Your company certainly uses numerous software applications and apps for various processes and tasks. Emails, of course, certainly also an ERP system or similar, perhaps an internal messenger service like Teams or Slack, an accounting tool... There are countless applications that support companies in their daily business. However, this can not only lead to an unmanageable web, but also mean a lot of effort if the same information or data has to be recorded in several tools.
One keyword that comes into play when organising and optimising such processes is automation:
Optimise processes, thus saving time and increasing productivity, outsource tedious tasks, perfect customer journeys or let business processes run independently: Automation can do all this - Make in particular. Integro... what?
Make is a so-called iPaaS application that enables applications, apps and process steps to be linked with each other and thus run seamlessly and in the background. This still young technology saves valuable hours every week that can instead be used for value creation. We explain how it works.
Make is a Czech company that creates efficient data flows to simplify, optimise and integrate business processes. And all this without code. What can you imagine by that? The easiest way to understand it is with an example:
E-mails are received from customers containing important information and file attachments about the current project. Instead of manually opening the email, reading it, downloading the attachments, opening the CRM system and uploading both the content of the email and the files, Make does it all automatically: we link the email programme to the CRM system, select a trigger, for example when the word project appears, and the information is automatically exchanged between the applications and uploaded to the right place.
What sounds like a small step has a big impact: Numerous such smaller but also larger and more complex processes take place more and more every day and cost time - even if only a few seconds or minutes. With their automation, such activities are completely eliminated. This means: more time for value-creating tasks, customer communication, sales, project management, development... whatever seems more important.
All this is possible with Make as the platform. Make supports hundreds of cloud applications, such as ActiveCampaign, Outlook, GSuite, Asana, Plutio, Wordpress, Dropbox, Facebook or LinkedIn.
Make is an iPaaS application, short for Integration Platform as a Service. It offers a platform with a visual interface on which integrations of different applications can be mapped easily and without code.
The whole thing works by means of APIs. What are APIs, i.e. programming interfaces? We explain this in detail in this blog post. In simple terms, APIs allow different software and tools to communicate with each other and exchange data and information. But don't worry, Make has simplified these APIs and mapped them in the simple interface via "modules", small icons that stand for different applications and process steps. The process that is then "built" in Make usually looks like this:
A trigger is set, also called a trigger. In the previous example: an email, for example in Outlook, with the keyword "project". Make scans the corresponding Outlook application at recurring time intervals for exactly this trigger. If this is recognised, the process starts: the email is read and split into customer data, email content and file attachments. Then the CRM system, for example Hubspot, is tapped. This is searched for the relevant customers and the email content plus attachments are stored.
This represents a very simple and short process. Of course, such workflows are also possible for much more complex and multi-step processes. This process, which Make calls "Scenario", runs around the clock once it is switched on and starts as soon as the trigger is detected.
Make uses a few terms that come up again and again and can cause confusion at first. But don't worry, there is nothing complicated behind them.
Scenario: As stated above, this is the term for an entire process that is mapped in Make.
Trigger: The trigger of this process, which is predefined.
Modules: A step, an app, devices or services in the process (scenario) that send and receive data and information.
Router: A router separates the process into different paths. With an upstream filter, the process then runs through different paths, depending on the requirements.
Iterator: An iterator module breaks down a group of elements into smaller parts. For example, a table with many columns is divided into the individual columns by this module and these can be used for further processing.
iPaaS: Integration Platform as a Service
Make's pricing is also based on requirements:
The free version already has a lot to offer and is ideal for getting started. 1000 "operations", i.e. individual process steps, are included and there is no limit to the number of applications. Translated, this means: you can go a long way with it. Your complex process of 15 steps can be automated and thus optimised.
No matter which package you choose, if you reach your limit, you can add another 10,000 process steps at any time for $9. This is extremely flexible and cost-effective.
Technically speaking, these are the advantages of Make:
But surely you are more interested in your benefit from it:
Processes in Make can vary in complexity and scope. A simple, 2-step process can look something like this:
Here, data from our website is generated via a webhook and then sent by e-mail. Simple and still very understandable. But a process can also quickly look like this:
In short, in this example, automated emails are sent according to predefined conditions and times. The router (in 3rd place) splits the process into four branches with an upstream filter. Depending on which criteria the incoming data fulfils, the correct path is selected.
Make is perfectly suited to optimise processes and workflows and to increase productivity in general. Although Make has an easy-to-use interface and promises to work without coding skills, we believe that complex and multi-step workflows can only be implemented with experience and programming knowledge. That's why we support you in finding out whether Make is suitable for you and how we can get more out of the processes in your company. We are happy to support you in uncovering potentials, illuminating possibilities and implementing automation.
Cloud Integration, iPaaS, SaaS, BPA… Ough, hard to keep track of all these terms. They are currently used frequently (and increasingly) in the context of automation, and it is sometimes difficult to make a clear distinction and distinction. We have already written blog posts on the terms iPaaS, SaaS and BPA, but we’ll take them up again here to make the difference.
But let’s start with cloud integration, because that’s the central umbrella term in which we embed all the other technologies in this blog post.
Arrange a free cloud integration consultation now
Arrange a free cloud integration consultation now
To illustrate these advantages, an example is suitable that we know well from our everyday work as an automation agency:
The central data to be used here is the data of a major customer. This can be the simplest information, such as the address. This address is required in numerous but completely different processes in the company: on the one hand, for correct invoicing in accounting. On the other hand, in the CRM system, where all the data of the large customer is also stored. But the address is also important in sales, for example, when employees go to the sales meeting on site.
Now the customer announces that the address of the company has changed after a move. This information will reach you by e-mail. There are now two options:
01. The e-mail is forwarded to all affected departments, accounting, sales, customer service, marketing… All persons open their corresponding program, CRM, accounting software, marketing tools (such as newsletter marketing) and change the data already stored there of the customer. This means that in multiple applications, different people do exactly the same thing: change one address.
02. But there is also an alternative: By connecting your applications, thus by integrizing them, the customer’s e-mail, or rather the information it contains about the address change, is automatically passed on to all affected applications: CRM, accounting, marketing, ERP. This does not require any clicks, because the cloud integration detects a trigger, i.e. address change, and thus automatically starts the process.
What sounds unimpressive in a single process becomes more effective when such a process occurs several times a day or weekly. Because there is a lot of data that is available in different applications and should always be correct. If these applications are cloud applications they are suitable for cloud integration.
But cloud integration doesn’t just happen. There are now a variety of applications that enable and implement this. Such tools usually allow us to link the relevant cloud applications on a central platform and define clear rules on when, how, where, how much data should be passed on and what happens to them.
To realize cloud integration, there are various applications and technologies that are sometimes used interchangeably.
We have made a first distinction between iPaaS and BPA here.
We explain the term SaaS in more detail here.
Cloud integration is rather an umbrella term that includes numerous technologies, such as SaaS, iPaaS and BPA, and this is also absolutely necessary. Cloud integration is a concept that is made possible by appropriate technologies.
However, all terms share the commonality that they are cloud-based and thus offer enormous potential for growth and scaling. In addition, they are often cheaper to implement and maintain because changed requirements are easy to implement.
As an independent automation agency, we implement cloud integration according to your requirements. We use a variety of SaaS tools and iPaas (strictly speaking BPA) software. Together we find individual solutions that are flexible and scalable.