MuleSoft Integration Architecture for a Retail Group — 40+ System Connections Rationalised

"Our IT team had become an integration maintenance department. Celumai gave them their careers back and gave the business an integration capability that can actually scale."

— Chief Information Officer, National Retail Group

The integration landscape had grown organically over 12 years into a network of 40+ point-to-point connections. When any system was updated, 3 to 8 integrations broke simultaneously. The IT team spent 3 of every 5 development days on integration maintenance rather than business capability. A major ERP upgrade had been deferred for 2 years because of integration risk.

We designed and implemented a MuleSoft API-led integration architecture, converting the 40+ point-to-point connections into a layered API model with system, process, and experience APIs. Reusable API assets replaced custom integrations. The ERP upgrade was unblocked by decoupling it from dependent systems via the API layer.

Integration maintenance time reduced from 60% of IT capacity to 15%. ERP upgrade delivered on time. New business integrations that previously took 12 weeks now take 2-3 weeks using existing API assets.

Is this familiar?

MuleSoft challenges in Manufacturing — what we see most often

Businesses in Manufacturing running MuleSoft often face the same underlying issues: data quality problems that compound over time, automation configurations that worked at launch but have not kept pace with the business, and adoption gaps that mean the CRM captures only a fraction of what it should.

The challenge is rarely the platform itself. MuleSoft is capable of handling this complexity. The challenge is the implementation — the data model decisions, the integration architecture, and the process design that determine whether the platform works for the business or against it.

Celumai specialises in MuleSoft implementations and rescues for Manufacturing businesses. If the issues described in this case study are familiar, the causes and solutions are likely similar.