When (and How) to Connect Your Business Tools

The right tools can make your business run smoother, but only if they work together in a way that makes sense.

In this episode, we dive into the question: Should all your tools talk to each other? The truth is, not every system needs to be connected and sometimes forcing it can actually create more problems than it solves.

We share how to think strategically about tool integration so you can stay lean, efficient, and focused on growth without creating a Frankenstein tech stack.

We cover:

• Why integration isn’t always the answer and when it actually hurts
• How to choose tools that connect easily right from the start
• When to use third-party platforms like Zapier to simplify automation
• The difference between connecting tools for workflow vs. reporting
• Why modern SaaS platforms often beat older legacy systems
• How to keep your tech stack simple, scalable, and aligned with your processes

If your tools feel scattered or you’ve been wondering how much integration is really necessary, this conversation will help you decide what to connect and what to leave alone.

Feeling overwhelmed by too many tools or not sure how to connect them? Book a free strategy call with us. We’ll help you choose, connect, and optimize the systems that actually support your business growth.

“Simple, scalable, and strategic beats complicated every single time.” – Jores Minasvand

Transcript for “Should All Your Tools Talk to Each Other?”

The transcript below was automatically generated. Please ignore any errors or inconsistencies in the text.

Anna Angelova   0:04
Happy almost Friday. Well, it’s Thursday and this is more than just Task Management, your favorite daily podcast where we help you build a thriving business with me, Anna Angelova, business coaching consultant.

Jores Minasvand   0:05
Friday.
Well.

Anna Angelova   0:22
And my co-host Joris Minaswan, the business consultant. Hey, Joris, happy Thursday.

Jores Minasvand   0:28
Good day, beautiful Thursday in August. Everybody is happy and we are all happy. And here we are talk about another aspect of our building and running our our businesses.
To the best ability that we can and hopefully help our audience learn a little bit more and apply it to their daily business. And if they need help, contact us and we will hear it to help. So let’s jump right in and what is the topic for today?

Anna Angelova   1:02
The topic for today is connecting your tools so they can talk to each other, like especially when you’re starting. But even if you have an established business, you might have some tools that don’t talk to each other. So how do you do this? And I’ll start with the easiest way, especially again when you.
Are just starting is to make sure before you get the next two is to make sure that it talks to your previous one. Like for for example Stripe as a payment processing it can be connected with MailChimp. Interestingly you need to pay for some of the connection.
But it can also be connected like with mail team for example, or which is of course how you send emails to your people, to your e-mail list, where you keep your e-mail list and send emails to them. So ultimately the easiest way is to make sure that when you.
Add start adding those two, start adding those apps that they have the integration with whatever you already have or it might not be everything because like not every system needs to talk to every other system, but wherever you need it they they have this. So this is the simplest and easiest way.
Do your research before you purchase a tool to make sure that it connects, that there are API or whatever it is that allows you to easily connect these and they talk to each other. So when someone schedules a call with you, this shows up in the CRM for example and then this thing.
And go to the next system and so on and so on. So this is where I would start and oh, of course another one, because not every single system talks to every single other system. And sometimes as much as we would love to have this, it’s not, it’s not available and that’s why there are.
Things like there are solutions out there that integrate these tools to each with each other and allow for even for us to create certain rules for how how the information from one tool flows to the other tool.
And one example is Zapier. So Zapier of course for the robust features you need to get a paid version, but Zapier ultimately allows you when something happens in one system.
You can create those Zaps where it’s ultimately telling what needs to happen for another system. And again, simple example when someone schedules a call with you, what needs to happen in the CRM.
This is just a simple example. So again, this is where I’ll start and I’m curious to hear Joris, what you have to add on this topic.

Jores Minasvand   3:56
Yeah, I think you mentioned first we need to list what systems need to connect to others because integrated systems are more expensive. We have to accept it and if you.
By a platform and it’s integrated with five other platforms. It’s more expensive than a standalone system. So first you need to understand where and why you need your systems integrated if the data really needs to connect and.
Be continuous process, for example from onboarding a client in your CRM to sending the invoice to paying your profit share to your partner. If this is the stuff that you need, yes you need connected systems, but in a lot of cases we actually the connection that we need.
The need for is actually for the data to be integrated, for us to understand all of this data in one place and having integrated a number of large number of systems into each other for reporting, you it’s more expensive, it’s very expensive to integrate systems.
Uh.
But if you need the data for reporting, you’ll need to integrate the systems. You can grab the data from different places, put it into a a, I don’t know, warehouse, lake, whatever they call it today these days, and then integrate that data and report on it. But if you truly need your systems connected.
Like I said, you need to understand which and why. And the second thing is that the on Prem legacy systems are more difficult and costly to integrate with other systems, but if you are.
Getting an online subscription based SaaS based platform and you’re subscribing to it. Those are either already are there, you just have to go up one tier to have that connection integration.
Or they’re much more easier to be integrated with other systems. And I think we talked about this before, Anna, where we found for one of our law firm clients in California, we found a CRM that actually.
Does document management on top of customer management. They do document management, but they’re also connected to the court system, whatever state you’re in, and they allow you to submit documents to the court system.
If you’re starting, you don’t have applications and and platforms and you know that you need integration, we recommend you go with the SAS based platform subscription.
And if you have systems already and you’re a mature business and most of them are on Prem, you need to do an analysis of do I really need them connected? What is the purpose if it’s not an part of my standard operating procedure and I don’t need disconnected and I only need the data.
Then it becomes much easier.

Anna Angelova   7:19
And I know there is a lot we are sharing today and in general in some of these topics and this is the thing where systems really, really help and there’s a lot of options that make our life easier. They do add a level of complexity and I agree with what you were saying, Joris, that now.
Nowadays actually, especially again, especially if you’re just starting your business. Nowadays there are quite a few solutions, not just for lawyers, even we use Freedom Kit as a full CRM where it has you can even build your website there. The CRM is there.
Scheduling capability and functionalities there, quizzes, everything is in there. It has so much into this one tool and of course it’s ultimately what do you call it?
Do you call it white labeled or or something?
Yeah, I think you call it the white level because ultimately Freedom Kit doesn’t have their own CRM. They’re using go high level and and just adding connecting it with other tools as well. So this is another option and I’m grateful that you actually brought this one up as an example that especially as you are.
Starting this is a great option to get something that has already connected all these things into one cohesive place. And like for our for us, Freedom Kit is amazing because for consultants, coaches, I think it’s a great platform and.
You mentioned it’s specifically for lawyers and it adds another layer of things that lawyers specifically need that we don’t need. And absolutely, I’ll actually add the link to our strategy goal, like a link to our strategy goal, because again, this is our.
Our bread and butter and it can be really, really frustrating when you’re trying to choose systems, when you’re trying to integrate them, when you’re trying to get the data out of them. It can be a nightmare and we are here to support you every single day with the conversations we have.
And as always, if there is anything you need more support with, you need to get deeper and get things resolved fast.
Check the link and book a call with us. We’ll be glad to find out what’s going on and see how we can help you move forward and ultimately.
This is it. Start to do things strategically as with everything in your business, especially if you’re starting. Start the right way. Make sure that you don’t just get the two from here and there. Just oh, someone has these two. Now we want to get it and oh, someone mentioned something here.
And and you end up with a mishmash and and something that doesn’t work. Be strategic about it. And if you already have your systems and they’re not talking, then yeah, book a call with us.

Jores Minasvand   10:36
100% We’re here to help.

Anna Angelova   10:41
Anything else to to add, Joris? I know you shared quite a few very useful details when it comes to even just integrating the data, right? Because sometimes you don’t need the systems to talk to each other, you need it more for reporting, which is a great point.

Jores Minasvand   10:44
Hello.

Anna Angelova   10:56
Any other last thoughts on on this topic or should we get ready for Friday?

Jores Minasvand   11:04
Let’s get ready for Friday.

Anna Angelova   11:07
Awesome. So Friday, which is tomorrow, we are coming back with.
A different topic, of course, like every day something different. And tomorrow it’s all about creating a leadership development track for your business. And you might be thinking, oh, but I have a small business or like a mid-sized business. What leadership development track?
Well, you need one, and tomorrow we’ll tell you why and what it takes to create one. It’s not as cumbersome as it might sound, and it will pay dividends for you and your business for decades.
So tune in tomorrow for another interesting conversation. And for today as an action item, go and check your tools. Are they talking to each other when they need to talk? What’s going on? And if you need help, book that call with us. We are here for you.
Bye. Bye, Joris. Thanks. See you tomorrow.

Jores Minasvand   12:08
Vienna.