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Learn MoreIf you’ve been following our updates, you’ve probably heard that the API transition is underway. You’ve also probably heard that by transitioning to APIs, your clients will enjoy more stable and secure Connections. But your clients might still have questions about why APIs are preferable to traditional screen scraping for data aggregation.
Let’s clear that up.
API stands for Application Programming Interface. The key word here is “interface,” the point at which two systems or organizations meet and interact.
APIs are like waiters in a well-managed restaurant: They take your request from a menu of options (available data), relay that information to the kitchen (financial institution), and once the order is complete, return to you with your meal (account data). The waiters (APIs) provide a more consistent experience because they’ve been trained (programmed) to know what’s on the menu and how to place the order with the kitchen. And your orders are more secure because the waiters are the only ones allowed in the kitchen.
After all, you wouldn’t want the customer popping into the kitchen to find the ingredients for their meal.
For a real-world example, let’s look at the process of booking a hotel room. If you’re traveling to Orlando this fall for our 2018 eMoney Summit, you might be looking to book a hotel room from October 7th to the 10th. (Obviously, we’d recommend the JW Marriott’s discounted room rate, but stick with us for the example).
Now, you could go directly to the hotel’s website and check their room rates and availability, or you could use a website like kayak.com.
Kayak allows you to compare multiple hotels and rate options because they interact with the hotels’ APIs! APIs allow you to request all the information you need in a concise, complete manner so you can make an informed decision …sound familiar?
We are currently developing or negotiating API contracts with financial institutions that make up 57 percent of all client connections. So in the short-term, it means your clients will need to take some action as we transition them to new connections.
Clients of Capital One or Fidelity will be among the first to experience this transition. Click here for detailed instructions on what you and your clients should expect. In the long-term, it means that you and your client will have a more stable Connections experience with more security and less downtime.
Yes! We strongly recommend talking to your clients about data aggregation now, so they aren’t caught off guard if and when their connection is ready to transition to an API.
Here are some of the resources we have available to help you keep your clients informed:
And we’ll continue to develop new content to help make this transformation as smooth as possible!
Still have questions on our shift to API-based aggregation? Give us a call at 888-362-8482 or send us an email.
This communication is for service purposes only. The “API transmissions update” is an eMoney Advisor, LLC service. An institution’s data transmission via API does not imply a relationship or affiliation with eMoney, and the institutions have not endorsed, sponsored, authored, certified, or approved this service.