Web Development
Third-Party Integrations
Connecting products you already own. Building an API for others to consume is a different service, and so is a bespoke integration between systems that were never designed to talk.
Third-party integration connects the systems you already pay for so data stops being retyped between them. The Nexclick maps which system owns which field before building anything, because integrations fail on that question far more often than on anything technical.
Is this you?
What usually prompts the call
- Someone spends an hour a day copying data between two systems you pay for.
- Your website enquiries arrive by email and get typed into the CRM manually.
- Sales figures in the CRM and the accounts do not agree and nobody can say why.
- You bought a tool partly for its integration and the integration does not do what you assumed.
What we do
The actual deliverables
Things that appear on an invoice, not adjectives.
- Establish field ownership first
- Which system is authoritative for each piece of data, and what happens when they disagree. A business decision, and the one integrations most often fudge.
- Assess native integrations honestly
- Many products integrate natively or through an automation platform. Where that covers it, we will say so — it costs a fraction and someone else maintains it.
- Automation platform configuration
- n8n, Make or Zapier where the connection is standard. Faster and cheaper than custom, and genuinely adequate for most connections.
- Custom integration where needed
- Direct API work where volume, logic or reliability demands it, with retries, idempotency and a rejection queue rather than fire-and-forget.
- Reconciliation
- A way to detect drift between two systems. Any long-running connection drifts, and one with no reconciliation drifts invisibly until someone notices the numbers are wrong.
- Monitoring and alerting
- Failures surfaced within minutes. A silently broken integration is worse than none, because everyone continues to trust the data.
- Documentation for whoever is on call
- What it does, what it assumes, and what to check when it breaks. Written for someone who did not build it.
Decision tree
Native, automation platform, or custom?
Custom integration is the most expensive option and frequently unnecessary. Work down in order — the first match is usually the right answer, and the first three cost a fraction of the last.
01Both products list each other as a native integration
Use it. Check what it actually syncs first — native integrations are often narrower than the marketing suggests — but if it covers your fields, you are done.
02The connection is standard and volume is modest
Zapier or Make. Configured in hours, maintained by them, and adequate for the overwhelming majority of business connections.
03You need conditional logic or data transformation in between
n8n or Make with branching. Still far cheaper than custom, and you can change it yourself afterwards.
04Volume is high enough that per-task pricing becomes expensive
Custom, or self-hosted n8n. Automation platforms price per task and the maths turns against them at scale.
05The data is sensitive and you cannot route it through a third party
Custom, or self-hosted. A legitimate compliance reason rather than a technical one.
06Reliability genuinely matters — orders, payments, clinical data
Custom, with proper retries, idempotency and monitoring. A silent no-code failure is harder to detect and harder to replay.
07One system has no API at all
File exchange or database access if permitted. Fragile, and sometimes the honest recommendation is to change the system.
How it works
Step by step, with timeframes
Timeframes are typical rather than guaranteed, and they assume we get account access and approvals when we ask.
- 01Week 1
Map data and ownership
What moves where, which system wins on conflict, and what volumes are involved.
- 02Week 1–2
Choose the approach
Native, automation platform or custom. We will recommend the cheapest option that genuinely meets the requirement.
- 03Week 2–5
Build and handle failures
Connection built with retries and a rejection queue, then tested against real data including the awkward records.
- 04Week 5–6
Monitor and hand over
Alerting configured, documentation written, and a supervised period before it runs unattended.
What you get
Reporting and ownership
- A data ownership map, agreed by you, stating which system wins on conflict.
- An honest recommendation on native versus automation platform versus custom.
- Retry and rejection handling, so a failed record is queued rather than lost.
- Alerting within minutes of failure, not discovery at month end.
- Documentation written for whoever is on call, not for whoever built it.
Tools and platforms
- n8n, Make or Zapier
- Native product APIs
- Node.js for custom connectors
- Webhook infrastructure with retry queues
- Sentry or equivalent monitoring
Timeline
How long this actually takes
Two to three weeks for an automation platform configuration, five to six for a custom integration. The variable is the system at the other end rather than ours. Worth knowing before you commission anything: for a large share of enquiries the honest answer is that a native integration or a Zapier connection already does this, and it costs a fraction of custom work. We check that first and say so when it is true. Where custom is genuinely needed, budget for maintenance — the other side will change their API eventually.
Pricing model
Fixed-price project
Fixed price after a short scoping call. Automation platform work is priced considerably lower than custom, and we will recommend it wherever it genuinely suffices.
Questions
Third-Party Integrations questions
Is Zapier good enough?
For most business connections, yes. It is configured in hours, maintained by them, and covers an enormous range of products. The arguments for custom are high volume where per-task pricing bites, sensitive data you cannot route externally, and cases where a silent failure would be costly.
Both our tools claim to integrate already. Why does it not work?
Native integrations are frequently narrower than the marketing implies — they sync some fields, in one direction, at intervals. Checking exactly what a native integration covers is the first thing we do, and it often reveals a small gap rather than a missing connection.
What happens when a record fails to sync?
With proper handling, it is retried and then queued for review with the reason attached. Without it, the record is silently lost and everyone keeps trusting the data. The rejection queue is unglamorous and it is the difference between an integration and a liability.
Which system should own the customer record?
That is your decision and we will insist you make it explicitly. It is a business question, not a technical one, and integrations that leave it ambiguous produce arguments about which record is correct six months later — usually during a reconciliation nobody enjoys.
How do we know it is still working?
Monitoring that alerts on failure, plus periodic reconciliation comparing record counts on both sides. Integrations that fail loudly get fixed; the dangerous ones fail quietly and are discovered when the numbers stop matching.
How is this different from API development?
This connects products you already own, usually through existing APIs. API development builds an interface for others to consume, or a bespoke integration between systems that were never designed to talk. Different scope, different cost, which is why they are separate services.
Last reviewed 28 July 2026.
Tell us what you are trying to fix
A 20-minute call, no pitch deck. The Nexclick will tell you what we would do, roughly what it costs, and whether we are the right people for it.