make it work with Zapier. And that's like saying your kitchen has unlimited storage because you can always add shelves in the garage. Sure, it's possible, but is that really what you want? Let's talk about an information flow map. Here's an exercise to help you visualize your information flow, drawing your business, like processes like water flowing through pipes. So let's start with a lead coming in through the website that flows into A CRM. Then that converts to a proposal. Then that becomes an active project, and then it flows to accounting. Now, if we did this, we'll Mark every place where information needs to jump from one system to another. Those are your integration points. So let's talk about a real world example. Sarah's firm thought they had it all figured out. Beautiful new CRM, fancy project management system, shiny proposal software. But here's what actually happened. Leads from the website had to be manually entered into the CRM Boo proposals had to be recreated from scratch in a different system. Project details had to be copied over by hand, and the team ended up spending 15 hours per week just moving information around. So we need to do a little bit of a reality check here for each integration claim. Ask, is this a native integration or a third party? Then what exactly sinks and what doesn't? Next, how much does the integration cost? And finally, who maintains it when things break? So a little bit of homework for you. List every piece of software you currently use. This is gonna be important at any time, but make sure you have this list. Next map where information needs to flow between those systems. Third, calculate how much time you spend moving information manually. And fourth, check if your must have new software can actually integrate with those systems at those points. Pro tip. Don't trust the integrations page on the software's website. If an integration is critical to your business, ask for a demo of the specific integration you need. Make them show you how it works exactly. Remember Michelle after the Gmail integration surprise. She asked better questions about other integrations. Discovered her perfect system needed, uh, $400 a month, and additional integration tools. Found a simpler solution that had native integrations with everything she needed and ultimately saved time and money. Next up, we're talking about red plugs and green lights and software selection, but for now, let's make sure your systems can actually talk to each other, ready to map out your integration needs. Head tofi effects.com/choose. Grab that worksheet and let's make sure your software plays nice together.