Every company with more than one system has an integration problem, whether or not it has named it. The symptom is people copying data from one screen to another.
01API: the doorway
An application programming interface is the way one program asks another for data or asks it to do something. A system with a good API can be connected to almost anything. A system without one can be reached only through its database, its files or its screens.
02Middleware: the translator
Two systems rarely describe the same thing the same way. Middleware sits between them, converts formats, checks that the data makes sense, queues messages when one side is unavailable and routes each to the right place.
03iPaaS: the switchboard
An integration platform is middleware offered as a managed service, with ready connectors for common applications and one place to define, run and monitor every flow. Each system connects to the platform once, in place of a separate link to every other system.
04Why point-to-point links fail
Connecting systems in pairs works for two or three. Each new system then needs a link to every existing one, written differently each time. Ten systems fully connected is forty-five links. A hub reduces that to ten.
05What good integration looks like
- Every message is logged and can be traced.
- A failed message is kept, retried and raised to a person, never dropped.
- Each system is the owner of specific data, and the others accept its version.
- Credentials are narrow in scope and stored in a vault.
- Someone is responsible for it, as they would be for any other system.
In short
- An API is how software talks to software.
- Middleware translates and routes between systems.
- An integration platform manages all the flows in one place.
- A hub scales; a web of one-to-one links does not.
Questions
What if a system has no API?
It can usually still be integrated through its database, file exchange or, as a last resort, automation of its screens. A clean interface is then placed in front, so other systems are not tied to the old one's internals.
Should integration be bought as a service or self-hosted?
A hosted service suits common cloud applications and modest volumes. Self-hosting suits systems inside your network, high volumes and data that may not pass through a third party.
How do AI agents relate to APIs?
An agent acts by calling APIs. Well-described, narrowly permissioned interfaces are what make it possible to let an agent act safely.
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