How API’s are transforming systems integration for Finance
APIs essentially offer a lifeline for CFOs and treasurers who are looking for both innovation and cost improvements. Although many CFOs think of APIs for finance as an expedited pathway for bank connectivity, it is just the tip of the iceberg.
In the world of finance, APIs are enabling real-time treasury management and empowering finance professionals like never before. They connect internal and external systems, facilitate real-time data retrieval for use cases such as bank balance and transaction reporting, cash flow forecasting, FX exposure management, payment processing and integration into trading portals and market data providers.
A common frustration among treasury and finance leaders is a lack of centralised visibility across multiple departments, liquidity and payments. Open API platforms act as a conduit between disparate teams and systems, allowing for real-time connections to apps, data, and new products and services. Open API platforms reduce manual processes, and deliver composable technology solutions, enabling corporate and bank users to inject data-driven decision-making into every financial operation.
Unlike FTP, APIs do not require files to be sent or downloaded. Data is exchanged point to point between systems immediately, allowing for instant data transmission and eliminating substantial risk. They enable the development and use of faster, pre-built connectors to reduce implementation times and quicker ROI.
ERP platforms like SAP, Oracle and MS Dynamics and TMS platforms like Kyriba are developing and embedding APIs into a wide array of functions and workflows. Luckily, IT and Finance functions aren’t required to do the heavy lift; these APIs are plug-and-play and enable more and more core integrations and reporting capabilities.
APIs should be easy to integrate with, have high operational availability, offer readily attainable performance insights, and be easy to maintain. However building a quality API from scratch is tough.
Three areas should be kept in mind:
- Designing the API,
- Building the API and
- Hosting the API.
Several tools can assist in designing and testing your API. With many, you can visualise and test your OpenAPI specification, then automate API testing once it’s ready. Of course, you’ll still need to build the API, implement business logic, host it, perform monitoring, and document it.
When it comes to building the API, there are several ways to do this depending on the available skills, the feature set you need to support, time and budget. Low-code platforms are often a good choice as they handle many notorious issues associated with development and also reduce engineering time and resources required.
Using a low-code tool such as Linx can simplify the API development process into just the use of 2 tools.
By shrinking the number of tools you require to develop the API, the focus shifts from technical ability and mastery over a specific framework to ensuring that the business and complex logic operate as expected. Additionally, as low-code tools possess the additional benefit of speed of implementation, going from design to production is far quicker than traditional development frameworks.
In the traditional API development process, the developer would be responsible for all the elements around hosting and management. Of course, you could opt for an IaaS platform where the basic building blocks are serverless functions like AWS Lambda or Azure Functions running behind their API management services. You would still need to code the API and have a good understanding of how APIs work, knowledge of the services offered by the IaaS platform and how they interact. But when it comes to hosting and deployment, low-code platforms, again, come to the fore. Many offer all-inclusive features (one-click deployment, built-in security), in addition to being easy to start (ready-to-go infrastructure) and efficient (maintenance friendly).
A recent Statista report found that a whopping 29.5% of API developers’ time is spent programming and coding APIs. The second most time-consuming task was manually debugging code, which was 17%. Therefore it is no surprise that using APIs converges well with the concept of low-code platforms.
Low-code development accelerates the laborious line-by-line hand-coding – repeatedly writing, testing, and debugging code until it works correctly. It’s also a handy time-saver for replacing writing authentication code, parsing logic, and the mundane aspects of writing integration code to an external service.
Speak to Digiata to find out more about how we use Linx to deliver robust APIs and build business applications that automates your finance functions and workflows.
