Integration is More than Connecting API’s
Originally printed in Missing Link Technology’s third Partner Newsletter
When I introduce The LINK® to potential partners and customers I often hear “We’re okay for integration – we have API’s” or something to that effect.
They believe linking using API’s is so easy that when they have applications they need to exchange data all they have to do is load the application, wave the API magic wand, and all will be well.
If this were really the case we would not be in business!
I’m not the guy to put this into technical terms, so let me put it this way – when somebody has written an API they are making that data “available”, but somebody still has to map to that API and maintain that connection through updates and changes. Each application has its own flows and protocols, data transformation, pooling, error handling, bulk data, retry mechanisms and much more. If you’re going to do this yourself, you are going to need to learn and understand those topics for each application. There is also a myth that all API’s are done perfectly and work great every time. In our experience this is not the case at all.
Brett Bruvold
Business Development
For software developers and sellers, using an integration tool like The LINK® allows you to concentrate on your product. For software sellers, it opens your available market and makes the “but I want to integrate with my accounting package (etc.)” question an easy one to answer.
Don’t get me wrong – we aren’t saying you can’t integrate your product with others using API’s, I am saying you want your product(s) to present well, work well and stay working well so your customers are happy. Don’t let your product take the blame because the integration doesn’t work well.
I’m ready to talk with you about how we can partner together so your software will seamlessly and cost-effectively connect to multiple systems.
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