The Importance Of APIs For Enterprise Information Integration
APIs help companies integrate and share data for a better consumer experience, providing agility in information exchange and better communication. The way companies operate in the market is changing. In a globalized and interconnected world through social media, companies of all sizes discover that working together and contributing with other businesses can have the most diverse results for the organization.
Companies have realized that they can no longer compete on their own that is why they need software like molecule for example. Almost 70% of them seek to increase their external partnerships by integrating systems and software. The unifying role of the business can be filled with the use of integration APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).
APIs are a set of programming patterns to gain access to an application or platform. They allow components from different systems to communicate and share information efficiently. Even though the data structures, development languages , and build architectures of each platform are completely different.
Among all the ways to integrate systems, this is the one that ensures effective communication and offers agility in the exchange of information. Not to mention that it is not necessary to use other tools that mediate the connection.
Systems can communicate through an integration API without users’ knowledge or intervention. Applications work through the communication of different codes, defining specific behaviors of a given object in an interface.
In short, an API is made up of a series of functions accessible only programmatically. When an application is developed, it is necessary to create documentation to facilitate its use.
For developers, it is essential to know how the system works and create new applications meeting the requirements of the system and the companies. In general, any API collects the input received into a program and converts that information into a format that can be read by other software.
Where To Use Apis In The B2B Market
APIs such as molecule for instance can be used on many fronts of digital commerce, as shown by e-commerce (with their search engines that recommend similar products to customers), applications on Facebook (tests and games that end up integrating customer data with the objectives of the company), and Google maps, as we have already told you. But specifically, for B2B, APIs can be used to provide the necessary integration between marketing automation tools and CRMs, for example.
B2B can also use an API by developing private software to serve its purposes, such as exchanging information and knowledge of users within a closed database. To use these solutions, it is “only” necessary to have a good code developer who can integrate ready-made APIs into your work software or who can design new code from scratch. Anyway, the rule is clear: not paying attention to APIs that boost the B2B market can cause indelible damage to your company’s productivity – and reputation.