The "We'll Build a Custom Integration" Path

Some automation vendors will build a direct API connection to your ERP. Sounds great during the sales process - "fully integrated solution" has a nice ring to it. Until you realize:

Custom development takes real time. Six weeks to scope and document requirements. Eight weeks to build and configure. Four more weeks to test in your sandbox environment, fix the issues that surface, and test again. That "quick integration" becomes a quarter-long project before you process a single automated order.

Changes require development work. Need to add a new custom field? That's a change request. New validation rule your finance team wants? Another change request. You're locked into the vendor's development queue for anything beyond the original scope.

Your ERP upgrades break things. NetSuite releases updates every six months. Epicor version upgrades change API endpoints and data structures. SAP S/4HANA migrations require rethinking integrations entirely. Every significant change on the ERP side risks breaking your automation integration.

One manufacturing company spent six months building what they were promised would be a "comprehensive" integration with their SAP instance. They got it working, celebrated the go-live, and processed automated orders for three months. Then SAP released a quarterly update that changed how certain API calls handled date formats. Their automation vendor needed three weeks to diagnose the issue and patch the integration. Two more weeks of testing in sandbox. Orders went back to manual entry for over five weeks while they sorted it out.

That's not a horror story - it's a normal integration lifecycle. The question is whether you're prepared for it.

The "Just Export to CSV" Path

The opposite extreme: skip the custom integration entirely and export orders to CSV files that someone imports into the ERP manually.

This works faster than most people expect. No custom development. No API connections to maintain. No breaking when the ERP updates. Order automation processes the order, validates the data, exports a clean CSV in whatever format your ERP expects, and your team imports it.

Is it elegant? No. Does it work while you figure out the longer-term integration approach? Absolutely. Does it let you start processing real orders on day one instead of waiting months for development? Yes.

The best automation platforms offer both options - start with CSV export today, build the API integration over time. Crew Capable takes this phased approach specifically because most companies need orders flowing before they can commit to a full integration project. Get value immediately, add sophistication when you're ready.

The "Middle Ground" Path

iPaaS platforms like Workato, Celigo, Make, or Tray.io sit between your automation system and your ERP. They handle the translation and connection logic, often with pre-built connectors for common ERPs that reduce custom development.

This approach works well when:

• Your IT team already uses one of these platforms for other integrations

• You need to connect multiple systems beyond just order automation

• You want to own and control the integration logic rather than depending on your automation vendor

• You have internal resources who can maintain the workflows

The trade-off: now you're maintaining three systems instead of two. Your automation platform, your iPaaS layer, and your ERP all need to stay in sync. When something breaks, you're troubleshooting across multiple platforms. When you need changes, you're coordinating between vendors.

For companies with mature IT operations, this is often the right choice. For companies trying to move fast with limited technical resources, it adds complexity.