Why Your Integration Layer Needs Love and Attention (It’s Not a Set-and-Forget Thing)

So, you’ve built a slick integration layer to connect all your apps and systems—nice! But here’s the thing: just because it’s working today doesn’t mean you can walk away and forget about it. Integrations are like cars—they need regular checkups, oil changes, and the occasional repair.

Without proper maintenance, things can go sideways fast. A tiny API change, a spike in traffic, or a random authentication failure can break workflows, and suddenly, your sales team isn’t getting customer data, or orders are vanishing into the void. Not fun.

That’s why visibility is key. You need logs to track what’s happening, alerts to ping you when things break, and monitoring to catch issues before they become disasters. Think of it like a health monitor for your integrations—if something’s running slow or failing, you want to know before users start screaming.

And let’s be real—business needs change. New apps get added, old ones get retired, and APIs evolve. If your integration layer isn’t actively managed, it’ll slowly turn into a fragile mess of bandaids and workarounds.

Bottom line? Treat your integration layer like an ongoing project, not a one-time setup. Keep an eye on it, tweak as needed, and invest in good tooling to make your life easier. Your future self (and your team) will thank you.