API Testing is Crucial in Delivering High-Quality Applications for Your Business
The global API testing market is projected to reach US$4 billion by 2030, up from US$1.2 billion in 2022, according to a report by StrategyR.
Application Programming Interfaces or APIs are the backbone of any application that a company develops to serve its clients. APIs enable two different applications to communicate within a client-server relationship.
Software rarely stands on its own. Instead, each piece of software is part of a larger workflow and ecosystem. The efficiency of a software application is directly related to the quality of its API. That’s why API testing counts as a crucial step in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Every application goes through its own SDLC which includes the stages of business demand, ideation, development, testing and delivery. Creating APIs is part of the development stage and could be compared to putting plumbing and electrical conduits in place when building a home. By ensuring standards and connections are well defined, have sufficient quality and are reliable, APIs enable the software to have a bigger impact by extending data flow to the bigger ecosystem.
Testing this important infrastructure ensures that your investment (time, money, resources) in developing the software will have the impact on the business you expect. Incorporating API testing will also reduce downtime and frustrations down the road when things don’t work as they should.
Once the developers write the code for APIs, API testing checks whether the application meets the functional and non-functional requirements. This includes parameters like correctness, reliability, security and performance.
Take the example of a customer requesting their statement of account from the bank’s website application to bring all transaction entries up to date. API testing ensures that there are no errors in retrieving, transferring and presenting the relevant data. Among other things, the testing checks that:
- The bank database gives exact account information
- It is consistent every single time it is accessed
- It does not give away another customer’s information
- It performs without any glitches
That’s the power of API testing when it comes to delivering a seamless customer experience. API testing is crucial for delivering a high-quality experience for your customers and employees.
