The words that appear in every sales conversation, what they commit a vendor to, and the questions that reveal whether an integration actually exists.
An API means a system provides a defined way for another system to request or send information. It does not mean your two vendors have already built, tested, or support an integration between their products. When a salesperson says “we have an API,” the next question is: do you currently have a production integration with the system we already run, and who maintains it when either product updates?
If you read one thing on this subject, read this.
A neutral, citable definition of an API.
Why it matters
Useful to have in front of you when a contract says a system is 'API enabled'. That phrase commits a vendor to far less than most buyers assume.
Take these into the meeting. A vendor who answers them clearly is one worth continuing with.
What is above is the Hub’s framing and the best outside reading we could verify — useful on its own, and honest about being a starting point rather than the finished piece. If something here is wrong, or you know a better source, that is worth telling us before the long version is written.
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