Built on Collaboration: Extending Business Central with MachShip
At Fenwick Apps, partnerships aren’t just something we do, they’re part of who we are. Dynamics 365 Business Central is a powerful ERP, but no single system can cover every business need on its own. That’s why we’ve always believed in the strength of collaboration. By working with like-minded businesses and trusted providers, we create seamless integrations that extend Business Central’s capabilities and deliver real value to customers.
Our role is to be the bridge: connecting Business Central with external systems in a way that’s simple, reliable, and effortless for users. This focus on integration is at the core of Fenwick Apps; building apps that bridge solutions, eliminate unnecessary admin, and ultimately make Business Central work better for the businesses that rely on it.
MachShip’s background
MachShip is a freight management system helping businesses across Australia and New Zealand streamline their freight operations. With over 500 carrier integrations, MachShip makes it simple for companies to adopt a multi-carrier strategy, choosing the best carrier for each delivery, whether it’s a metro courier for city delivery or a specialist for regional freight.
Carriers constantly update their systems, label formats, APIs, surcharges, and fuel levies. MachShip takes care of these changes so their customers don’t have to. Instead of businesses managing multiple carrier integrations themselves, they connect once to MachShip and gain seamless access to its entire network.
Integration is at the heart of MachShip’s approach. Around 70–80% of customers never even log into MachShip directly, the platform works quietly in the background, feeding pricing, tracking, and shipment data into the systems businesses already use. The result: staff continue working in their familiar platforms, while freight is automatically routed through the best carrier every time.
For one MachShip customer, this approach led to $1 million in savings in the first year alone.
When one of MachShip’s valued customers moved to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, MachShip quickly saw the importance of integrating with the platform. After losing that customer to a competitor with a ready-made integration, MachShip began looking for the right partner to bring their freight solution into the Microsoft ecosystem.
That’s when they found Fenwick Apps.
Why MachShip chose Fenwick Apps
A core part of the MachShip’s value proposition is how tightly they integrate with platforms that generate shipping orders. Since Business Central is widely used, MachShip began to look at how they could make that process easier for customers operating in that ecosystem. Fenwick Apps is known for building trusted integrations with Business Central, our reputation for high-quality apps and collaborative partnerships made us the natural choice.
“They’re (Fenwick Apps) the biggest and the best. For us, it really comes down to the value of people. Over the past six months, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to customers and partners, and the strongest feedback we hear is that market share comes from having great relationships with people who really know their stuff. We extend that same principle to our partners — we want to work with people who are fantastic at what they do.
With Fenwick, we’ve been able to build strong, collaborative relationships. That’s been key. The fact that we have a great product and great customers is almost secondary, because if you can find the right people to work with, the rest will follow.”
– Liam Mallett, Head of Strategic Partnerships & Marketing at MachShip
The challenge
Before creating the integration with Business Central, MachShip customers using the platform needed costly, one-off custom integrations. Each project required significant development effort, technical expertise, and API work, so the challenge was to deliver a repeatable, plug-and-play solution. Customers wanted something they could download from Microsoft AppSource and start using without long projects, high costs, or complex resourcing.
Deliver-It with MachShip was designed to solve that problem. The app connects Business Central directly with MachShip, synchronising data in real-time and eliminating discrepancies between systems.
The collaboration
MachShip’s goal was simple: give customers their time back. By automating freight processes, staff could stop double-handling shipping orders and instead focus on higher-value tasks.
“We have minimal understanding of Business Central, so without Fenwick Apps, we wouldn’t have been able to do it. When building integrations with any upstream partner, we rely on someone who truly knows that product. While we can read the API documentation, it doesn’t explain what certain terms mean, how they connect, or why customers use the platform in specific ways.
Having experts from Fenwick Apps allowed us to work closely with them to understand how and why customers use Business Central. That knowledge could then be applied to our platform to create an optimal integration. If either side were left to interpret the other alone, the outcome wouldn’t be as effective. By combining expertise from both businesses, we were able to achieve the best result for customers.”
– Liam Mallett, Head of Strategic Partnerships & Marketing at MachShip
Our team went beyond simply building a connector. We mapped MachShip’s freight workflows, explored factors like dangerous goods and packaging types, and involved MachShip customers early in testing cycles. This iterative approach ensured the app wasn’t just technically sound but aligned with real-world customer workflows.
The development
A major advantage was Fenwick’s existing Pack-It app, which handles packaging workflows in Business Central. Deliver-It with MachShip builds on this foundation, using defined packages, weights, and dimensions to connect seamlessly with MachShip.
From concept to first live customer took just 3–4 months. Within 6 months, Deliver-It with MachShip was production-ready.
Our philosophy is to build based on real-world needs, not speculation. Early versions of Deliver-It were tested with pilot customers, refined, and only released publicly once proven stable.
The outcome
The results speak for themselves:
- MachShip won back the customer they had initially lost who happily came back to them and onboarded using the new Deliver-It with MachShip app.
- Customers gained faster, more accurate shipping workflows directly within Business Central.
- Time savings and reduced errors freed staff to focus on higher-value work.
- Advanced freight needs, from dangerous goods to multi-location shipping, were quickly added based on customer demand.
For reconciliation, the integration also proved invaluable. It automatically highlights freight charges that differ from the original quote, saving staff from manually checking thousands of shipments.
“Working with MachShip has been a breeze. They were responsive and quick to reply when the team needed anything. The biggest success is simply that the app works and customers are using it.”
– Brad Foot, COO at Fenwick Apps
Within the first year, Deliver-It with MachShip was already live in ten sites; a strong early adoption compared to some apps that can take years to gain traction.
Looking forward
The future lies in even smarter packing automation. With Pack-It as the foundation to Deliver-It, we are exploring advanced algorithms and AI-driven optimisation to minimise wasted space, reduce costs, and cut environmental impact.
Through our journey of building new apps and collaborating with partners, we’ve learned an important lesson: start simple, deliver quickly, and refine based on real-world feedback.
We also recognise that Business Central can’t do everything on its own. Apps like Deliver-It, combined with partnerships with vendors such as MachShip, create the most successful outcomes by blending expertise, fostering collaboration, and delivering solutions that are stronger together.
The value of partnerships
Fenwick Apps and MachShip share a common philosophy: great products are built on great partnerships. By combining strengths, both teams have created Deliver-It with MachShip; a solution that removes complexity, streamlines freight management, and enhances the Business Central experience.
Partnerships enforce the foundation of Fenwick Apps, and customers benefit from a seamless connection between two best-of-breed systems, supported by vendors who work together as one.
