Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working on integration strategy for companies of all shapes and sizes–from start-ups just starting to connect their systems to established SaaS companies tackling major scaling challenges. I’ve developed the strategy around integrations to platforms like SAP, Dynamics, Netsuite, and Salesforce (and the list goes on), and let me tell you–I’ve seen some beautifully orchestrated integrations…and some tangled messes that kept both engineers and me up at night.
In a recent webinar hosted by Pandium on How to Overcome and Avoid Integration Scaling Pains, I had the chance to talk with leaders managing large-scale integration projects on an important question: When is it time to reevaluate your integration strategy?
In this article I’m sharing five telltale signs that your strategy may need a second look.
As your company scales, so does the demand for new integrations. Each new integration requires careful handling of authentication protocols, infrastructure setup, and data flow management, which can quickly pile up on your team’s to-do list and create bottlenecks—and unmet demands often mean customer disappointment.
When prospects bring up the need for specific integrations during sales discussions, it’s not just a “nice-to-have.” Today’s B2B SaaS buyers expect connectivity with their existing tools, and the lack of it can delay or even derail deals.
“If you’re losing deals by not having integrations, it’s usually a good indicator that it’s time to make some changes there.” - Trevor Schueren, Director of Product Partnerships, Engine
These lost opportunities represent a gap between what you offer and what the market demands.
Quick-fix or ad hoc integrations may meet immediate needs, but over time, they create what I call a “spaghetti architecture”—an entangled mess that’s fragile, hard to scale, and expensive to maintain. This is especially true if integrations were built without a long-term vision for growth.
Picture this: a team that quickly patched together integrations to get products to market faster now finds itself dealing with constant sync issues and slowdowns as these connections are stressed by growth. The technical debt from these makeshift solutions compounds as the business scales, resulting in higher maintenance costs, frustrated engineers, and ultimately, slower progress.
As integration points multiply, data flows become harder to manage. Without solid monitoring, finding issues in real-time becomes a guessing game—and that’s risky business.
“If you’re starting to deal with hundreds of thousands or millions of data records, health checks and monitoring become critical.” - Venkat Iyer, Global Head of Platform Products & Integrations, Talkdesk
Picture your team scrambling to resolve data inconsistencies or troubleshoot integration failures without the tools to monitor what’s happening in real time. Without clear visibility, you’re in a constant state of reaction rather than prevention. And as data volume increases, so do the stakes—losing track of even minor data flows can result in larger disruptions and affect customer satisfaction.
With each new connection, your potential vulnerabilities rise, especially when sensitive data is on the line.
“Security isn’t something you can ‘set and forget’ with integrations. Each new data flow has the potential to introduce new vulnerabilities.” - Trevor Schueren, Director of Product Partnerships, Engine
When integration security isn’t treated as a priority, companies run the risk of data breaches or non-compliance, which can be devastating for both reputation and bottom line. It’s not enough to have secured integrations at launch; as the business scales and adds new integration points, regular security audits become essential.
If your organization is experiencing any of these five signs, it’s time to take a step back and rethink your integration strategy. Here’s how you can start building a more sustainable and scalable approach:
If integrations are important to your customers and overall business’ strategy, start treating integrations as a critical part of your product strategy, just like any feature or functionality. This means applying best practices like detailed planning, stakeholder alignment, and ongoing evaluation.
This involves understanding and managing the entire integration lifecycle (learn more about the integration lifecycle here), from ideation to ongoing support and iteration.
For a deeper dive into this process, check out our End-to-End Guide on Product Management for SaaS Integrations to see how to implement each stage effectively.
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If you're here you’re likely feeling the strain in delayed timelines and frustrated customers. Hiring more engineers can help, but it’s not always the answer if the expertise or the budget isn’t there.
To free up your team to focus on delivering value, consider leveraging an embedded integration platform to handle authentication, infrastructure management, and observability tools–allowing your team to be integration-ready. If you’re not sure where to begin, our team at Pandium can help.
Our platform and developer tools allow development teams to offload complexity and focus on efficiently coding the integration business logic. Reach out for a consultation to see how we can support your team.
Supporting integrations after launch isn’t always top of mind, but staying proactive can make a huge difference in avoiding issues down the line.
First, make sure you’re tracking changes from the APIs you integrate with. Many SaaS providers offer developer update emails—subscribe to them and stay on top of breaking changes, new features, or big product updates that could affect your integrations. If there’s no developer listserv, set up web alerts or lean on your SaaS partnership team for the latest news.
Next, set up robust alerting and reporting systems. Ideally, you’re using tools that can pinpoint issues quickly—like which integration is failing, what’s causing the issue, and which accounts are affected. Features like custom error logging, real-time alerts, and easy search functionality let you act fast and minimize downtime. If your team doesn’t have this yet, integrating with your organization’s APM (Application Performance Management) tool is a good place to start.
When your SaaS business is growing, deciding which integrations to prioritize can feel like a game of whack-a-mole. But without a clear strategy, you risk wasting resources on integrations that don’t deliver value.
Think about revenue generation, technical feasibility, customer satisfaction, and competitive positioning. For example, you can prioritize integrations based on:
This can help you focus on the integrations that will have the biggest impact, rather than chasing every opportunity.
Without clear requirements, you risk building solutions that miss customer needs, don’t fit your technical ecosystem, and will require costly rework.
Start by engaging stakeholders early and talking to end users to uncover their pain points. And, don’t overlook edge cases—these hidden complexities can derail progress if not accounted for upfront.
Incorporate a tech debt reduction plan by auditing existing integrations, identifying gaps, and designing modular, reusable components.
Need help getting started? Check out our Integration Requirements and Specification Documents blog for a step-by-step guide and a free template to simplify your planning process.
As your integration footprint grows, so does your responsibility to keep customer data secure and compliant with industry standards. A key focus should be on data segregation—don’t fall into the trap of mixing all your data together, which can lead to vulnerabilities.
Ensure data is encrypted both in transit and at rest to protect sensitive information. And when it comes to authentication, don’t try to manage it all yourself unless you have dedicated expertise. Authentication is notoriously complex, and outsourcing it to a reliable solution or team can save your team time and headaches while ensuring it's done right.
Scaling integrations doesn’t have to be a challenge. With the right strategy and tools in place, it’s an opportunity to drive growth and innovation. By recognizing these signs and making thoughtful adjustments, your SaaS company can stay ahead of demand, deliver value to customers, and build a resilient foundation for the future.
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