New Pie Integration with 1,500+ Apps
Wohoo! We’re proud to introduce a new integration feature with the possibility to integrate with over 1,500 apps via the Zapier “middle-man” integration platform. For starters, you can create up to 5 integration with other applications for free on your own free Zapier account.
What’s Zapier or a “Zap”?
Zapier is pronounced “zappier” as in “happier”.
They’re an API platform allowing two different applications to seamlessly talk to each other with integrated triggers and actions without coding. You can create a "Zap" which is a workflow that connects one application such as our very own Pie or maybe your Slack account with another application, such as Microsoft Outlook. Zapier does all the back-end lifting for you and you can set up a new Zap in under 15 minutes. You can also create a Zap to integrate within the same application. For example, if you trigger something in Gmail it can cause another action in Gmail to happen.
They offer 5 free Zaps in their Free plan. Then they start at $19 per month for more Zaps. See their pricing page.
Give Zapier a try for your own applications. Since learning about Zapier for our internal Pie integrations development, I have found Zapier to be easy to use and useful for many other applications.
Why we at Pie decided to join Zapier
The value is tremendous. As you know building custom integration between applications takes time. The hardest part is knowing exactly what is needed for a customer and then hoping there’s enough in the market who wants the exact same integration trigger. The other option is to develop an open API with documentation for developers. This again takes time since there’s plenty of coding involved.
Therefore, we decided to first invest in joining the Zapier community since it opens the door for 1,500+ apps and tens of thousands of trigger event opportunities instantly. Our roadmap does include an open API, but for now our customers can get immediate value with Zapier.
Examples of what to integrate with Pie
I can’t imagine all of the ways to integrate with other tools as it seems endless. Starting this week we are offering four trigger events to choose from in our Pie Zap.
New Task — Triggers when a new task is created
Updated Post — Triggers when an existing post is updated
New Post — Triggers when a new post is created
Updated Task — Triggers when an existing task is updated
For example, let’s say you would like to keep tabs on new messages posted to an important project. You can set up a Zap between Pie and Slack or Pie and MS Teams that would automatically send that post to a Slack or Teams channel.
Slack and Teams are only a couple of examples. I know my customers are integrating with other apps, such as Gmail and Outlook.
How to get started with Pie and Zaps
If you’re not a Pie customer, you can get a Free plan. With the Free plan you can set up an organization in Pie and then use projects under that organization to “talk” with other applications. Of course, we would love you to upgrade for our premium plans to take advantage of many advanced features, but at least you know you can start on no cost.
Sign up with Pie (start free) or login if you’re a customer
Sign up with Zapier (start free)
Once you have logged in to both, use this link to get invited to our Pie Zapier app access.
Then watch this video to walk you through the steps on creating an integration between Pie and another application listed in Zapier.
How-to Video Example
Here’s the video that walks you through the steps on creating a Zap between Pie and Gmail. The scenario is when a new post is added to a project, an email is sent to me with the name of the person who created the post and their comment. You can follow the exact same steps to integrate between Pie and many other applications.
Help Us get Listed as a Zapier Partner
We need 50+ customers to create and use Zaps with Pie in order to get listed publicly as a Zapier partner. Until then, we need to provide our customers an invite link. The more Zaps used and new triggers and actions we include, the more valuable Pie becomes to our customer base.
It’s not difficult for us to create more event triggers and actions if you have a need that is not yet provided. Please send your needs and wants for new trigger and action options you would like to see in Pie.
Thanks for the support and enjoy your Zaps!
Written by Paul Dandurand, PieMatrix Founder