What is an API (API integration)?
In short
An API (application programming interface) is a fixed agreement through which software makes data or functions available to other software. With an API integration, two systems send each other data automatically, for example orders from your webshop to your accounts.
How does an API work?
An API is a kind of service counter: one program asks a question in an agreed form, the other answers. Most web applications have a REST API: a program sends a request over the internet to an address, for example to retrieve all new orders, and gets the data back in a readable format such as JSON. The documentation describes which requests are possible; many suppliers use the OpenAPI specification for this.
Examples of API integrations:
- orders from the webshop go to the accounts as invoices;
- a new customer in the CRM is created automatically in the invoicing software;
- your accounting software retrieves bank transactions via the bank's API (see PSD2).
Ready-made integration or your own?
Many packages offer standard integrations with well-known software: you switch them on with a few clicks. If one is missing, a developer can build an integration on both APIs, or you use integration software that connects packages without programming. Between trading partners, orders and invoices are often exchanged via EDI.
What should you look out for?
- Is the API publicly documented, and is it included in your subscription or does it cost extra?
- Which data can you read and write, and how many requests per minute are allowed?
- Who manages the integration, and who notices when it stops working?
Which software helps with this?
If there is no ready-made integration between two packages, integration software connects them via their APIs. Ask for each package whether the API is publicly documented and whether it costs extra.
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