Connecting the apps you already use: small automations that add up

A new customer fills in the enquiry form on your website. Someone copies their details into the CRM. Later, when the job is confirmed, someone else types the same name, address and email into the accounts system to raise an invoice. Then a third person adds the job to the schedule in a shared spreadsheet.

None of it is difficult, and nobody minds doing it. But it's the same information typed three times, by three people, with three chances for a digit to slip. Multiply that across a week and it quietly adds up.

The good news is that most of the systems small businesses use can now pass information to each other, and many of the tools to do it are already included in what you pay for. This article explains how to spot the re-keying worth fixing, what small automations look like in practice, and how to keep them tidy so they stay helpful.

Spotting the re-keying worth fixing

The best automations start from a small, specific annoyance, not from a tool. A useful exercise is to follow one piece of information through the business and note every time a person copies it from one place to another.

Good signs that a task is worth automating:

• The same details are typed into more than one system
• Someone copies and pastes between email and a spreadsheet on a regular basis
• A task happens often and follows the same steps each time
• A delay or a missed step causes a knock-on problem (an invoice goes out late, a customer isn't told their order has shipped)
• People keep a personal checklist so they don't forget a step

Ask the team, too. The people doing the work usually know exactly which bits are tedious, and they'll often have a clear idea of how it should work.

What small automations look like

An automation, in this sense, is a simple rule: when something happens in one app, do something in another. "When a form is submitted, add a row to this list and email the office manager." No code, and usually a handful of steps.

Some everyday examples:

Each one saves a few minutes at a time. The bigger benefit is often consistency: the step always happens, in the same way, without relying on someone remembering.

The tools, and what you may already have

There are three broad routes, and many businesses use a mix.

Built-in integrations. Before reaching for anything else, check whether your systems already talk to each other. Many accounting, CRM, booking and e-commerce systems have ready-made connections listed in their own app marketplace or settings. These are usually the simplest and most reliable option, because the vendor maintains them.

Automation built into Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. If you use Microsoft 365, Power Automate is worth a look. Microsoft's licensing FAQ confirms that the Business Basic, Standard and Premium plans include Power Automate for flows that use standard connectors, which cover everyday Microsoft apps such as Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Excel, Teams and Forms. Connecting to many non-Microsoft systems uses "premium" connectors, which need a paid Power Automate licence. We supply Microsoft licences and know these tools well, but the right choice depends on your business.

If you use Google Workspace, Google launched Workspace Studio in December 2025 for building automations across Gmail, Drive, Sheets and other Workspace apps, with connections to some third-party services. Google lists it as available on its Business Starter, Standard and Plus editions, among others.

Standalone automation services. Tools such as Zapier and Make connect thousands of apps and are popular with small businesses because they're quick to set up. Both offer a free plan for trying things out. At the time of writing, Zapier's free plan covers 100 tasks a month with two-step automations, and Make's covers up to 1,000 credits a month with two active scenarios. Paid plans are priced on usage, so it's worth estimating how often an automation will run before committing.

There's no single right answer. A business that lives in Microsoft 365 will often start with Power Automate. One whose key systems are a mix of specialist apps may find a standalone service easier. The best choice is usually the one that connects your particular systems with the fewest moving parts.

Keeping automations documented and owned

Small automations are easy to create, which is both their strength and their risk. A year later, nobody remembers who set up the flow that emails customers, or why it stopped working when someone left.

A few simple habits keep things healthy:

• Keep a short list. For each automation, note what it does, which systems it touches, who owns it and where it lives. A shared document or a simple list is enough.
• Use a shared or service account where you can, rather than one person's login. If an automation runs under someone's personal account, it may stop when they leave or change their password.
• Name things clearly. "Website enquiry to CRM" beats "My flow 3".
• Check that failures get noticed. Most tools can email someone when a run fails. Make sure that someone is the owner.
• Mind the data. If an automation moves personal information, it should only move what's needed, to systems you've already approved. It's the same principle as in our AI use policy article.

This is ordinary housekeeping, much like the file tidying we described in getting your business information ready for AI, and it pays off in the same way.

When to use proper integration instead

Off-the-shelf automation tools handle a great deal, and they're the right place to start. Sometimes, though, a process outgrows them. Signs to look out for:

• Automations are chained together in ways that are hard to follow, and a failure in one breaks several others
• Large volumes of records move each day, and usage-based pricing is climbing
• The data needs careful checking or transformation along the way, for example matching customers between systems that store them differently
• A system you rely on has no ready-made connector
• The process is central enough to the business that it needs testing and support like any other important system

At that point, a properly designed integration, built and documented as a small piece of software, can be simpler and more dependable overall. That doesn't mean starting again. The list of automations you've kept and the processes you've mapped are exactly what a good integration is built from.

You may also have heard about AI agents, which can take on more varied tasks than a fixed rule. They're promising, and we'll cover them soon, but for most re-keying problems a simple, predictable automation is still the better first tool.

A sensible first step

This week, pick one piece of information that moves through your business, such as a new enquiry or a supplier invoice, and follow it from start to finish. Write down every point where someone types or copies it.

Then choose the single most repetitive step and check whether your systems already offer a built-in integration for it. If not, try building it in the automation tool that fits your setup, using a test record first. Add it to your list, with an owner, and see how it feels after a month.

If you'd like help finding the automations that will make the most difference, or connecting systems that don't quite fit together, our Software & Integration service is a good place to start, and we're always happy to talk it through.