When adding a new app to your company’s toolset, it’s important that it has the ability to connect with other tools. This allows you to automate it with other systems.
This is made possible by something called a “REST API.”
While it’s a fairly technical concept, it’s not necessary for you to understand all the details.
IBM defines REST APIs as “a flexible, lightweight way to integrate applications,” and for our purposes, this definition works well.
To check if a tool has a REST API, you can Google “tool name REST API.”
If the first few search results don’t include a link to the documentation, the tool likely doesn’t have a REST API, meaning it can’t be connected with other tools.
However, just having a REST API doesn’t automatically make the tool suitable for our needs. It must also provide specific ways (called endpoints) to interact with it, such as adding tasks to a to-do list.
Nevertheless, checking for a REST API is a good litmus test. If a tool doesn’t have one and you plan to automate your agency, it’s best to skip it and look for an alternative.