Back in the ATG and hybris days, we had "accelerators" – pre-packaged solutions to give us a head start. However, a significant amount of custom work was still required: theming, backend integrations, payment gateway setups, and checkout customization. Shopify of course streamlined much of this, propelling them to their current SaaS ecommerce leadership position.

This ease of entry meant many Shopify agencies understandably grew from a background of applying themes for smaller businesses. Some have impressively scaled into multi-million-pound global agencies. However, this often means their core expertise differs from traditional enterprise consultancies or integration firms that are accustomed to complex, bespoke builds.

Here's the crux: these larger, more "enterprise" Shopify builds demand robust integration capabilities . There is therefore an opportunity for Shopify agencies with amazing skills at quickly launching beautiful sites to increase their revenue, and their customers’ capabilities, by taking on the traditional systems integration piece. 

This is where Patchworks steps in.

The use of a strategic integration platform is a classic enterprise integration pattern. I've implemented this approach numerous times in my career for vast, multi-billion-dollar businesses – true enterprises where commerce is far more complex than just shipping products from a warehouse.

Patchworks no-code / low-code iPaaS allows design-focused agencies to evolve into integration powerhouses and, consequently, true enterprise Shopify agencies. By partnering with Patchworks, agencies with architects and developers used to building front end systems, can leverage our e-learning, our documentation and our flow builder to quickly create a strategic integration layer, accelerating the integration to enterprise-level ERPs like SAP, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Stok.ly  or Brightpearl, and providing an integration hub for other technologies such as logistics, marketplaces such as Amazon, TikTok etc., PIM, search engines, OMS and even AI LLMs.  

At Patchworks we also specifically designed our Blueprint technology for our agency partners (and of course their merchants).  For agencies that repeatedly implement a similar tech stack, Blueprints enable you to create reusable reference architectures and dramatically accelerate project delivery for different clients, slashing repetitive work and boosting your speed to market. This means faster delivery, more client wins and healthier margins, all while Patchworks expertly handles the critical underlying scalability, enterprise-grade ISO 27001 and SOC 2 security, and all infrastructure management, allowing you to focus on growth and client success.

The Shopify ecosystem is ripe with opportunity for more agencies capable of tackling these sophisticated integration challenges. Patchworks empowers design-centric agencies to become integration-focused, enabling you to:

• Take on larger, more complex enterprise projects.
• Take control of the integration without relying on 3rd parties.
• Increase your revenue and profit margins.
• Offer a more comprehensive and valuable service to your clients.
• Build a reputation as a leader in the evolving Shopify landscape.

All of these points talk to winning more and delivering more with Patchworks and Shopify, but the clincher is: no more black box integrations.  Patchworks includes a user interface for run logs and error handling, to catch failures for future automatic retry and to send notifications to email or other notification providers.  The Dashboard also provides the ability for trained users from the merchant to quickly make changes in a world of tariffs, logistics disruption etc. when needed, so with the initial build complete the subsequent changes to the integration are that much easier.

Want to find out more about the Patchworks Partner Program? Click here.