The ability to access, share and derive value from all the information across your organization depends on seamless integration in your digital ecosystem, which is likely expanding by the day. Adopting an Application Programming Interface (API) integration is a stress-free approach to streamlining an organization’s digital landscape and successfully thriving in an agile business model. According to Gartner, companies should no longer view APIs as just technical tools, but as the foundation of their business models and digital strategies.
For this strategy to be effective, you must enable connectivity and data sharing among the growing number of business applications that support line-of-business functions. Implementing low-code application development and mobile app development in tandem completes this approach. A business with the proper strategy in motion will reap immediate benefits by increasing productivity and improving the employee experience.
In a matter of minutes, APIs can turn chaos into function by uniting disparate applications for crucial content and communication gathering. APIs also embed security and information management capabilities in existing applications with a few clicks. According to Deloitte, an “API-first mindset” is a prerequisite for business success today.
New tools and resources are making it easier for companies to join the API economy. Centralized destinations with hundreds of available APIs simplify the process of enriching and linking business applications for developers. Then there are low-code development platforms designed to streamline the creation of applications that integrate enterprise information by enabling employees with tools that require no developer experience . Together, these offerings ease an organizations’ ability to adopt an API-first approach.
An “API-first mindset” is a prerequisite for business success today
Four prominent trends in the API and integration market, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Rising ecosystem complexity brings integration challenges
Restructuring and transformation have been critical to business survival in recent years. To become more agile and respond to business demands, companies are expanding beyond on-premises systems to advanced hybrid cloud systems, which encourage the continual addition of new layers to their digital ecosystem. Digital integration initiatives are critical in today’s business ecosystem, where more companies have global networks and have adopted a remote work environment.
The speed of digital transformation has outpaced the speed of integration at many companies, leaving them struggling with outdated – or non-existent – integration architecture. The result: key applications remain unconnected. Information stays trapped in siloed systems, leading to inefficient processes and employee frustration. In a Forrester survey, 93% of respondents said the operational and technical challenges in their integration strategies resulted in significant negative business repercussions.
Increasing pressures on developers
By now, most organizations have recognized the need for better integrations within their digital ecosystems, and they’re looking to in-house or external developers for quick fixes. Developers are expected to meet ever-changing business demands for functionally rich applications while ensuring every new tool is integrated, secure, and meets the highest quality standards.
Working on tight timelines with broad, sometimes unclear, requirements, forces developers to look for tools that can save time and money. APIs do both, so their popularity continues to grow.
The reusability of APIs – meaning the APIs used to exchange data and run processes internally can do the same with third-party applications – is another clear benefit. At organizations that forge new partnerships all the time, this feature significantly reduces the burden on their developers.
But it’s not always easy to find the right API to fill a specific functionality requirement for the business, and in the past developers spent a considerable amount of time searching for the API they needed. Often there wasn’t one that fit the bill, which sent them back to building, connecting or extending applications from scratch, which is very time consuming.
Centralizing APIs for findability and support
To help organizations succeed in the API economy, OpenText offers a directory of API connectors in one destination: OpenText Developer. This unified service empowers the developer community to securely build custom solutions with OpenText services, and connect to and extend existing OpenText products.
Since its launch, OpenText Developer has added hundreds of APIs to support the different OpenText services. With new APIs appearing every quarter, it’s an expanding API resource for developers.
Developers can choose from three development approaches:
- Private Cloud
- Flexible, scalable
- Deploys on-premises and certified for GCP, AWS, Azure and more
- Public Cloud
- Easily supports core business applications for content-centric business processes such as content management, capture, signature, viewing, archive and more
- API Cloud
- Commercialized API-based solution
- Create new solutions or customize existing OpenText applications
Every OpenText API has embedded security features, so developers don’t have to add their own. They get even more peace of mind knowing that frequent security updates and enhancements are automated in OpenText Developer.
The APIs deliver information management capabilities ranging from analysis and reporting to storage and management. Once developers find what they need, OpenText takes care of the rest, supporting them throughout their development process with updates, upgrades and security.
The OpenText developer program also provides the tools, resources, communities and technologies developers need to solve their toughest business problems. Whether they dive into tutorials and trials or join forums to learn more, the answers are there.
Speeding up integrated application development
Developers are in short supply, so companies need to use their expertise sparingly. Business experts with technical acumen can take on front-end application development tasks, but they may need a tool that supports them with this approach.
OpenText™ AppWorks™ is a low-code development platform that enables joint business-IT collaboration, leading to faster development cycles and efficient resource usage. It provides pre-built connectors – which sit between APIs – to OpenText products and lead applications such as Salesforce and SAP. AppWorks users can also take advantage of the hundreds of APIs on the OpenText developer site. For more complex integrations, such as integrating with legacy systems, AppWorks supports coding where necessary.
APIs are much more than an IT concern. They’re crucial integration tools for the entire digital ecosystem, enhancing agility, growth and the employee experience. Whether they’re used alone or together, OpenText Developer and OpenText AppWorks offer organizations a fast track to the API economy.
