Digital business integration

Agile product and service releases, reduced costs of data reuse and business rules are some benefits of up-to-date technology.

We often say that the question is more important than the answer. The question is a motivator, the north that we aim for uniquely and assertively. That is why we use this thinking as a way to challenge ourselves and companies as a path to digital transformation. Research conducted by Capgemini reveals that at least half of Brazilian companies are investing in digital transformation.

While many companies seem to understand the issue, the report points out that top management’s commitment and common understanding across the organization are key challenges to overcome. As an active part of this scenario, APIs are the successful connection of digital companies. We see a high level of maturity in this area where business expectations make integration work for more agile and profitable businesses.

Therefore, in the series Demystifying APIs, I will mention some active fronts of digital business integration, such as internal and external. Internal shared development enables the use of common service APIs, with a catalog that allows everyone to know what is available on systems.

External APIs, on the other hand, are exposed over the web to allow B2B connection, via the cloud, or through applications and IoT with business partners. Both categories may be the same or have different characteristics.

Difference

The difference is only in your access policy. Additionally, we can mention other categories. Private APIs should not be accessible to all business partners, systems or employees of the company. Therefore, they have custom settings for each user.

Open or public APIs are accessible to everyone, but that does not mean it can be used without control. In general, there will always be a prior registration and authentication method to start using these APIs. Depending on the moment, APIs will work together to be strategically exposed externally, internally, privately and openly. Therefore, it must transit or aggregate routes to speed up connections.

In this scenario of joint system integration and access, these categories should never be limited, otherwise, there is some misunderstanding of the architecture or the business view. We are already seeing companies embracing the implementation and management of APIs for all the examples presented because there are measurable gains such as agility in launching products and services, as well as reducing costs of data reuse and business rules.

This is only because companies have found that there are no barriers to internal or external, just a matter of route. Now, back to our starting point: is your company ready for digital business integration?

Read part one and discover Demystifying APIs: How APIs support the digitalization of bank service channels.

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Demystifying APIs Part 2: Are companies ready for digital business integration?