The Challenge
Costly and Complex Integration
TForge wanted an enterprise business bus, a central way to connect its voice platform and internal systems and to integrate cleanly with customer environments.
Their first attempt was with another integration provider, which turned into an expensive lesson:
- The platform was complex and hard to work with.
- What had been promised and what TForge actually received were two very different things.
- Every change or extension came with a high price tag.
At the same time, TForge’s own stack was growing more complex, a CRM (HubSpot), a ticketing system (Jira Service Management), accounting in Sage Evolution, and a sophisticated voice platform that needed to exchange events, notifications, and billing data with these systems and with customer environments. The original integration choice was holding them back.
An expensive wrong turn
“We chose the wrong partner at the time, one of Flowgear’s competitors. That was a pretty expensive learning experience. What we were sold and what we got were two very different things,” said Antony Makins, Chief Operations Officer at TForge.
Our default integration bus
“It’s become de facto: if we need to integrate into any form of API, externally or internally, we use Flowgear. We don’t restrict it to one thing,” said Antony.
The Solution
Flowgear Becomes the Default Integration Layer
Flowgear now sits at the center of how TForge connects systems, both internally and for clients. Internal system integration (in progress):
- HubSpot (CRM) to Jira Service Management (ticketing).
- Through to Sage Evolution (bookkeeping and billing).
- This work will align sales, support, and finance data across the business.
Voice platform integration:
- TForge uses Flowgear to link its voice platform with internal systems, driving notifications, invoicing triggers, and other workflow events.
Customer integrations and resale:
- TForge signed up as a Flowgear reseller and has implemented Flowgear for customers such as Finwell (now WealthTech), where Flowgear instances talk to each other across organizations.
Crucially for TForge, Flowgear is not limited to one narrow use case. Whenever they need to connect to an API, whether to an external provider or an internal system, Flowgear is the default choice.
The Results
Simpler, Flexible Integration That Matches TForge’s Culture
- Simplicity instead of complexity. The previous tool felt heavy and costly to change. With Flowgear, TForge found the opposite, a simpler way of doing integration work that fits how they operate.
- Culture fit and responsiveness. Antony highlights the similarity in culture between the two companies, both focused on solving hard problems and going the extra distance for customers. When issues have arisen, he describes Flowgear’s CEO, Daniel Chilcott, as wonderful at fixing things fast, which was vital after their earlier experience.
- Hosting in TForge’s own environment, because of how they use Flowgear in the voice world, TForge needed to host the platform themselves. Flowgear made them the first customer to do this, bringing the capability forward so they could run Flowgear in their own environment.
- A single way to integrate, everywhere. Rather than juggling multiple integration tools for different scenarios, TForge now has one standard. If there is an integration requirement, Flowgear is the starting point.
Simple, flexible, and on our terms
“We came from a competitor that was very complex and very expensive. With Flowgear, the simplicity, the culture fit, and the flexibility, including hosting it in our own environment, made a big difference,” said Antony.
Standard for future integrations
“For us, Flowgear is the standard integration layer as we connect more of our own systems and expand our AI‑driven voice services.” said Antony.
Looking Ahead
Deeper Internal Integration and AI-Driven Use Cases
- Completing the internal integration between HubSpot, Jira Service Management, and Sage Evolution.
- Using Flowgear more extensively in AI-driven voice scenarios, including connectors such as ElevenLabs for voice services.
- Continuing to standardize on Flowgear whenever a new integration requirement appears, whether inside TForge or between TForge and its customers.
