By Paulo Ribeiro, Enterprise Application Integration Senior Manager
As a result of the technologies massification and the growing demand for the application area, we have been asked: "What is an API or an Applications Programming Interface?"
An API is a software intermediary, allowing two applications to communicate with each other. They are an affordable way to extract and share data between applications within and between distinct organizations.
APIs are present in various activities of our daily lives, for example, when the weather application is updated to the second on mobile devices, or simply, when a payment is sent through a banking application.
It may seem complex, but when we use an application, it is connected to an internet network, automatically sending data to a server through an API interface. The server retrieves and interprets this data, performing the necessary actions and sending a response back to the mobile device, causing the application to interpret this new data and present the desired information in a readable way to the user.
In the corporate world, the API term has been used in a generic way to describe connectivity interfaces for different applications of an organization, in which it allows the exchange of data between these applications. These are vital for different business processes and essential to accelerate digital transformation, for the simple fact of sharing data and information between applications in real time, allowing the full potential of using these same corporate applications to be unleashed.
Over the years, the modern API has acquired some unique features that transform and enhance the technology space.
Adherence to specific standards, typically HTTP and REST, has allowed modern APIs to be easy to develop and self-descriptive, in other words, easily accessible and widely understood. Interestingly, APIs have started to be treated more as a product than as code.
Like any other software produced, the modern API has its own software development lifecycle: from simulation, design and testing to its construction, management and decommissioning.
Because APIs are more standardized, they can be monitored and managed both in terms of performance and scale. There is also a great deal of rigor in terms of security and governance. The way it works, in practice, is that the application data is never fully exposed to the server. Similarly, the server is never fully exposed to the application. Instead, communication is done by exchanging small packets of data, sharing only what is necessary, using secure communication protocols.
Companies are transforming faster digitally, to be able to keep up with their competitors and increase their response to their customers' requests.
At Noesis, we can help your organization implement an efficient API development and management strategy, so you can focus on the most important thing: time-to-market.
In addition, when you adopt API strategies, you will:
• Drive growth and innovation, especially through simplification in your organization;
• Accelerate your go-to-market strategies; • Improve your customer's experience;
• Streamline your organization's processes and operational speed;
• Develop and look for new opportunities and sources of market revenue.
Do you accept our challenge to help you grow with an efficient API strategy?
Contact us: Enterprise Application Integration
