Advanced, open APIs are now an essential part of the digital toolkit for any tech-enabled financial services firm.
With many organisations now using a variety of services and applications in addition to their core system, the need for connectivity is greater than ever.
APIs, therefore, play a major role in making systems more flexible, extensible, and configurable.
Oradian’s approach has been to develop a powerful integration tool for third-party systems. It is designed not just to enable integrations straight out of the box, but also for developers to build and maintain their own in-house platforms, including reporting tools, business analytics, messaging services, and digital banking and lending apps, and integrating them with the Oradian core system.
Our model-first approach to APIs ensures they are uniform, and allows us to extend it to enable countless use cases that make an enormous difference to our customer’s ability to grow and scale.
Model-first: Seamless evolution.
Oradian’s approach to APIs is “model-first”, based on a Domain Specific Language (DSL) and command pattern, following the principle of Domain-Driven Design.
These models are ubiquitous throughout the whole application, from documentation to the REST API endpoint itself, right down to custom JARs plugins.
Following our model-first approach, we use a command pattern which allows us to handle all our different activities using a single interface. Supported with the documentation, all our APIs are totally uniform.
What does this mean? In short, it enables seamless evolution within the system, without breaking anything for the users. It also means our developers have to think a little differently about how to approach change, and to maintain its flexibility and functionality without affecting the service.
GraphQL: Flexibility and control.
Oradian APIs are also GraphQL friendly, which allows users to send queries and receive only the specific data they have requested. This gives them the power to select and define only the information they need, giving them a greater level of flexibility and control.
In fact, Oradian’s GraphQL functionality is somewhat more advanced, as it uses Combined Dynamic Reports to allow users to generate multiple responses.
Better still, it can be used not only to create Oradian Dynamic Reports, but also for advanced analytics and business intelligence.
Push and pull.
Our API approach seamlessly enables both push and pull usages.
Among these is our own push API mechanism, Oradian Notifier. This is a configurable API integration enabling financial institutions to deliver push notifications that alert their clients and teams to changes, updates, news, or reminders across their core system.
Push and pull mechanisms can also be used for real-time analytics and advanced business intelligence, allowing users to gather and collate data from a variety of sources in real-time. This gives them a new level of insight into their clients.
These features are the building blocks for customers to construct real-time decision-making systems, enabling them to automatically prevent fraud, detect anomalies, and create credit reports for potential clients.
How our customers use APIs.
All functionalities on the Oradian core system can be integrated through APIs. This gives users an almost unlimited number of use cases, so they can configure their system and their services to meet their exacting needs.
For the most part, customers use APIs to integrate applications that improve speed and efficiency, replacing manual processes with automatic ones.
Often these processes are performed by third-party platforms, but our customers will occasionally develop their own proprietary apps; most common are mobile banking or loan apps, which require API integrations to link seamlessly to their client databases.
Mobile banking applications are a prime example of the usefulness of GraphQL, as it allows users to define the exact model they require, instead of using an API with a large, superfluous model.
Others integrate a wide variety of third-party platforms, such as wallet accounts, card management systems, payment gateways, and internal data warehouses. Many also integrate accounting software. Every imaginable functionality is enabled by APIs.
A number of our customers use API integrations to streamline various steps along the loan lifecycle.
One, for instance, has created an API endpoint for uploading documents for loan applications, replacing their previous system of uploading documents one-by-one with a direct API-driven link to scanning software that automatically attaches it to a customer account.
Some customers have created new client application forms for loan origination, while others have integrated insurance services – in this case something borrowers are required to have – to avoid encoding client details multiple times.
These API integrations enable digital lenders to seamlessly automate key processes along the loan workflow, from origination to repayments.
Another customer uses APIs to improve customer communication, having built a WhatsApp chatbot and integrated seamlessly with their core system.
Reaping the benefits.
Oradian’s open API integrations allow smart, forward-thinking digital lenders to remain at the forefront of the industry.
APIs essentially future proof your business by ensuring you can continue to integrate the most advanced accounting software, messaging platforms, databases, and loan origination forms as they are developed.
A system like Oradian’s, which provides for an almost unlimited number of API integrations, can pay huge dividends not just in terms of speed and efficiency, but also in terms of flexibility, configurability, and extensibility.
That’s because APIs enable users to configure the core system they need to scale their business and supercharge their growth.
To find out more about what this could mean for your business, get in touch with us today using the form below.
