API Development

Importance of simplifying your Mobile Backend Integrations

Imagine you are using a mobile application and it takes 5 seconds to respond to every action.  Will you like using such an application? The answer is probably no and you might write negative reviews about the poor experience, and quickly leave your mobile app in the app graveyard.
Performance is critical for the success of any mobile app. The challenge here is that, mobile world brings different types and sources of data, different formats and payload sizes, different transaction volumes and usage profiles, and the end of connection persistence. The expansion and diversification of data sources adds complexity into Mobile backend integrations. Any mobile app is expected to orchestrate data not only from private enterprise systems, but also public clouds (e.g. Facebook, Twitter), corporate SaaS systems (e.g. Salesforce) and increasingly even smart appliances and the like drawn from the Internet of Things. Adding to this complexity is the anywhere/anytime access habit of mobile users increases transaction volumes through apps, meaning that architectures must scale elastically. Furthermore, because mobile devices can’t count on an uninterrupted connection, the apps must continue to function when offline and gracefully synchronize to the backend when the connection is restored.
APIs play a vital role in simplifying access to the data and services needed to build amazing apps. However, the standards for middleware and backend data access were defined by web era and these APIs were built for conventional, hardwired networks. Mobile APIs have bandwidth constraints and other connectivity problems not related to hardwired connections that demand concise, mobile-optimized APIs.
In order to accomplish this level of integration for enterprise apps, all of the necessary links with the various back-end systems need to be developed so all of the required processes can be launched. If accomplished by point-to-point coding, programmers require deep knowledge of the different IT systems to ensure that information is passed correctly between systems using the right fields, operations and data formats. In addition, these types of complex point-to-point integrations are difficult to document and maintain, making them expensive to maintain when modifications are needed to business processes, or when a vendor changes APIs, or one or more of the systems are upgraded.
Luckily however, these challenges can be overcome with the use of a mobile enterprise application development solutions such as Axway Mobile Backend service that includes a code-free integration component with pre-built adapters to traditional corporate data stores such as Salesforce, mySQL and drag and drop functionality to orchestrate business processes. An integration platform that separates the business rules logic from the data and technical layers, makes it simple and cost-effective to maintain and update when changes are needed.