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An API, which means “Application Programming Interface”, is how you connect and manipulate various data between two or more pieces of software. Look at it as instructions on how to push and pull information from one system to another. 

We’ll pick a fictional business named Cheryl’s Landscaping Co. Cheryl owns and operates this company of course. She has owned and operated her business for three years, and business has gone well. 

The problem is, all of the different pieces of software she’s using to run her business are actually restricting her efficiency and growth because none of her data is talking to each other. Her business systems are all living on an island unto themselves. 

She’s using Quickbooks for accounting, Microsoft Office 2013 for proposals, an old Access Database logistics system her cousin built that is sitting on her local server in a back room, an Excel spreadsheet for her customer relationship management system, a custom cloud-based document repository system that a local development shop created that’s sitting on AWS (Amazon Web Services), Mailchimp for email blasts to new leads and existing clients, and Twilio to send reminder texts to her clients before the landscapers show up. 

How can Cheryl know where her efforts are working and falling short if her software doesn’t talk to each other? She doesn’t. 

That’s where APIs come into play.  

For companies using contemporary cloud-based software exclusively, there are a ton of existing API options that will connect all of this data pretty seamlessly if it’s not already natively part of the platform. 

In Cheryl’s case, she has a bunch of antiquated custom software with a sprinkle of modern cloud-based software that can’t really communicate. She’s reluctant to migrate to new software, so what can she do? 

She’s in luck because all of her systems can talk to each other by creating custom APIs and middleware that allows all of her data to speak and transfer information seamlessly. 

She can even have a cloud-based hub that allows all of her systems to run concurrently as well as set up a Business Intelligence (BI) Dashboard that consists of metrics, key performance indicators, and real-time data.  

Our expert team has years of experience with API Integration to give clients confidence that their API pipelines ingest the proper data into their application, as well as have the capabilities of building custom APIs to serve their data to others.

Do you want to know more about how APIs work or if you need them? Learn about our API Integration solutions.