What exactly does a systems integration specialist do?
A system integration specialist is not just someone who builds individual integrations. The work covers mapping your system landscape, choosing an integration strategy (direct API, iPaaS, ESB, event-driven or hybrid), architecture choices (point-to-point, hub-and-spoke), toolchain selection between iPaaS vendors and custom builds, the actual implementation, master data management, a compliance overlay (GDPR, DORA, NIS2, NEN 7510), observability and knowledge transfer to your own team. It is strategy plus execution, not one or the other.
How is this different from an iPaaS vendor itself?
An iPaaS vendor (Workato, MuleSoft, Boomi, Frends, Make) provides a platform. We are vendor-independent and choose the right tool for each situation: sometimes one of those platforms, sometimes ETL via dbt or Airflow, sometimes event streaming via Kafka, sometimes custom code. An iPaaS vendor has a commercial interest in more flows running on its platform; we have a commercial interest in a landscape that works for you. In addition, there are fundamental things iPaaS tools cannot do, and for those custom development has to sit alongside.
What does vendor independence mean in practice?
We have no reseller deals with iPaaS providers, no kickbacks and no partner status steering us towards a particular platform. That means if your situation calls for Frends because you run on Microsoft, or Workato because you are heavily SaaS-oriented, or custom development because the business logic is too specific, we make that choice in your interest. We document the reasoning so you can see for yourself why we recommend a particular direction.
When do you choose iPaaS and when custom development?
iPaaS is strong for relatively standard SaaS-to-SaaS integrations, for business users who want to maintain their own flows, and for lighter data streams. Custom development becomes attractive when the business logic is complex, when performance or latency matters, when you have a large data volume, when iPaaS licence costs eventually exceed the cost of building, or when you want an integration deeply woven into an existing system. Almost every landscape we work with contains a mix, and that is usually the right mix.
Roughly what does an integration project cost?
Costs depend on the number of systems, the number of integrations, the complexity of the business logic, the compliance regime and the choice of toolchain. An audit phase is typically a clearly bounded piece of work with a fixed scope. For implementation, we work with sprint budgets so you stay in control of what we take on in each period. In an initial conversation we give a ballpark figure based on what you describe, without having to commit to the exact euro before we know your landscape.
How does an engagement start in practice?
Almost always with an audit. Not because it sells well, but because otherwise we cannot know which approach fits. In the audit we interview key people from IT, the business and compliance, map out the landscape and propose an architecture recommendation. Only then do we decide together which integrations to tackle first and in what order.
Our integration pages give an idea of the kind of integrations we typically build.
How do you handle GDPR and DORA in the integration layer?
The integration layer is precisely where personal data and financial data flow through your landscape, so it is where GDPR and DORA take practical shape. We document, per data flow, which data moves, what the lawful basis is, how long it is retained and who can see it. For DORA-regulated organisations we record operational resilience: monitoring, incident response, third-party risk and exit strategies. We work alongside your FG, security officer or CISO; we do not replace those roles.
How does this compare with the Big Four consultancies?
Accenture, Capgemini and similar firms mainly work with enterprise organisations and deliver large-scale programmes. We focus on mid-market, scale-up and specialist organisations: smaller teams, shorter lines of communication, and a stronger build component alongside advisory work. For an organisation with ten integrations, a Big Four engagement is often overkill; for a programme worth tens of millions, we are not the right partner. The work we take on sits between those extremes. We see ourselves as an
IT modernisation partner that actually builds.
How does your approach differ from a staffing agency or a freelancer?
A staffing agency supplies individual engineers, who often rotate off after a few months. A freelancer is one person with no team around them. We provide a team that stays involved with an engagement for the long term: the same architect who conducts the audit remains involved in the implementation and in ongoing management. That gives continuity of knowledge and of accountability. For your team it means you do not have to re-explain every couple of months why an earlier design decision was made.
Which iPaaS platforms and tools do you know?
For iPaaS we work with Workato, MuleSoft, Boomi, Frends (a Dutch player), Make and Zapier. For ETL and data orchestration we use dbt, Airflow and Fivetran. For event streaming, Kafka and Confluent. For master data management, Reltio or custom MDM depending on scale. For observability, Datadog, New Relic or your cloud provider's own monitoring stack. We have no fixed preference, but we do have firm opinions per situation, which we share openly in the audit phase.