3 customer advantages of API-led connectivity

With API-led connectivity, logic is distilled into its constituent parts — which means that logic can be reused across different applications. This increases productivity, prevents duplication efforts,  and allows developers to build on each other’s work.

Take HSBC, for example; to be the disruptor, they needed to use APIs to securely unlock data from thousands of applications and make core banking services available to internal and third-party developers.

The team partnered with MuleSoft to implement API-led connectivity — enabling the bank to surface data from legacy systems and applications using APIs. HSBC developed APIs for core banking services — such as credit cards, mortgages, and payments — and provided them to developers. Developers then reused these APIs to launch different projects — from the Nudge app to a partner API portal.

With API-led connectivity, comes reuse and productivity. The advantage? Faster time-to-market and project launches.

Take ASICS, a global athletic footwear and apparel company, for example. As part of a new digital strategy to drive eCommerce, ASICS had to unify multiple systems across all brands, geographies, and channels.

Leveraging an API-led integration approach, ASICS built APIs to allow the new eCommerce platform to access customer information, order status, real-time inventory, pricing — all the data previously held in various silos.

Every API is a reusable component. For example, the ASICS Email API, developed during the first project, will be reused dozens of times as the eCommerce platform is rolled out globally.

Another advantage of API-led connectivity is reduced integration costs, as a result of reuse. This translates to lower maintenance and operational expenses.

One company that witnessed this advantage first hand is Employee Benefit Management Services (EBMS) — a third-party administrator of health plans.

Prior to MuleSoft, EBMS had to manually create all up to 80,000 files per day to send to clients. Manually creating each of these was a cumbersome, time-consuming, and error-prone process .

EBMS took an API-led integration approach — using APIs and web services to build an electronic data interchange (EDI) solution that connects to different organizations’ systems and creates a single view of all data. With MuleSoft, EBMS can now securely send data to health providers, pharmacies, employers, and insurers in real-time via a web portal and mobile app.

EBMS now also has a real-time view of critical moments that happen in the insurance member journey — including submitting a claim, changing the status of a claim, and more. The company also witnessed a 40% reduction in operational cost as teams more easily reused MuleSoft assets to create the custom client-driven partner interfaces.

The benefits of API-led connectivity don't stop with HSBC, ASICS, and EBMS. Thousands of other organizations are turning to API-led connectivity as their primary integration approach.

Read our eBook to learn about other industry leaders who are benefiting from API-led connectivity.