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AI AutomationStrategy5 min read
The integration tax nobody budgets for
Connecting two systems is rarely as simple as the sales demo suggests. The ongoing cost of integrations is real and chronically underestimated.
Integrations get sold as a checkbox: 'connects with everything.' The first version often is easy. What gets underestimated is the ongoing tax — keeping the connection working as both sides change, handling the edge cases, and fixing it when an API shifts under you.
Integrations are living things
An integration isn't built once and done. The systems on both ends evolve, APIs deprecate, data formats drift, rate limits change. Every connection you add is something to maintain indefinitely, and the cost scales with how many you have.
Budget for the upkeep
- Plan for maintenance, not just the initial build.
- Prefer fewer, well-chosen integrations over many fragile ones.
- Build in monitoring so a broken connection is noticed before users notice.
- Design for the API to change, because eventually it will.
Every integration is a subscription paid in maintenance. Add them deliberately, not because a demo made it look free.