Is API integration worth tackling for a business partner ?


Userlevel 2
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Hello,

This is a very general, non technical question but you must be the people who can give the best advice.

We have been business partners since 2012 but we don’t have an in-house developer.  We can handle a few screen customisations but apart from that we outsource our development. 

In the past we did have developers in-house but we found that we did not have the experience to manage the developers properly.  Projects took much longer than expected and went way over budget, which we could not recover.  Using subcontractors is convenient for us as we don’t have those issues.

However, we are finding that we are often being asked to provide web api integrations for clients.  

This is something that I think we could do in-house because API development is a much more focused area with particular skill sets and the jobs are fairly similar meaning that we can gain good experience in a short period of time. 

Am I right in this assessment ?  Is it a safe bet to focus just on API’s?

Thanks

James

 


9 replies

Userlevel 6
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It depends on the specific requirements of the API you are developing. If you are doing something like just exposing existing functionality or data that tends to be a simple task. On the other hand it can be more complex if you are needing to provide real-time synchronization between two systems via API. API development can be simple or complex much like any other dev project.

In general though I would say if you had problems managing a general development team, narrowing the focus down to just APIs won’t help much. Sticking specifically to basic integration scenarios could help but without experience it’s hard to accurately assess the difficulty and scope of a development request.

Userlevel 2
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Hi Mark, thank you, this is useful.

 

James

Userlevel 3
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One thing to take a look at to accelerate these types of integrations is to look at an iPAAS solution or even something like Microsoft Power Automate. It is fairly easy to build integrations with little to no code with these solutions.

Userlevel 2
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Hi RBrown,

Thanks for this.  As I understand it, an Ipaas is a platform that enables to development of an integration and it also has existing integrations that can be used.  However it seems to me that the integration also runs through their platform and the pricing is based on the volume.

Is this correct?  Ideally I would have through that you would want to cut out any system in the middle.

I see that Boomi has an integration to Acumatica.  I am also aware of the Celigio integrations.

Thanks

James

 

Userlevel 3
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Yes a platform like that can add some cost but it offsets the cost and speed of development for the integrations. Just because the APIs are there you still need to setup that push/pull/translation aspect of the integration. That’s where the iPAAS would fit. 

Userlevel 2
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Great, thanks.

What would you recommend?  

I made a mistake saying that Boomi had an Acumatica integration, it is Microsoft Power Automate that shows it has the integration.

Userlevel 3
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Both Boomi and Celigo are good tools with Power Automate being a great entry tool to get some experience with the capabilities without a big investment. If you have Office365 you can get started for $15/month I believe. Celigo is definitely positioned more for the mid market with Boomi scaling up towards enterprise. 

Userlevel 6
Badge +5

iPAAS can work for well-known, stable integrations. i.e. sync Acumatica contacts with Salesforce contacts, or something like that. However, keep in mind that even iPAAS solutions can have issues (not every connector deals well with every piece of data that flows over it, especially with something as quirky as the Acumatica API). So it’s not just connecting systems. If you put yourself in the middle as the maintainer of the solution, then be prepared to maintain it when the support requests come. If it’s a high volume connection that the business relies on to operate, then also be prepared for the 1am phone calls.

The question you are really asking is “Can I make money selling, developing and maintaining integrations between Acumatica and third party systems?”. The answer to your question is yes. However, building stabe and reliable connections between systems is part art, part science. So having someone on board to call when things go bad is probably a good idea. That doesn’t mean you have to hire that person, you just need to have them on your speed dial and make sure they will pick up the phone.

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Partners without API developers can collaborate with firms that have expertise in development of API based connectors that sync Acumatica with other applications. Our firm works with many Acumatica partners in this regard.

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