In the first post about API’s, I discussed some of the fundamental questions you should ask before investing time in integrating with an API.  I’ll now address a few of the other questions.

Are you ready to scale and maintain?

Undoubtedly, you really want someone to use your tool, widget, app, program or website.  The more the merrier, right?  Unfortunately, you need to consider scalability with your integration.  First, can the API you are using scale with your demand?  Does your provider have the bandwidth or could you quickly become their single largest user?   Can you support adding new features, updating interfaces, etc. when users like your product and want more?

Obviously, if your product is commercial, you’ll have thought about scale, but many don’t think about scale for internal use projects.  I’ve seen a one-off project for a small group turn into a global time keeping product for an entire Fortune 100 company.  You might not need to massively engineer every little product, but it helps to think about how you would if you had the demand.

Are you doing something unique?

Okay, this may seem like a no-brainer, but you have to ask yourself, “Am I really doing something unique?”  Often this is overlooked.  Many people start off making a new app or website in a completely saturated market.  To do something truly unique is rare and often it depends on having unique data you can mashup with other APIs.   What do you bring to the table that is unique for your users?

Is this the only data set, or tool set available?

Again, there are very few truly unique data sets.  Chances are someone half a world away has a similar issues to yours and has done something about it.  If you find a unique dataset, run with it.  But, be aware that if it’s truly unique, you may become dependent on it, creating support, maintenance and scaling issues.  Check out any API you may use to ensure you can depend on it.

MxToolbox’s API

MxToolbox provides an API to our paid and free customers that allows you to perform lookups, control and poll monitors and check your API status.  Depending on your account, Free, Basic or Pro, you may have different access to Local or Network lookups or access to your monitors.  We have many customers using our API on a daily basis to integrate their internal systems with our technology to make the work days easier.  To learn more about the MxToolbox API, click here.

For the last several years, everyone has been talking about APIs or SDKs as means to integrate data, tools, or technologies to create new and interesting tools, apps, or websites.  Some of it is may seem silly or childish (My Little Pony, anyone), while others have revolutionized data sharing (Google Maps API, maybe?).   Whatever the API, there are several key questions to ask yourself in order to create a good integration that provides value to your business:

1. What value are you looking to get?
2. Are you exposing this data or tool externally or internally?
3. Are you adding value with your own data or mixing two (or more) external data sets to get value?
4. Are you ready to scale and maintain?
5. Are you doing something unique?
6. Is this the only data set, or tool set available?

Let’s talk about a few of these questions…

What value are you looking to obtain?

Business value comes in many flavors.  You could want to create a commercial mobile app, develop an in-house reporting system or application, or create a new information website.   The options are infinite.  Unfortunately, the endless possibilities also mean that you can go in circles looking for a killer idea when the important thing is to simply find something with business value and integrate on it.  Agile development is the key, not trying to the next killer app right out of the gate.  Google didn’t create Maps in a day, or even a year.  It’s 15+ years of development to get where they are.  Start with some small business value and work up.

Are you exposing the data or tool externally or using it internally?

This is a big deal for licensing of 3rd party data available via API.  Many companies give you free reign on their data or APIs as long as you credit them or add value with your own data.  These may require licensing contracts with appropriate accreditation, revenue splitting or other conditions.  Good examples of public apps which blend their own data with Google Maps and other data sources into tight mobile apps are Yelp! and Flixster.  Internal use of data available via API may not require payment or the payment may be per call.  It all depends on their business model, so researching the APIs you need is very important.

Are you adding value with your own data or mixing two (or more) external data sets to get value?

If you’re just blending two APIs together to get information, I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably not the first person to try it, and, there may be rules against it.  Some APIs require the data to be transmitted or disseminated in entirety, while others might require that you actually add your own data to the mix as the value-add.  Finally, since it’s already pretty common, you might check to see if there is a mashup API that contains all the data streams merged together.  It will save you time and development effort, if there is.

In the next installment, I’ll discuss the three other questions you need to ask yourself before integrating with an API.

MxToolbox’s API

MxToolbox provides an API to our paid and free customers that allows you to perform lookups, control and poll monitors and check your API status.  Depending on your account, Free, Basic or Pro, you may have different access to Local or Network lookups or access to your monitors.  Many customers use our API on a daily basis to integrate their internal systems with our technology to make the work days easier.  To learn more about the MxToolbox API, click here.