The CSV is not an API
Emailing a spreadsheet between systems is integration the way a carrier pigeon is telecommunications. It works until it really doesn't.
A surprising amount of business runs on CSVs moving between systems by hand — someone exports a spreadsheet from one tool, maybe massages it, and imports it into another. It feels like integration. It's actually a fragile manual process wearing integration's clothes, and it breaks in predictable ways.
Manual file passing is fragile
Every CSV handoff depends on a person remembering to do it, doing it correctly, and the format staying exactly the same. One changed column, one skipped export, one typo, and downstream systems get bad data or none. It's slow, error-prone, and it silently fails the day the person is on vacation.
Connect the systems directly
When systems talk through real connections — APIs, webhooks — data flows automatically, validated, and on time. The CSV shuffle is a sign of a missing integration, not a substitute for one. It's fine as a stopgap; it's a liability as a permanent foundation.
If your integration is a person emailing a spreadsheet, you don't have an integration. You have a single point of failure with a lunch break.