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How we fought against feudalism. Or what is interoperability in development?

Today, I'm listening to the issue of “Interoperability. How to make friends between services” of one of my favorite podcasts of the Either-Or studio — "Launch tomorrow". The guest, Samata Galimova, an activist in the field of digital rights, Cory Doctorow, shares her experience of how legislation is changing in the field of access to closed systems of Apple, FB and other technology giants of independent developers.

I immediately remembered our struggle for the client's ability to choose which systems they can connect to the software they have already purchased, and so that the developers of this software do not prohibit or create obstacles to integrations.

My experience of fighting for interoperability

In 2016, I joined the company "Service Plus" as the head of the department. The company specialized in software development for retail networks (retail). My task was to bring the product "Loyalty Program Management for retail chains" to the market.

Our LOYA software was based on cash register software, whose task is to print receipts in a timely manner so that the receipt complies with the law, and it did it perfectly. But the cash software did not allow non-programmers to set up promotions, and in our case it was marketers. But it was a super-demanded functionality: you need to manage marketing campaigns, create personal offers, create a customer profile, segment, communicate through available channels, etc., create various packages of offers combining different products, and conduct analysis.

We completed this program in about six months. Then we started actively promoting it to all our clients who used our cash register software. But we also promoted it to customers who used our competitors' cash register software. Here we are faced with feudalism, where walls, moats were built and guards were deployed as specialists, experts. The main task was to keep competitors away.

In general, there was a "question of integrating" our loyalty management software with competitors' cash solutions. And our customers, retail chains, wanted to use our solution. We knew how to sell, but when a competitor thinks that his software is his fiefdom and is not ready to let anyone in, he comes up with a thousand reasons why you don't want to integrate with other solutions.

We started meeting with competitors with them.: these were the Atol manufacturers, the guys from St. Petersburg, Crystal Service, 1C-based developers, and others. But each time there were many meetings, but even more excuses: “Why can't this be done?” As a result, we were able to agree with a number of developers that we would have a REST API, for access to which we would need to pay and receive support if something suddenly fell off.This is probably the prevailing practice of smart developers right now. Examples immediately come up in the Russian market of the movement of product developers towards SDK accessibility or integration with vendor solutions for third-party developers+ Evotor market+ Bitrix 24+ AMO.CRM

Fintech:

  1. Open Banking: The PSD2 Directive in Europe and similar initiatives in other countries oblige banks to provide APIs (application programming interfaces) that allow third-party fintech companies to access customer data (with their consent) and initiate payments. This allows you to create new innovative services such as personal finance management applications, account aggregators from different banks, instant payment services, etc. Example: The Mint application connects to various user bank accounts via the API and provides a unified picture of the user's financial condition.
  2. Payment gateways and platforms: Companies such as Stripe, PayPal and Adyen provide APIs that allow online stores and other online services to integrate various payment methods (bank cards, electronic wallets, local payment systems) into their applications and websites. This provides a seamless experience for users and enhances business opportunities. Example: An online store can use the Stripe API to accept payments from customers around the world, regardless of which bank or payment system they use.
  3. KYC/AML (Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering) Services: Some fintech companies are developing identity verification and anti-money laundering compliance solutions that can be integrated into other financial applications via APIs. This allows companies to conduct inspections quickly and efficiently without developing their own complex systems. Example: The Sumsub service provides an API for identity verification that can be used by banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other fintech companies.
  4. Integration with accounting software: Many fintech services, such as billing and expense management applications, integrate with popular accounting software (e.g. QuickBooks, Xero) via APIs. This allows you to automatically transfer financial data between systems, simplifying accounting and reporting. Example: The Expensify application automatically exports employee expense data to the company's accounting system.

Other technology companies:

  1. Facebook Instagram Integration: The ability to share content from one app to another (for example, from Instagram to Facebook or Twitter) is an example of application-level interoperability. Social media APIs allow third-party developers to integrate their functionality into their applications. Example: A photo editing application can allow users to directly post processed images to various social networks through their API.
  1. Messengers and messaging protocols: Although full interoperability between different messengers (for example, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal) has not yet been achieved, there are initiatives and protocols (for example, Matrix) aimed at creating open standards for messaging that could allow users to communicate between different platforms.
  2. Cloud Services and APIs: Cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provide many APIs that allow developers to integrate various services (data storage, computing, machine learning, etc.) into their applications. This allows you to create complex and scalable solutions by combining services from different vendors. Example: A web application can use the AWS S3 data storage service, the Google Cloud SQL database, and the Azure Machine Learning service, interacting with each of them through the appropriate APIs.
  3. Smart devices and ecosystems: The development of standards such as Matter, Zigbee, Z-Wave, etc. is aimed at ensuring interoperability between smart home devices from different manufacturers. This will allow users to control various devices (lighting, thermostats, locks, etc.) through a single application or voice assistant, regardless of the brand.

These examples demonstrate how software interoperability allows for more flexible, innovative, and user-friendly solutions for users and businesses, overcoming the "feudalism" of closed ecosystems.

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Ваши размышления о интероперабельности и борьбе за открытость систем очень актуальны.

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Бибигуль, добрый день. Спасибо. Поделитесь вашим опытом в этом вопросе?

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