{"id":940,"date":"2019-06-20T16:24:43","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T13:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openinsurance.io\/?page_id=940"},"modified":"2019-12-07T21:06:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-07T18:06:34","slug":"apis-are-the-future-for-flexible-developers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/openinsurance.io\/tech-lab\/apis-are-the-future-for-flexible-developers\/","title":{"rendered":"APIs ARE THE FUTURE FOR FLEXIBLE DEVELOPERS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Matt Wardle, CTO and Co-Founder at KASKO<\/p>\n

There is much debate whenever KASKO<\/a> is in the room, on how to build solid, flexible, insurance products quickly. Given that is what we do, build great insurance products for providers, be they incumbents, startups or anything in between, quickly, it is quite important. So, I thought the time was right to delve a little deeper into the \u2018hows?\u2019 and \u2018whats?\u2019 of it all\u2026<\/p>\n

First up – I won\u2019t tell you all our secrets here, but am going to touch on something pivotal in how we function as a company. \u2018Application Programming Integrations\u2019, or APIs as they are better known.<\/p>\n

 <\/strong>APIs are the future<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyone not using them internally, or externally, will get left behind, period. They allow innovation and collaboration with ease. From Monzo to Google Maps (useful), to the less useful \u2018Tronald Dump\u2019 (silly quotes from a certain person), APIs are everywhere. Consumers are using them millions of times a day, often without realising.<\/p>\n

Our whole platform is API driven. All data going into our platform goes via REST API.  This includes our own internal dashboards and tooling, almost everything that we, our clients and their customers use, on the face of it, is API driven.<\/p>\n

This forces us to taste our own medicine, at KASKO we are as driven by our own API as the products we build for others. Every feature of our API is being used daily by our own team.<\/p>\n

Our API is fully dynamic. We don’t \u2018build\u2019 an API for new insurance products every time. What happens is that when we set up the new insurance product for our partners in our platform, it then builds the API automatically, tailored to the parameters and requirements of the partnership.<\/p>\n

Micro-services<\/strong><\/p>\n

We built our platform from the ground up allowing micro-services for maximum flexibility, letting us use our homemade services, or when needed, switch them out for 3rd party ones. Worth explaining that there are two different types of 3rd party integrations that we would go for, either:<\/p>\n