Benefits of an API-Led Integration Strategy

Benefits of an API-Led Integration Strategy

Traditionally, enterprise integrations have been done using point-to-point (P2P) connections. Integrations of this type are difficult to maintain and modify, and this approach leads to a complex integrated ecosystem with a high probability of failure, as it requires a great deal of time and labor to maintain.

The approach to enterprise integration has changed in recent years with many organizations now embracing Application Programming Interface (API)-led connectivity and reusable APIs to ensure a seamless flow of data between multiple applications. This is a strategic paradigm shift across industries.  APIs are developed for real world scenarios, such as retrieving data from an application, data processing using various operations, and sending data to other applications or APIs.

AST partners with MuleSoft to provide API-led connectivity, an architectural approach that puts the APIs in focus for easy accessibility.  It improves communication between applications and streamlines business capabilities. MuleSoft’s API-led approach to integration defines methods for connecting and exposing assets and promotes decentralized access to data and capabilities, ensuring the necessary visibility and agility in a digital landscape.

API-led connections simplify integration by helping companies adapt to changes using a multi-tier API approach. This ensures that any changes are only present in the Experience layer for a new channel, reducing development time and significantly improving productivity with reusable assets.  All of this allows organizations to quickly roll out new features and integrations.

Based on some of our recent engagements, we’ve compiled the top reasons your organization should embrace API-led integration:

  1. Agile Delivery – There is no ‘one size fit all’ approach to integration. With API-led integration, APIs are broadly divided into Experience, Process, and System APIs. With this approach, adding a new medium would mean simply adding an extra experience API instead of rebuilding the entire system. Likewise, the addition of a new business process only requires a system API. This also lends predictability by accurately estimating code changes and providing effective delivery with minimal impact to the business.
  2. Ease of Maintenance – APIs are easy to change, maintain, version, and test. Once organizations begin using APIs, they realize that breaking down a complex integration piece into APIs makes it easy to maintain in the long term.
  3. Increased Productivity – Organizations can start with any aspect of integration and slowly build a suite of APIs that can be reused across departments. This results in faster turnaround for work involving overlapping areas.
  4. Faster Time-to-Market – With API-led integration, organizations can achieve a distributed pattern of releases by creating multiple APIs, enabling them to prioritize certain integrations depending on data sources and complexity. One of our customers was able to go live with a complex piece of integration in just 2 weeks!
  5. Greater Operational Visibility – API-led connectivity provides a great amount of flexibility, granularity, and control of the environment. Using an API Gateway, organizations can set appropriate controls and restrict access to certain APIs, depending on policies and business requirements.

Contact AST today to learn how API-led integration can help your organization improve data connectivity and streamline business operations. 

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