All about API-led connectivity you should know and its business benefits

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The trouble with the traditional connectivity approaches

When integration was introduced decades back, P2P or Point-to-Point integration was the only option where integration was so complicated. Later, Enterprise Service Bus – ESBs were introduced in which there was a common layer or a bus through which integrations were made. However, these traditional integration solutions no longer help in scaling and innovating rapidly for businesses of today.

And there comes the API-Led connectivity approach, through which integrations were made simpler, easier, faster, and more importantly, economical.

What is API- led connectivity?

API-led connectivity is an approach to connecting data with applications through purposeful and reusable APIs. It is neither a database interface nor a software developer’s tool confined to internal use alone. Rather, it is a business model through which companies can organize their assets, expose the APIs and connect external users across the globe. With API-led connectivity, organizations can build stronger networks, integrate applications, make businesses agile, and meet growing market needs.

With API-led connectivity, your organization will have

Categories/layers of API led connectivity

The APIs are created in three different layers and are reusable, making it easy to implement new services and systems.

System APIs

This is the most important layer comprising the confidential information of the organization. This API should not be exposed to the public as it is the core of the business. Once built, these APIs can be reused by multiple users in various projects.

Process APIs

This layer helps to orchestrate the data and down the data silos, without any dependency on either the originating source system or the delivering target system. The core purpose of this Process API is to encapsulate the business process without impacting the source (System API). These are private and are not exposed to the end users or the customers.

Experience API

Through this uppermost layer of Experience API, data is manipulated to make it usable by the end users or the customers. This is exposed publicly for the target audience to use. The transformation logic is implemented in this layer and the changes are exposed through Experience API.

Benefits of having a three-layered API for your business

The API-led connectivity approach helps businesses in the following way.

• Break the data silos, connect anything with anything, and achieve a seamless data flow across the organization.
• It not only helps you deliver your IT projects on time but also saves costs through reusable assets. You don’t have to create the API assets from scratch every time instead, you can make use of these reusable ones.
• The infrastructure is designed and built for change. You can make changes as per the use cases and redesign them as they are very flexible.
• Liberates resources, accelerates your projects, and provides ample room for innovation.
• Assures long-term sustainability and increases the agility of your business.
• The API-led connectivity approach helps your business with long-term decision making, increases productivity and enables rapid development process.

MuleSoft for your API-led connectivity integration framework

With MuleSoft’s Anypoint platform, you can simplify the integration framework, and achieve connectivity in a seamless way. Time to modernize your integration strategy, transform digitally, and offload the maintenance burden of the added API layers behind- Only with MuleSoft.

Don’t know where to get started? We have a team of integration experts who can help you get this done! Bring all your integration issues and let us sort them out for you!
Affordable. Reliable. Simple. Easy – That’s MuleSoft for API- led connectivity