With the introduction of APIs, building web apps has become simpler for API developers as they don’t need to build every aspect of the application alone.
For example, if you are developing an application that uses weather data, you can rely on an API from any weather monitoring system. Business applications depend on several APIs to perform their tasks. These APIs have to share and communicate data through API integration tools. In other words, it guarantees business applications’ seamless and effective operation.
What is API Integration?
An Application Programming Interface facilitates connectivity and communication between two or more applications.
API Integration tools refer to the seamless connectivity that enables organizations to control business processes and improve the embedding and sharing of data between various systems and applications. For example, various apps aggregate data from numerous hotels and airlines by calling their APIs. Another case could be synchronizing leads among marketing automation systems with CRM like Salesforce so that Sales teams can work on them.
What is the API Integration Process?
An API integration process helps to connect two applications through their APIs. While integrating APIs to different platforms, you need to answer specific questions for a smooth process. For instance, you need to decide if you integrate the APIs and the process you will perform to achieve that. It involves a couple of steps.
Here are some steps API developers follow during the API integration process:
Step #1: Research properly
Researching the apps and their APIs is the first thing you need to do before starting the process. The data you will collect will help you determine if it is possible to integrate these APIs and what it takes to accomplish it.
Step #2: Data flow planning
You will need to decide how the APIs to exchange data as they connect. Some questions you need to answer at this stage include:
if there is verification required to access the data from the given API,
the volume of data to be exchanged;
and if there are differences between the data on the APIs that are to be combined.
Step #3: Data Map
A data map gives API developers the visual representation of the data flow planning.
Step #4: Development
With the right data map, the database roles start developing the APIs.
Step #5: Testing
This step confirms that the integration is working as planned. So, this step is important, and you must not miss it during the API integration process.
Final thoughts
Businesses today use hundreds of cloud applications in their operations, as physically syncing data among these applications would take a lot of time. However, with an API integration tool, APIs from these applications can easily exchange data for feeding your business apps with consistent data.
API integration is significant for any business using an application that relies on numerous other cloud services and apps to work. Using API integration tools saves your business money and time lost due to frequent application integration issues. For best results, companies must pick an API integration tool that meets the applications they are working with and those they want to build in the future.
