Modern companies rarely use just one software-as-a-service (SaaS) application. Instead, they find or integrate multiple different systems with different purposes to fill the organization’s needs.
Application programming interfaces (APIs) are today’s businesses’ best friends. Even if two pieces of software were never intended to work together, APIs let companies connect these programmes to one another as if they have been integrated from the start. Using an API allows one piece of software to programmatically access the data of another, instead of requiring a manual effort to shuttle data between programmes.
Large companies that have own internal software can find it valuable to offer an internal API so that software developers from within the company can integrate other pieces of a software together.
An "iPaaS" stands for integration-platform-as-a-service. It provides a centralized, controlled way for every application to communicate with one another. eiPaaS is the enterprise version of iPaaS — it integrates data and processes from applications and services running on-premises and in the cloud.
Understanding the Value of Integration
Many companies don’t take full advantage of the integration potential offered by APIs, so they don’t know what they’re missing out on. The average international enterprise uses nearly 1,200 different applications as of a 2018 report. Integrating all the broad applications from the start isn’t necessary going to lead to huge benefits, instead enterprises should act strategically and target their integration efforts to the maximum-impact areas.
With so many applications used by an average enterprise, lots of apps have siloed data that should be integrated with other applications. There’s no reason that finance tools couldn’t be integrated with CRMs or marketing automation platforms. By connecting each application’s API to an eiPaaS solution, the company gains efficiency.
As an API creator, focusing on integration opportunities matters even more. Whether a given company creates software for other companies to use or only makes internal tools, offering APIs that allow collaboration and connectivity is crucial. Customers, whether they’re end users or other businesses, want integrated and flexible experiences.
Customer-Focused Success
Providing quality experiences for both business customers and end users means listening to customers and adapting to meet their needs. APIs make this easy by allowing customers to tailor their own experiences. In addition to offering a point-and-click graphical interface, companies can also offer a data-first API that allows customers to build their own interfaces or integrations with other services.
The API Economy
The term “API economy” refers to the practices or even business models that surround APIs in the today’s modern business environment. Since integration can be so transformative within an enterprise, some businesses pivoted their entire business models on an API economy. Expedia, the popular online travel shopping platform, makes 90% of its revenue from strategic use of its API platform.
What’s Next?
Whether your company is looking to simply integrate existing pieces of software or start its digital transformation the right way, frends platform can help. We offer an easy-to-use, low code eiPaaS environment for connecting previously disconnected applications. frends makes powerful integration technologies accessible to everyone.
To learn more about our technology schedule a demo today or get free 30 day access to frends.
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API Economy - The Crash Course
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