Finding the Right Integration Approach
Different projects need different solutions. We help Taiwan businesses understand their options and pick what actually works for their situation, not just what sounds impressive.
Off-the-Shelf Solutions
Pre-built platforms like Zapier or Make work great when your needs align with their templates. They're fast to set up and don't require technical knowledge.
But here's what we've noticed after working with dozens of Taiwan businesses: they hit walls around month three. Custom workflows start requiring workarounds. Data doesn't map quite right. Costs climb as you add more tasks.
- Quick initial setup, usually under a day
- Monthly costs scale with usage volume
- Limited to available connectors and templates
- Can struggle with Taiwan-specific services
Custom API Integration
Building direct connections between your systems gives you complete control. You decide exactly how data flows, when it syncs, and what happens when something goes wrong.
It takes longer upfront. A typical custom integration for a Taiwan e-commerce business might take three weeks instead of three hours. But you're not fighting against someone else's assumptions about how your business should work.
- Designed specifically for your workflow
- One-time development cost, minimal ongoing fees
- Works with any service that has an API
- You own the code and can modify it
What Actually Matters
Forget the marketing talk about seamless and revolutionary. After seven years working with Taiwan businesses, we've learned that three things determine whether an integration succeeds.
First: does it handle your actual volume? Not theoretical capacity, but your real daily load during peak season. Second: can someone on your team understand what's happening when data doesn't sync? Third: what breaks when one system updates their API?
Those questions tell you more than any feature comparison chart. We had a client in Taipei who picked a platform with 47 integrations listed. They needed five. What they didn't have was good error logging, which cost them three days tracking down a payment sync issue.
How Projects Actually Unfold
Understanding Your Current Mess
Most businesses come to us with systems that barely talk to each other. We spend a week mapping what you actually do, not what you think you do. This phase reveals where data gets manually copied, what reports you can't generate, and which processes everyone secretly hates.
Picking the Right Tool
Sometimes we recommend against custom development. If your needs are straightforward and you're using popular platforms, off-the-shelf tools might serve you better. We've had clients save 80% by using a template solution. Others needed custom work because their Taiwan suppliers used specific systems that no platform supports well.
Building and Testing
Development happens in stages. We connect one system first, make sure it works under load, then add the next. This takes longer than building everything at once, but you're not stuck with broken connections across your entire operation if something goes wrong. Testing includes what happens when APIs are slow, when data is malformed, when your internet drops.
Running in Production
Going live means monitoring everything closely for the first month. APIs change. Services have outages. We catch issues before they cascade. By month two, most integrations settle into reliable patterns. You'll know what normal looks like and when something needs attention.
Questions We Hear Often
Real answers based on actual projects, not marketing promises
How long until we see results?
If you're automating manual data entry, usually within a week of going live. More complex workflows where you're changing business processes might take two months before everyone's comfortable with the new system. The technical part is faster than the human adjustment part.
What if our systems change?
They will. Plan on it. Good integration design includes version handling and fallback options. When one of your platforms updates their API, you need to know about it before things break. We set up monitoring that catches these changes early, usually giving you weeks to adjust instead of discovering problems when data stops flowing.
Can we start small and expand?
That's usually the smart approach. Connect your two most painful systems first. Once that's stable and you're seeing benefits, add the next connection. Trying to integrate everything at once is how projects stall out. We had a retail client start with just inventory sync, then add orders, then customer data over six months.
What happens when you're not available?
Good question. Custom integrations should include documentation your team can understand. Not technical specs, but explanations of what each connection does and what to check when something seems off. We also set up monitoring alerts that tell you specifically what's wrong, not just that something failed.
Let's Figure Out What Works for You
I'm Linnea, and I've spent the last five years helping Taiwan businesses connect their systems. Every situation is different. What worked perfectly for a logistics company might be completely wrong for a retail chain.
We can look at your current setup and give you honest recommendations. Sometimes that means building custom integrations. Sometimes it means using existing tools better. Either way, you'll know what you're getting into before committing to anything.
Real-World Scenario
We worked with a Taipei-based distributor who was spending fifteen hours weekly copying orders from their web platform into their accounting system. They looked at automation platforms first, found one that claimed to support both systems.
The platform worked for basic orders but couldn't handle their tax calculations for different Taiwan regions or their bulk discount structure. They would have needed to simplify their pricing model to fit the template.
Instead, we built a custom integration that handled their exact pricing logic, including special cases for corporate clients and seasonal promotions. Development took three weeks. They recouped the cost in saved labor within four months, and they didn't have to change how they do business to fit someone else's template.
