Finley Austin

Delivering Excellence in Customer Satisfaction

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, customer satisfaction is the golden standard by which companies are measured. Building strong relationships with customers, delivering exceptional service, and consistently exceeding their expectations are the keys to success.

The Foundation of Success

KFA Connect was founded on the principle of putting the customer first. For over 35 years, the company has committed itself to providing innovative technology solutions that not only meet the needs of our customers but also empower them to thrive in their respective industries. This customer-centric approach has been the foundation of KFA Connect’s success and its ongoing commitment to achieving excellent customer satisfaction.

Understanding Customers’ Needs

One of the cornerstones of KFA Connect’s exceptional customer satisfaction is the dedication to understanding and addressing the unique needs of each customer. Rather than offering one-size-fits-all solutions, KFA Connect takes the time to delve deep into the specific challenges and goals of our customers.

This in-depth understanding allows us to create customised solutions that are tailored to meet and exceed expectations.

Expertise & Innovation

KFA Connect’s team of experts is a driving force behind its exceptional customer satisfaction. The company boasts a talented and experienced workforce with a diverse range of skills and expertise in numerous technology platforms. From software development to integration, KFA Connect’s professionals are at the forefront of innovation, consistently delivering cutting-edge solutions.

Not content with resting on its laurels, the company continually invests in research and development to stay ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies. This commitment to innovation ensures that customers receive the most advanced and relevant solutions, helping them to stay competitive in their markets.

Delivering Results

KFA Connect understands that delivering results is the ultimate measure of customer satisfaction. Over the years, the company has amassed an impressive portfolio of successful IT projects across various industries.

Whether it’s streamlining processes, improving operational efficiency, or enhancing customer experiences, KFA Connect consistently delivers tangible and measurable results that make a difference for its customers.

Responsive Customer Support

Another crucial aspect of KFA Connect’s excellent customer satisfaction is its commitment to providing responsive and reliable customer support.

We understand that technology issues can arise at any time, and when they do, customers need quick and effective solutions. KFA Connect’s dedicated support team is available 24/7 for customers who require that level of support, ensuring that they receive the assistance they need, when they need it.

Communication

At KFA, we welcome the opportunity to receive calls from our customers, should they prefer more personal interaction over digital communication. These calls enable us to build strong relationships, listen attentively to their needs, and provide personalised solutions with a human touch.

Our commitment to exceptional customer service is personified through these conversations, ensuring that every customer feels heard, understood, and truly valued.

So, feel free to pick up the phone and give us a call; we’re ready to react to your requirements.

Customer Testimonials

The true testament to KFA Connect’s commitment to customer satisfaction is the glowing testimonials from our customers. Over the years, KFA’s customers have expressed their appreciation for the company’s professionalism, expertise, and unwavering dedication to their success.

These testimonials highlight the deep trust that KFA Connect has built with its customers, making it a go-to partner for technology solutions.

Trustpilot

KFA sit consistently higher than other software companies on Trustpilot giving you the confidence that we mean business. 

Take a look at our 5* reviews on Trustpilot here:

In the competitive world of technology solutions, KFA Connect has distinguished itself as a company that consistently delivers excellent customer satisfaction. Our customer-centric approach, deep understanding of customer needs, expertise, innovation, and unwavering commitment to results have made us a trusted partner for businesses across industries.

With a track record of success and a portfolio of satisfied customers, KFA Connect exemplifies what it means to prioritise and exceed customer expectations in today’s business world.

Data Integration with BPA Platform

Data integration plays a crucial role in maximising an organisation’s data assets, enhancing operational efficiency, and extracting valuable insights from diverse data sources. It is a vital aspect of an organisation’s operations and strategy.

Although data integration can be a complex endeavour with various challenges throughout the process, these hurdles can be easily overcome by using dedicated software and establishing clear business rules.

This article delves into the most daunting aspects of data integration and presents effective solutions to tackle them.

What is Data Integration?

Data integration refers to the process of merging and combining data from different sources or systems to create a unified and cohesive view of the data. It involves bringing together data stored in various formats, locations, or databases and integrating them into a single consistent format.

The primary goal of data integration is to offer a comprehensive and unified view of the data, empowering organisations to make informed decisions, derive insights, and support various business processes. By integrating data from disparate sources, such as databases, applications, files, and external systems, organisations can eliminate data silos and enable better data analysis, reporting, and data-driven decision-making.

The data integration process typically involves several steps, including data extraction, data transformation, and data loading (often referred to as the ETL process: Extract, Transform, Load). During extraction, data is collected from various sources and consolidated. The extracted data is then transformed to ensure consistency, standardisation, and compatibility across different sources. Finally, the transformed data is loaded into a target system, such as a data warehouse, data lake, or a consolidated database.

To achieve this, dedicated middleware solutions, like BPA Platform, offer the necessary tools to automate the data integration process effectively.

Coordinating and managing collaboration among multiple stakeholders, including IT teams, data owners, business users, and external partners, is another significant challenge that requires effective project management, communication, and alignment of objectives.

Data integration, therefore, requires meticulous planning, data mapping, and data cleansing to ensure the accuracy, reliability, and consistency of the integrated data.

Let’s delve deeper into some of the most challenging aspects of data integration and the solutions to overcome them.

Challenges of Disparate Formats and Data Sources

Dealing with disparate formats and data sources is a common challenge in data integration.

In today’s organisations, multiple applications, business systems, databases, and cloud services are used for various purposes, leading to data silos with inconsistent formats and structures. Overcoming these data silos and achieving seamless integration necessitate the establishment of data governance practices and common data standards.

Integrating data from various sources often involves working with different application programming interfaces (APIs) and protocols. APIs may have different methods, authentication mechanisms, or data retrieval procedures, adding complexity to the integration process.

Data integration also involves working with data in different formats, such as structured data (relational databases, spreadsheets), semi-structured data (XML, JSON), or unstructured data (documents, emails) when integrating with different sources. Integrating these diverse formats requires understanding and transforming data into a common format suitable for integration, which can be complex and time-consuming.

Legacy systems, which are outdated or no longer supported, pose challenges in data integration. These systems often use proprietary formats or lack modern integration capabilities, making it difficult to extract data in a standardised format. Additional effort and specialised tools are usually required to integrate data from legacy systems.

Integrating data from external sources, such as third-party vendors, partners, or public APIs, can also introduce variations in data formats and structures. These external sources may have their own data models or use different terminology, necessitating data mapping and transformation to align with internal data structures.

With the growing adoption of cloud computing, organisations often use cloud-based applications and services that store data in their own formats or databases. Integrating data from these cloud-based sources can be challenging, as they may have different data structures, APIs, or access mechanisms. Integration solutions that support cloud-based integration and provide data connectors to popular cloud platforms can help address this challenge.

Accessing data from various sources with varying data formats, units of measurement, or naming conventions can lead to a lack of standardisation. Without proper standardisation, integrating data becomes error-prone and complex. The data often requires mapping and transforming data elements to align with a common schema or format. Data elements may have different names, structures, or semantics across systems, making it challenging to establish accurate mappings and transformations.

Therefore, implementing data standardisation processes, including data cleansing, normalisation, and data transformation, can help improve data quality and consistency.

Data integration is an ongoing process, and data sources and requirements can change as businesses evolve. New data sources, updates to existing systems, or evolving business needs may require modifications to data integration processes. Flexibility and adaptability are crucial to accommodate changing data landscapes.

Installing a Dedicated Integration Solution

To address these challenges, organisations can employ data integration platforms, such as BPA Platform, that support a wide range of data formats and provide capabilities for data mapping, transformation, and normalisation.

BPA Platform enables effortless connectivity between applications, legacy systems, and web services, whether they’re in the cloud or on-premises, and then automates numerous business processes and tasks. This cutting-edge platform, available in the cloud (iPaaS) or on-premises, includes an intuitive design, graphical user interface, and a wealth of pre-built connectors and business process automation tools to reduce system integration development times and bring all data workflows together in one central location.

Moreover, as businesses evolve and grow, BPA Platform easily scales, adds and integrates new systems and applications as business requirements change, without incurring excessive costs.

Data Quality

Ensuring the quality and reliability of data is a significant challenge in data integration. Data from different sources may contain inconsistencies, errors, or missing values. Implementing data cleansing and validation processes is crucial to address data quality issues and ensure accurate integration.

Data integration involves combining data from various sources, which means that inaccuracies may exist in the original data. Data errors, missing values, duplication, or outdated information can impact the overall quality of integrated data. Identifying and resolving these inaccuracies is essential to maintain data quality.

Missing data, where certain values or attributes are missing, can impact the accuracy and reliability of integrated results, leading to incomplete or misleading insights. Employing data profiling techniques and data validation checks can help identify and address data completeness issues.

Different systems or departments may also use different definitions or interpretations for data elements. This inconsistency in data definitions can lead to confusion and misinterpretation during integration. Harmonising data definitions and establishing clear data dictionaries or metadata repositories can help address this challenge.

Organisations also need to ensure the consistency of the data. Inconsistencies may arise due to manual data entry errors, different data update frequencies, or data synchronisation issues. Data reconciliation processes and data validation rules can, therefore, help maintain data consistency during integration.

Filtering out irrelevant or redundant data and identifying the most relevant data for integration is essential to ensure data quality and optimise system performance.

Validating and cleansing data to eliminate errors, inconsistencies, and duplicates is a critical step in data integration. However, data validation and cleansing processes can be complex and time-consuming, particularly when dealing with large volumes of data. Automating data validation and cleansing tasks and using data integration tools with built-in data quality features can help address these challenges.

Enhancing Data Quality via Middleware

A dedicated integration platform that supports a wide range of data transformation capabilities, such as filtering, sorting, and standardising data, with a user-friendly interface for performing these tasks, is essential for any data integration project to ensure data quality.

For example, BPA Platform can automatically monitor and manipulate data stored in databases and systems, making it usable for other purposes and in other systems. It can then perform data transformation tasks by converting data from one format to another or normalising it according to predefined rules. This ensures that data is consistent, properly structured, and compatible with the target system.

It can also enforce data validation rules, such as data type checks, range checks, or referential integrity checks, to ensure that only valid and reliable data is integrated.

Various tools within BPA Platform can perform data cleansing tasks to identify and rectify inconsistencies, errors, or duplications in the integrated data. It can also be configured to capture exceptions, integration errors, and logging details during the data integration process. This enables proper exceptions management, error handling, and auditing capabilities to identify and resolve issues affecting data quality.

BPA Platform supports real-time or batch-based data synchronisation and replication between different systems or databases, ensuring that data is consistently and accurately updated across multiple systems.

As well as utilising a middleware solution, data integration requires a comprehensive data quality management strategy, including data profiling, data cleansing, data standardisation, and data validation techniques. Investing in dedicated integration tools (such as BPA Platform), establishing data governance frameworks, and promoting data quality best practices across an organisation are essential for ensuring high-quality integrated data.

Data Security and Privacy

Several challenges and considerations arise in maintaining data security and privacy during the integration process. Data security and privacy are paramount concerns in data integration, especially when it may involve sensitive or confidential information. Compliance with data protection regulations, implementing appropriate access controls, and encrypting data are also important considerations.

As data integration involves sharing and transferring data across systems or organisations, it increases the risk of unauthorised individuals gaining access to sensitive information. A data breach during the integration process can expose sensitive information, resulting in financial losses, reputational damage, and legal implications.

Data integration may require sharing or integrating data containing personally identifiable information (PII). It is essential to ensure that sensitive data is masked or anonymised to protect individual privacy. Proper data masking techniques, such as tokenisation or encryption, should be applied to prevent the exposure of sensitive information.

Data integration usually involves multiple stakeholders, including administrators, developers, and other individuals who have access to the integrated data. Insider threats, whether intentional or unintentional, pose a risk to data security and privacy.

Additionally, coordinating and aligning data ownership and sharing agreements can be complex, especially when integrating data from external sources or third-party vendors. Establishing clear data ownership frameworks and obtaining necessary permissions and consent for data sharing are fundamental. Maintaining data auditability and accountability is, therefore, crucial in data integration.

Integrated data may contain outdated, irrelevant, or redundant information. Proper data retention and disposal policies need to be established to ensure that data is retained for the necessary duration and disposed of securely when no longer needed. Failure to implement proper data disposal procedures can lead to data exposure and privacy breaches.

Data integration must adhere to data protection regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These regulations impose strict requirements for data handling, storage, and consent. Ensuring compliance with these regulations can be challenging, especially when integrating data from different sources with varying compliance standards.

This is especially valid when transferring data across geographical boundaries, as it can introduce challenges related to data residency and compliance with international data transfer regulations. Organisations need to consider the legal and regulatory requirements regarding cross-border data transfers and implement appropriate safeguards, such as data encryption or contractual agreements with data processors.

Improving Data Security and Privacy

Addressing data security and privacy challenges in data integration requires a comprehensive approach, including the implementation of robust security measures, encryption, access controls, and privacy-enhancing techniques. Adhering to data protection regulations, establishing data governance frameworks, and fostering a privacy-conscious culture within an organisation are vital for ensuring security and privacy.

Organisations should establish proper access controls and put mechanisms in place to track user activities, data access, changes, and transfers during integration to help mitigate all these threats.

Implementing strong authentication mechanisms, access controls, and encryption techniques, such as double encryption using AES256 and support for multi-factor authentication, including OpenID Connect, Azure Active Directory, and OAuth2, can help mitigate these challenges.

Additionally, robust security measures, including firewalls, encryption and intrusion detection systems, as well as robust data transfer protocols, secure file transfers, and monitoring mechanisms, can help prevent data breaches and leakages.

Proper logging, monitoring, and audit trails help identify potential security breaches or privacy incidents and enable timely response and remediation.

Data Governance and Compliance

As mentioned previously, data integration must comply with regulatory requirements and data governance policies. Ensuring data privacy, security, and compliance during integration can be challenging, particularly when dealing with sensitive or confidential data. Implementing appropriate data governance frameworks and security measures helps mitigate these challenges.

Maintaining data governance and compliance across integrated data is vital. Organisations need to establish clear policies, standards, and guidelines for data integration to ensure consistency, data lineage, and adherence to regulatory requirements.

Data governance is the overall management framework that ensures the availability, integrity, security, and usability of data within an organisation. While implementing data governance is essential for effective data integration, organisations may encounter various challenges.

Many struggle with defining a clear data governance strategy. Without a well-defined strategy, data governance initiatives may lack direction, resulting in inconsistencies, data silos, and ineffective data integration.

Achieving alignment across different departments and stakeholders within an organisation can be challenging, as data governance requires collaboration and coordination among various business units, IT teams, data owners, and executive leadership. Overcoming silos, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and ensuring clear roles and responsibilities are important to establish effective data governance.

Determining data ownership and assigning data managers ensures accountability and responsibility for data quality, integrity, and compliance. However, identifying the right data owners and data managers and establishing effective communication and decision-making processes can be complex, especially in organisations with decentralised data management.

As mentioned earlier, maintaining data quality is another critical aspect of data governance. However, organisations often struggle with implementing effective data quality management processes.

Inconsistent data definitions, lack of data validation mechanisms, and inadequate data cleansing practices can hinder data quality improvement efforts. Establishing data quality standards, implementing data profiling, data cleansing, and validation processes are essential to overcome this challenge.

Organisations may face challenges in implementing data governance at scale or achieving widespread adoption. Data governance initiatives require time, resources, and cultural change. Building a data-driven culture, providing training and education, and demonstrating the value and benefits of data governance are essential to drive adoption and mature data governance practices.

Data governance is an ongoing effort that requires continuous monitoring, enforcement, and governance oversight. Organisations may struggle with establishing monitoring mechanisms, enforcing data governance policies, and maintaining governance compliance. Regular audits, performance metrics, and governance committees can help ensure ongoing monitoring and enforcement of data governance practices.

Addressing these challenges requires a holistic approach, including developing a clear data governance strategy, establishing effective communication channels, defining data ownership and supervision, implementing data quality management processes, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations, and using the appropriate technology solutions to support data governance initiatives.

Benefits of Data Integration

Despite the challenges that data integration can present, the benefits far outweigh any potential pitfalls.

Bringing data together from diverse sources and enabling a unified view of information provides organisations with a wide range of opportunities to increase efficiency, improve performance, and streamline operations.

The following are some of the main benefits that can be achieved through data integration:

Improved Data Quality:

Data integration allows organisations to consolidate and harmonise data from multiple sources, leading to improved data quality. By removing inconsistencies, redundancies, and errors, organisations can rely on accurate and reliable data for decision-making, analysis, and reporting.

Enhanced Decision-Making:

Integrated data provides a comprehensive and holistic view of business operations, customers, and market trends. This enables organisations to make more informed and data-driven decisions. With integrated data, decision-makers can analyse the relationships and patterns within the data, identify insights, and respond quickly to changing business conditions.

Increased Operational Efficiency:

Data integration eliminates the need to manually gather, reconcile, and consolidate data from multiple sources. By automating the data integration process, organisations can save time, reduce errors, and improve operational efficiency. Integrated data also enables streamlined processes, such as automated workflows and data-driven business intelligence, leading to increased productivity.

360-degree Customer View:

Integrating customer data from various touchpoints, such as sales, marketing, and customer service systems, allows organisations to create a 360-degree view of their customers. This holistic view enables personalised marketing, targeted customer engagement, and improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Improved Business Intelligence and Analytics:

Data integration provides a foundation for effective business intelligence and analytics. By combining data from different sources, organisations can uncover meaningful insights, perform advanced analytics, and gain a deeper understanding of their business performance, market trends, and customer behaviour. Integrated data sets also facilitate accurate and comprehensive reporting and forecasting.

Seamless Cross-Department Collaboration:

Data integration enables different departments within an organisation to access and share data seamlessly. This fosters collaboration and improves communication across departments, breaking down data silos. Integrated data promotes cross-functional analysis, enabling organisations to identify synergies, optimise processes, and drive innovation.

Simplified IT Infrastructure:

Data integration helps organisations streamline their IT infrastructure by reducing the number of disparate systems and databases. By consolidating data into a centralised repository or data warehouse, organisations can simplify their data architecture, reduce maintenance costs, and achieve better data governance and control.

Facilitates Compliance and Risk Management:

Data integration allows organisations to centralise and standardise their data, simplifying compliance with regulatory requirements. By ensuring data consistency, accuracy, and traceability, organisations can effectively manage compliance and mitigate risks associated with data privacy, security, and regulatory obligations.

Agile and Responsive Operations:

Integrated data provides organisations with real-time or near real-time access to information. This enables agile and responsive operations, as organisations can monitor key performance indicators, track market trends, and respond swiftly to changing business conditions. Integrated data also facilitates efficient data-driven processes, such as inventory management, supply chain optimisation, and demand forecasting.

Enables Digital Transformation:

Data integration plays a crucial role in enabling digital transformation initiatives. By integrating data from various sources, organisations can exploit emerging technologies to drive innovation, develop new products and services, and deliver personalised customer experiences.

Data integration empowers organisations with unified, accurate, and actionable data, driving operational efficiency, informed decision-making, and competitive advantage in today’s data-driven business landscape.

Benefits of Data Integration

KFA Connect has a well-documented history of successfully deploying data integration projects, implementing system integration best practices, and optimising business processes to facilitate successful data integration for organisations of all sizes.

With a highly skilled and knowledgeable team, we offer consultancy, professional services, and technical support to our customers. This empowers them with the expertise and flexibility needed to achieve end-to-end data integration efficiency.

We deliver solutions that perfectly align with our customer’s requirements every time, providing direct implementation and expert consulting services for data integration. This is essential for quickly and accurately getting solutions up and running, enabling them to realise enhanced functionality and return on investment (ROI).

At KFA we have a dedicated development and support team who ensure the smooth running of our customers applications and integrations. We can also provide 24/7 support when required.  

To find out how we can help your business, get in touch with our team today.

Nicki Smith

KFA Connect – Sales Manager

26th July 2023

Want to know more? Get in touch with our team today.

The Biggest Frustration for Businesses: IT Systems That Fail to Integrate

In today’s fast-paced and interconnected business world, efficient information technology (IT) systems are critical for the success of any organisation.

However, one of the most significant challenges faced by businesses is the frustration that arises when their IT systems fail to integrate seamlessly. Incompatibility between different software, data silos, and communication gaps between systems can hinder productivity, growth, and increase costs.

In this article, we delve into the biggest frustration for businesses when their IT systems do not integrate and explore the consequences it has on organisations.

Inefficiency and Duplication of Effort

When IT systems do not integrate, businesses often face inefficiencies and duplication of effort.

Employees are forced to enter data multiple times into different systems, resulting in wasted time and increased chances of errors.

For example, a customer’s information may need to be manually entered into both the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system and the accounting software. This duplication of effort not only reduces productivity but also increases the likelihood of inconsistent or inaccurate data, which can have severe consequences for decision-making and customer service.

Lack of Real-Time Insights

Integration issues can also result in a lack of real-time insights for businesses.

In a competitive landscape, quick access to accurate data is crucial for making informed decisions. When systems do not integrate seamlessly, data often becomes siloed, making it difficult to consolidate and analyse information across different departments or business functions.

As a result, decision-makers may not have a comprehensive view of the organisation, impeding their ability to respond promptly to market changes and make data-driven decisions.

Increased IT Costs

Another significant frustration for businesses with non-integrating IT systems is the increased cost burden.

Maintaining and managing multiple standalone systems can be costly, both in terms of initial investments and ongoing maintenance expenses. Additionally, organisations may need to hire specialised IT staff or consultants to address integration challenges, which further adds to the financial burden.

These costs can eat into the company’s budget, limiting resources that could be better allocated to other strategic initiatives.

Limited Scalability and Growth  

The lack of integration between IT systems can also hinder a business’s ability to scale and grow effectively.

As organisations expand, they often need to integrate new software solutions or platforms to accommodate increased demands. However, if existing systems do not integrate seamlessly, the integration process can become complex, time-consuming, and costly.

This can hinder the organisation’s agility and responsiveness to changing market dynamics, preventing it from capitalising on growth opportunities and potentially impacting customer satisfaction.

Security and Data Integrity Risks

Integrating IT systems is not only essential for improving operational efficiency but also for maintaining robust security and data integrity.

When systems do not integrate seamlessly, there is an increased risk of data breaches, as information may need to be transferred manually or through insecure methods.

Furthermore, inconsistent, or incompatible security measures across different systems can create vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit. Protecting sensitive customer data and maintaining compliance with data protection regulations becomes a considerable challenge without proper integration.

In an era where businesses rely heavily on technology, the frustration caused by non-integrating IT systems can have severe consequences for organisations.

From decreased efficiency and increased costs to limited scalability and compromised data integrity, the impact of incompatible systems is significant.

To overcome these challenges, businesses must prioritise system integration, ensuring that their IT infrastructure is seamlessly interconnected, allowing for streamlined operations, real-time insights, and enhanced productivity.

Embracing integration not only resolves frustrations but also unlocks the potential for growth, innovation, and competitive advantage in today’s digital landscape.

Why not obtain an impartial view of your current business systems integrations? Talk to our team today.

At KFA we have a dedicated development and support team who ensure the smooth running of our customers applications and integrations. We can also provide 24/7 support when required.  

To find out how we can help your business, get in touch with our team today.

Nicki Smith

KFA Connect – Sales Manager

28th June 2023

Want to know more? Get in touch with our team today.

Integrate Shopify with Sage, using BPA Codeless Platform

There is no doubt that eCommerce has brought an unprecedented ability to connect vendor and customer, with even small companies and startups being able to present a global ‘shop window’ online.  Once things start to get going, this can quickly translate into large numbers of orders and business growth. 

Taking an order and fulfilling it are two very different things, as well as taking payments, entering the details into an accounting system, or having stock on a shelf and running an efficient website.  

Often to cope with this new growth, manual processes are used, taking information from one system; the eCommerce site, and entering it into others; spreadsheets, accounting tools, and warehousing systems.   

This might be viable for a small volume of orders, but very quickly these manual processes impede future growth making for a busy rather than an efficient company. 

Shopify and the closely related Magento are eCommerce frameworks which contain all the functions necessary to create and maintain a superb eCommerce website, however, businesses usually have other systems in place, vital to their smooth running.  One of the most universal is an accounts package or ERP.    

The remainder of this blog piece discusses how a Shopify website can be comprehensively linked to an accounts system commonly found in medium-sized companies; Sage. 

The best solutions have a plan behind them, so rather than focussing on how, let’s understand why it’s important to integrate Shopify with Sage. 

Efficiency & Accuracy 

Integration means that orders, customer records, invoices, and payments (which we’ll refer to as data) can transfer between systems without being re-entered manually.  To better reap the benefits of this integration, it should also be automated, so that no human intervention is required.  

Consequently, delays are minimised, errors are reduced, and staff can be freed up to focus on other tasks within the business. 

Improved Customer Experience 

An integrated eCommerce system and accounts package mean that orders arrive quickly, contain the right items, and go to the right address – all crucial steps for a happy customer experience and positive reviews.  

With stock being updated in real time, 24 hours a day selling items which are out of stock becomes a distant memory. 

For more information on how BPA Platform can be used to automate the flow of information between your business systems and applications to streamline your business processes, contact us to arrange a demonstration.

How Could Shopify be Integrated with Sage? 

There are generally two ways of approaching an integration such as this.  

If an integration is unusual or particularly complex, then it might be that the most effective way of approaching it is with bespoke software development.  Both Shopify and Sage are incredibly customisable so sometimes this will be the most appropriate course of action.   

Many Shopify sites and Sage systems are broadly similar, the same data is being passed between systems so there must be a simpler way to connect them – right? 

Using a tool which can connect the systems in a simple way can pay dividends by enabling much of the software development to be side-stepped so that the focus can be on the business requirements. 

BPA Platform from Codeless Platforms acts like an integration ‘Swiss Army Knife’, it packages together many functions ideally suited to delivering an integration quickly and reliably.  With business processes being designed using a simple drag-and-drop interface designing and maintaining an integration doesn’t necessarily need to involve software developers. 

Using connectors which are available for numerous eCommerce, ERP, and delivery platforms BPA Platform is an ideal way to integrate Shopify and Sage. 

A Typical Integration Using Codeless BPA Platform 

First, the BPA Platform software is installed along with the Sage toolset, and the ‘Shopify connector’. 

Planning What Needs to be Integrated 

Before any development is started a high-level plan needs to be documented, detailing what should be integrated between the Shopify site and the Sage system.   

Typically, this might be the integration of orders coming in from the website into the Sage system and frequently some sort of stock-level functionality.  However, using BPA, it becomes possible to integrate customer information, product data, despatch details and so much more as the specific business requires. 

Building the Integration with BPA 

Next, BPA is used to realise the plan, the exact path taken will vary but typically: 

Connectors will be configured to the Sage and Shopify systems.  Because these connectors are tailored to their specific platforms, they need the minimum of set-up. 

Now tasks are created in BPA which relate to the process that is being designed, an example would be getting new orders from the eCommerce site. 

It will often be necessary to manipulate data from one system to meet the requirements of another, in other cases simply mapping fields from one system to the other will fit the bill.  BPA makes this understandable with a visual system. 

For an integration between Shopify and Sage, it is highly likely that multiple tasks will be required. 

Ensuring that Most Eventualities are Covered 

Before using an integration in production it’s important to check that it matches the plan that was created at the beginning of the process.  Checking that the integration works functionally is vital too and tests should be devised to cover as many potential situations as possible. 

Reaping the Benefits 

Finally, the integration can be moved to production and data will begin to flow between Shopify and Sage.  As new requirements arise, BPA is well positioned to meet them allowing the business to react quickly to an evolving market. 

Bringing in Expert Help 

It’s not essential to bring in expert help to write tasks to integrate Sage and Shopify using BPA Platform (depending on the technical ability of your in-house IT team of course) – although you will need to engage with a BPA Partner to procure the annual licence.   

Whilst BPA removes much of the need for extensive software development, the integration process can be daunting.  Engaging a partner who has a high level of knowledge of BPA, Shopify, and Sage is certainly an option and that expert help can help you get the best ROI from the product. 

Conclusion 

Integrating a Shopify eCommerce site with Sage offers easily demonstrable benefits with regard accuracy of orders, stock levels, customer records and more.  In addition, replacing manual processes with automation means that reactivity increases and orders can flow 24/7. 

Customer satisfaction increases and staff within the business can be deployed doing work which promotes growth and the business’s interests, rather than performing data entry, re-keying information, and other drudge work. 

Using a tool such as BPA Platform can reduce the requirement for investment in bespoke software development but does not mean that development needs to be handled internally; finding a partner who can work to deliver the business requirements can be a great choice. 

KFA Connect are Codeless Platforms Partners – authorised to sell BPA Platform and have in-depth knowledge of developing integration and process automation using the solution.

Happy 35th Birthday

Happy Birthday, IBM i! 🎉🎂

Today, we celebrate the remarkable journey of an iconic technology that has shaped the world of computing. For over five decades, the IBM i platform has been a beacon of innovation, reliability, and adaptability. It has played a pivotal role in driving businesses forward, empowering countless organisations with its robust capabilities.

On this special day, let us reflect on the profound impact that IBM i has had on the industry. From its early beginnings as the AS/400 to its evolution into the modern IBM i, this platform has continuously evolved to meet the ever-changing demands of the digital era. It has proven itself to be a trusted companion to businesses across diverse sectors, providing a stable foundation for their operations.

We acknowledge the dedicated community of professionals, developers, and enthusiasts who have contributed to the growth and success of IBM i. Your passion, expertise, and unwavering support have fueled the continuous improvement of this remarkable platform.

As we celebrate this milestone, let us also embrace the exciting future that lies ahead for IBM i. With its exceptional reliability, security, and scalability, we can be confident that IBM i will continue to be an integral part of the technological landscape for years to come.

Happy Birthday, IBM i!

Thank you for revolutionising the way we do business and inspiring generations of innovators.

Here’s to many more years of success, progress, and endless possibilities. 🚀✨

At KFA we have a team with a deep knowledge and understanding of the IBM i and provide outstanding support for our customers. We offer flexible support terms to meet any customer needs.

For information about how we can help your business, get in touch with our team today.

Juliet Ward – Operations Director

Girls Don’t Do Technology

Education in girls’ grammar schools in the late 70s did not cater for a desire to follow a technical path.

Apparently, it was only for boys, and I was strongly encouraged to think about becoming a lawyer, a dentist, an optician maybe even a doctor.

Needless to say, as a somewhat stroppy opinionated teenager in whose parents had installed a belief that anything is achievable this did not make for a happy school life.

I had made up my mind that if I could not ride horses for a living then I was going to be a computer whizz.

So Now What

I ended up leaving school at 16 with a few ‘O’ levels under my belt feeling pretty disillusioned.

I tried a few different things none of which I had any enthusiasm for and at the age of 18 decided to go to college to do some ‘A’ levels. I chose Maths, Computer Science and Electronic studies.

I was the only girl enrolled in the second two.   

Whilst I was waiting to start college I took a job in a factory lab making gas detection equipment and one day one of my colleagues came in saying a notice had gone up on the staff information board advertising a role for a trainee programmer.

All you needed was a few basic ‘O’ levels (tick) and to pass a programming aptitude test to get an interview. Egged on by my work mates I thought why not give it a go as it may at least give me an idea of whether I had the correct mindset for programming.  

Amazing Opportunity Number 1 

As luck would have it the test was right up my street and I passed with flying colours, probably the only thing I have ever passed that way and after an interview I was offered the job of trainee RPG programmer.

I was being paid to learn the very thing I had wanted to do … Result.

The first part of the training involved 3 to 4 months of courses at IBM in Basingstoke and that was that… my IT career was off and running and I progressed up through junior programmer to Analyst programmer and team leader.

Family

In the early 90s we decided to start a family and although I returned to work after my first child I quickly realised that I was missing too much being at work.

I decided to take a career break to be at home with my young family and loved every minute of it.

I Need A New Kitchen

At the end of the 90s my poor kitchen was desperately in need of a makeover, well the whole house actually.

My youngest child was starting school, so the answer was to get back to work.

However, 7 years is a long time in IT, lots of things had changed beyond all recognition. I was very nervous that I would not be able to cut it.

On a night out with some of my friends from my old team I mentioned that I was thinking that maybe I was going to start looking.

One of the guys worked for the then named “Kingfisher Associates” and said he would ask them to consider talking to me if any roles came up. I went home and more or less forgot about it as I thought why would they want someone who had been out of the game for that long.  

Kingfisher Associates 

A few weeks later I received a call from one of the directors asking me to come for a chat. I was terrified.

When I had left programming the disk cabinets were the size of a washing machine and the IBM system 38 was housed in a fully climate-controlled room the size of a double garage. Massive printers coughing out pages and pages of prints for every department and great big tapes you had to hand spool onto the tape drive and change every hour to do the back up.

Kingfisher had an AS400, the system 38 replacement – in a server room under the stairs that was the size of a desktop PC. Those years had also seen the explosion of the internet, another terrifying concept. I was so scared I offered to work for nothing to start with whilst I worked out whether I could do it.

Needless to say, it was like I had never left within a week.    

Over the next 14 years I became more and more involved with our biggest customer learning everything I could about their business so that we could provide the best service.

I still had that desire to solve things for people. I began doing more solutioning, analysis and design but still liked to get dug into some programming on occasions, if it was easy enough that is.     

Amazing Opportunity Number 2

In 2013 the owners of the company offered me and another colleague the opportunity to complete a management buyout. I can’t say I had been expecting it, so it was a shock and after the first meeting where they put this to us, Richard (my colleague) and I went and sat in the pub and just stared at each other.  We hadn’t known each other for that long but we decided we had to give it a go.

2023

It will be our 10^th anniversary this year and it has been an amazing 10 years. The people who had been our colleagues supported us and became our employees and we have a great team that we have fun with both in and out of the office.

I still get a kick out of providing good IT solutions and although my business partner was chosen for me I could not have picked better myself. 

My chosen career has allowed me to fulfil a childhood dream in to live in the countryside with endless space to walk my 3 dogs, ride my horse and spend time with my 2 gorgeous grandchildren.

It also allows me to travel to see my son who lives in the US.

It was totally the right path for me and how I wish THEY could see me now.

Apparently, girls don’t do technology it’s a boys’ job!!!!

Juliet Ward

Operations Director – KFA Connect

A Day in the Life of an IBM i Support Specialist

As an IBM i Application Support Specialist, your job is to ensure that the applications running on the platform are functioning correctly and that any issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.

In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at a typical day in the life of an IBM i Application Support Specialist.

Start of the day is typically checking emails for any alerts and checking system dashboards to ensure there are no immediate system errors that need a response. Early morning checks of the systems are completed and customers are alerted of any issues.

In addition to checking applications, we will also check any replication/mirroring systems and system back-ups to ensure everything is in order.  

Throughout the day we work customer tickets as they are raised and/or calls are taken. Our Level 2 support manages user request tickets and reacts to system error message queue alerts. We work within the agreed customer SLAs to ensure all tickets are completed/responded to on time.

Tickets raised that require a more in-depth knowledge of the application will be managed by the L3 team. These will also be responded to and completed within agreed SLAs.

On the rare occasions when there are hardware issues with the IBM i we deal directly with IBM or a 3^rd party MSP providing advice, system logs and access to data centres where required.

When we receive alerts from IBM re. security updates to the operating system we will plan and execute a roll-out of the changes onto our customer’s systems. This will normally involve applying the changes to a test partition where we can, over a period of time, ensure it does not adversely affect the applications or system performance. Once satisfied that it is safe to apply the security changes, a planned change will be agreed with the customer(s) to minimise system outage.

Ongoing application maintenance is worked within our support team. Where small software bugs are identified we will develop fixes within the team, the test team will ensure the changes are working correctly and regression testing will ensure other areas of the system still function correctly. All application maintenance changes are implemented as part of a monthly release.

Within our support team we work closely with the project teams, we need to understand what and when changes are being delivered into production. We ensure the necessary hand-over documentation is in place and the software is tested and fit for production release.  

Part of our support service is to attend regular service reviews with our customer operations teams to provide SLA reporting and to discuss any ongoing issues. We also provide data to help support  SOX compliance and internal system audits.

As IBM i Application Support Specialists, our work is essential to the success of the business. We are responsible for ensuring that the applications running on the IBM i platform remain stable, secure, and efficient. By following best practices, such as maintaining good documentation and prioritising critical issues, we can help ensure that applications running on the IBM i platform run smoothly and that any issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.

At KFA we have a dedicated IBM i support team who ensure the smooth running of our customers applications, hardware and operating systems. We provide 24/7 support when required and look after back-up and disaster recovery planning.  To find out how we can help your business, get in touch with our team today.

Anonymous

KFA Connect – IBM i Support Specialist

12th June 2023

Want to know more? Get in touch with our team today.

Nicki Smith – Sales Manager

In the Beginning

My background has always been in sales, but sales found me – rather than the other way around…

I left school at 16 and started a 1 year ‘Travel & Tourism Diploma’ at Bournemouth & Poole College. 

I’m the first to admit that I chose this path because the course included a week ‘study trip’ to Magaluf, Majorca – typical 17-year-old decision making at its finest right there! 

Not a lot of learning took place on that trip.

Airport Life

From the College, at the age of 17, I secured work experience as a ‘Traffic Agent’ at Bournemouth Airport – which I absolutely loved.

I threw everything into the three-week work placement, and at the end I was offered a permanent job and so that was the end of my carefree college life – as the summer season was about to begin and the airport needed me!  

For those who know me personally, it will probably not surprise you to learn that one of my favourite tasks, was making the flight departure and arrival announcements and looking after the crew and passengers from the private jets!  

One very rich man (with a very nice private jet) from somewhere in the UAE once offered my boss 6 camels and 2 Land-Rovers in exchange for me.  

To this day I am not sure if that guy was serious or not, my boss said he was tempted to accept the offer… but who would check in the next flight? 

Teeth 

I was a dental receptionist for a couple of years, when one of the four Dentists at the practice thought it would be a great idea to put me through the training to become a Dental Nurse.  

I had to reverse out of that career path pretty quick though – as every time I assisted in surgery it would end with me passing out, turns out that was not one of the key skills they were looking for.   

Furniture 

Feeling like the role of anything ‘Dental’ was probably not for me, I moved on to an admin role at a furniture store in Bournemouth. At weekends the store was always busy, so I would often escape out from behind my desk to help on the sales floor.  

This was a bit of lightbulb moment for me – I had really found my ‘thing’! 

I was outselling the full-time sales staff (much to their disgust) and because of my knowledge of the backend processes of the store, was very quickly promoted to Assistant Manager. 

In my twenties I spent much of my time troubleshooting at underperforming stores the length and breadth of the UK. These experiences taught me to be a good communicator, logical problem solver – and a really good listener too.  

Managing and motivating sales teams and producing results came easy for me and I was Store Manager at the company’s flagship store in Hedge End, Southampton (and had married the top performing salesman in the country) by the time that my career in Furniture ended – to go on maternity leave.  

Corporate Sales 

I took a role at a hotel chain in the New Forest as Senior Corporate Sales Executive. This was my first experience of B2B sales, and I quickly learnt that this required a completely different approach to selling direct to consumer. These B2B transactions are not at all emotive and much more to do with the quality of the service, and of course the price, but also the relationships our team built with the customers which kept them coming back.  

KFA Connect 

The opportunity to join KFA Connect in 2015 arose at a time when I was definitely ready for a new challenge.  

New to the IT industry, I admit I was a bit daunted at first – I had a lot to learn but once I realised that no one expects me to be technical and have all the answers, I started to relax.  

My role as KFA Connect Sales Manager is varied.  

I am responsible for promoting KFA’s services and develop initial relationships with potential new customers. As such, I am often the first-person new individuals and companies will speak to at KFA.  

I gather as much information as possible regarding project requirements, then involve individuals from the wider KFA team, based on the project requirements. I aim to give the working relationship a good beginning and hopefully effectively portray how passionate the whole KFA team are about developing long-standing business relationships and providing a good service! 

In addition to the new business sales activities, I also look after the KFA marketing.  

On the marketing side, I’m always working on new ideas to help raise awareness of the software development, integration, test and support services we offer. 

I manage the two KFA websites, including blog pages and various social media accounts. 

I naturally slipped into the role of KFA social events planner (I wonder why); Christmas Parties, Summer BBQ’s and curry nights in between – I’m the one to get you on the party list!  

Family Life 

My kids are most definitely not kids anymore, which makes me feel super old!  

My Son, joined the Army and my daughter has just finished her final weeks of her GCSE’s.  

Over the years our family has grown, with the addition of two British Bulldogs, who are a constant source of amusement (and mess!).  

When I’m not working, I enjoy walking my dogs, family holidays, reading, Yoga and gardening.  

My love for spin classes is not quite so strong, but I go anyway… 

Recruiting the Best IBM i Developer

The IBM i platform (formerly AS/400), is a popular choice for businesses looking for reliable and efficient business applications. However, finding the right IBM i developer for your organisation can be a challenging task.

The IBM i development environment is complex, and the developer you hire must have a good understanding of the platform’s architecture, programming languages, and tools. In this blog, we’ll provide you with some tips and strategies to help you recruit the best IBM i developer for your organisation.

Document the Role and Responsibilities

Documenting the role you are trying to fill will provide you with a list of your requirements.

Detail the daily tasks, responsibilities, scope of the work, Hours etc.

This will not just highlight the list of required/desirable skills (both technical and non-technical) but will identify whether it is actually an Analyst Developer you need to hire or a Developer.

It may be that you just need a developer to code off the back of a prepared dev spec, or you need them to be able to consider your whole system and analyse the impacts involved with the changes required, which means you will need a Business Analyst or Analyst Developer.

IBM i Skills to Look For…

You will probably now have a list of technical skills that you know the role needs. However, it’s also good to look for candidates who understand and have in-depth experience of the IBM i Operating System.

The IBM i platform has its unique set of programming languages, tools, and technologies.

When recruiting an IBM i developer, make sure to look for candidates with experience in RPG (Report Program Generator), COBOL, and CL (Control Language) depending on your requirements.

Knowledge of SQL, Java, and web development frameworks like Node.js or Angular is also beneficial. IBM i developers should also be familiar with the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and tools like Rational Developer for i (RDi), which is an essential tool for developing applications on the IBM i platform.

Find Candidates with Industry Experience

IBM i is commonly used in industries such as manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and retail.

Finding an IBM i developer with experience in your industry can be a significant advantage.

Developers with industry experience will have a better understanding of the specific challenges and requirements of your business. They’ll be able to design and develop applications that are tailored to your business needs.

Check for Certification

IBM offers certification programs for IBM i developers. These certifications are a good way to verify a candidate’s skills and knowledge of the platform.

For example, candidates who have earned certifications like IBM Certified Application Developer – ILE RPG or IBM Certified Application Developer – WebSphere Development Studio have demonstrated their proficiency in the platform and programming languages.

Conduct a Technical Interview  

A technical interview is an excellent way to evaluate a candidate’s technical skills and knowledge of the IBM i platform.

You can ask questions related to programming languages, tools, and technologies used on the platform.

You can also give the candidate a coding test or ask them to walk you through a project they’ve worked on. This will give you a good idea of their problem-solving abilities, programming skills, and attention to detail.

Look for soft skills

While technical skills are essential, soft skills are equally important. Look for candidates who have good communication skills, teamwork abilities, and a willingness to learn.

IBM i developers must work closely with other members of the development team, project managers, and business stakeholders.

They must be able to communicate technical concepts to non-technical team members effectively. They should also have a passion for learning new skills and technologies.

In conclusion, recruiting the best IBM i developer requires a careful evaluation of technical skills, industry experience, certification, and soft skills.

The IBM i industry is relatively small in the UK and you will often find candidates who you have either worked with before or you know someone who has worked with them. Experience and word-of-mouth recommendations go a long way to finding the best developer for your team.

Struggling to recruit? Get in touch to find out how our team of experienced IBM i developers can help support your business.

Anonymous

KFA Connect – IBM i Support Specialist

8th June 2023

Want to know more? Get in touch with our team today.

Integrate Shopify Plus with Xero Using BPA Platform

Organisations that sell their products or services online commonly use powerful eCommerce platforms such as Shopify Plus.

Unfortunately, for many businesses, this still requires employees to manually extract their data and re-key it into their business software. Information is also frequently manually extracted from business software, for example, Xero and then re-keyed into the eCommerce web store.

The Downsides of Manual Bi-Directional Data Processing are:

• Extremely time-consuming.
• Highly prone to errors.
• Costly.

Businesses are now turning to solutions which automate the flow of information between their webshop and business software.

So, What are the 4 Most Common eCommerce Integration Scenarios?

• Automatic insertion of eCommerce orders into an accounting solution.
• Automatic transfer of order status, current stock levels and/or images from accounting systems to web store.
• Automatic consignment of an order with a selected courier service(s).
• Automatic synchronisation of customer information between an eCommerce application and a CRM system.

Organisations that are automating these common scenarios are eradicating repetitive data entry and the associated human errors, significantly decreasing dispatch times and cutting operational costs.

Automating the synchronisation of information between business systems and an eCommerce application is an affordable and quick process by utilising drag-and-drop integration tools such as Codeless Platforms’ BPA Platform (business process automation) solution.

What eCommerce Applications Can BPA Platform Integrate?

• Magento integration
• Shopify integration
• PrestaShop integration
• BigCommerce integration
• Amazon Seller Central integration / Amazon FBA Automation
• eBay integration
• PIM eCommerce integration
  

For more information on how BPA Platform can be used to automate the flow of information between your business systems and applications to streamline your business processes, contact us to arrange a demonstration.

KFA Connect are Codeless Platforms Partners – authorised to sell BPA Platform and have in-depth knowledge of developing integration and process automation using the solution.