A Guide for Financial Services Organizations
In today’s competitive, fast-changing financial landscape, your ability to adapt isn’t optional—it’s essential. The future belongs to organizations that can seamlessly connect their systems, scale with ease, and deliver accurate insights in real time.
At the heart of this agility is a flexible architecture and open APIs—tools that optimize efficiencies, address customer needs cost-effectively, and prepare your infrastructure for whatever comes next.
Modern financial integrations eliminate manual data rekeying, share critical information across departments, and unlock deeper intelligence for faster, smarter decision-making. For most organizations adopting a best-in-class technology strategy, the finance system becomes the hub—connecting all other systems and delivering the right data when and where it’s needed.
But even with the right technology in place, integrations can fail to deliver if key risks aren’t addressed early. Here are five common pitfalls to avoid—and how to ensure your integration project drives maximum value.
1. Failing to Set and Manage Expectations
This is one of the most common—and costly—missteps. Integration projects often face delays, budget overruns, or compromised quality due to unrealistic timelines or unclear goals.
How to avoid it:
- Set realistic timelines. Overly optimistic deadlines often lead to rushed work, errors, and costly rework.
- Align costs to scope. Developer time is a major expense—budget carefully to avoid unnecessary pressure.
- Prevent scope creep. Define what’s in (and out) of scope early, and require formal change requests for any modifications.
- Ensure goals are attainable. Be honest about feasibility to avoid setting your team up for failure.
2. Leaving Sensitive Information Vulnerable
Security should be a non-negotiable priority. Any connection to your financial system must have robust, layered protection.
Best practice: Use a two-level security approach for API access:
- Company-level credentials—logged and whitelisted with the receiving organization.
- User-level credentials—linked to a dedicated API user with only the necessary permissions.
This ensures you can limit access to only what’s required, deactivate credentials if the integration ends, and maintain full control over system security.
3. Overloading Workflows and the General Ledger
Integrations shouldn’t slow you down. Poorly designed workflows—or the wrong system architecture—can cause bottlenecks.
How to avoid it:
- Choose a cloud-native, multi-tenant financial management system like Sage Intacct for elasticity and scalability.
- Store detailed data in the system of record, while feeding summarized data to the general ledger for efficiency.
- Match integration design to transaction volume—especially for high-frequency activities like payments, claims, or trades.
4. Missing the Complete Picture by Only Tracking the Money
Today’s investors and leaders expect more than financial data—they want insight into operational performance, sustainability metrics, and workforce health.
Expand your scope by integrating non-financial data sources, such as:
- HR systems tracking employee retention
- Lease management platforms monitoring occupancy rates
- CRM data reflecting customer engagement trends
With a platform like Sage Intacct, you can capture and report on both monetary and non-monetary metrics, leading to smarter, more strategic decisions.
5. Making GAAP Compliance and Auditability Difficult
If your financial reports can’t be easily traced back to their source transactions, you’re risking compliance gaps and inefficiencies.
The solution:
- Use integrations that maintain click-through audit trails from summary reports down to individual receipts and transactions.
- Ensure each system in your integration network offers source linking for transparency.
For example, connecting expense management software to Sage Intacct allows you to trace income statement figures directly back to the originating receipt—ensuring both transparency and GAAP compliance.
Real-World Results: Automation in Action
Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators
- Challenge: Outdated on-premises system, 20+ hours/week spent on manual journal entries.
- Solution: Sage Intacct integrated with SAP Concur to automate entries.
- Outcome: Saved 20 hours/week, freeing the team to focus on higher-value strategic work.
Anchor Loans
- Challenge: Manual processes and disconnected systems slowed reporting across 43 entities.
- Solution: Sage Intacct integrated with loan origination software.
- Outcome: Eliminated 8+ hours/month of manual data entry, improved accuracy, and unlocked deeper insights for strategic pricing decisions.
Key Takeaways for Successful Financial Integrations
- Set and manage expectations: Define realistic timelines, budgets, and goals.
- Prioritize security: Implement multi-layer API access controls.
- Maximize cloud efficiencies: Use open APIs and multi-tenant systems to scale with ease.
- Look beyond the financials: Integrate non-monetary data for a full performance view.
- Stay audit-ready: Maintain traceable, transparent records across all systems.
At ADSS Global, we help financial services organizations integrate with confidence—connecting the right systems, securing sensitive data, and delivering real-time insights that power smarter decisions.
If you’re ready to build a future-proof financial architecture, our experts are here to guide you every step of the way.
📩 Contact us to learn how ADSS Global can help you get the most out of your financial integrations.