Connecting your business software
Get the software you already pay for working together
Most businesses have decent tools: one for quotes, one for jobs, one for the accounts, plus a few spreadsheets. The trouble is the gaps between them, where people copy details across by hand. We connect them, so information moves on its own.
In short
Propel connects the business software that owner-managed companies already use, including quoting, job management, CRM, calendars, spreadsheets and accounting packages. Customer and job details are entered once and passed between systems. We check what each tool supports, set up the connections and add checks that catch anything that doesn’t match.
Sound familiar?
Signs it’s worth a conversation
Any one of these is a good reason to talk. They’re common, and they’re usually fixable without turning the business upside down.
- The same customer and job details get typed into three different systems.
- Your job system and your accounts disagree about what’s been done and what’s been invoiced.
- Someone spends part of every week exporting and re-importing spreadsheets.
- Mistakes creep in from copying details across by hand.
- You’ve tried a connector tool, and it breaks without anyone noticing.
What we do
How we help with connecting your business software
Work out what lives where
We agree which system should own each piece of information, such as customers, jobs, prices and invoices, and where else it needs to go.
Use built-in connections first
Many tools already integrate with each other. Where they do, we set that up properly before building anything new.
Build the missing links
Where there’s no ready-made connection, we build one using each tool’s own integration options, so information moves automatically.
Make problems visible
Connections sometimes fail. We set up checks and alerts so a mismatch is noticed and fixed straight away, not discovered at month end.
What it could look like
A contract cleaning company
An illustrative example, not a client result. What makes sense for you depends on how your work actually runs.
Each new contract was typed into the CRM, then the rota spreadsheet, then the accounts package, by three different people.
A signed contract creates the site in the rota and the customer in the accounts automatically. One person checks the details once.
How it works
From a first call to a change in daily use
You’ll know what we’re suggesting, and what it would cost, before any work starts.
We talk
A 30-minute call about how your operation works and what you’d like to be easier.
We look at how the work runs
We spend time with you and the people doing the work, and look at the tools, sheets and messages you use day to day.
We agree what to change
We suggest what would help most, in plain terms, with what’s involved and what it would cost, before anything starts.
We put it in place
We set things up, connect and build what’s needed, show your team how it works and adjust it once it’s in daily use.
Questions
Questions about connecting your business software
Which business software can you connect?
Most mainstream business software can be connected, including job management, CRM, calendar, spreadsheet and accounting tools, as long as it offers a way to share information, such as a built-in integration or an API. We check what your specific tools support before suggesting anything.
Will we have to replace any of our tools?
Usually not. The aim is to make the tools you already use work together. If one of them can’t connect, or is the cause of the problem, we’ll explain the options and costs first.
What happens if a connection breaks?
We set up checks so failures and mismatches are flagged to someone instead of going unnoticed. We also document how each connection works, so it can be looked after.
Is connecting software the same as using AI?
Usually not. Most of this work is about reliable connections between systems. Where AI genuinely helps, such as reading details from emails or documents, we’ll suggest it, with a person checking anything that matters.
Related
Often goes hand in hand with
- Automating repetitive adminReminders, confirmations, follow-ups and paperwork that happen on their own.
- Reporting and management informationRegular reports that mostly put themselves together from the records you already keep.
- Internal tools and custom softwareA small, focused tool built around how you work, when off-the-shelf software doesn’t fit.
Talk to us about connecting your business software
Book a 30-minute introductory call. Bring an example of something that takes more effort than it should, or just tell us how a normal week goes.