In 2019, Iress launched an initiative called Iress Open. This functionality makes it easier to connect Xplan with third-party applications, offering our clients greater choice and flexibility. One year on, it feels like the right time to reflect on the achievements, the learnings and what’s to come.
First, a quick recap of Iress Open.
Standard integrations
The standard integrations API provides access to Xplan’s core business functionality, presented in a user friendly and consistent structure, which will be immediately familiar to programmers who are accustomed to RESTful API.
- The standard integration provides a true, real-time two-way transfer of data that enables a range of third-party application types.
- Xplan users are able to simply switch on the integration without the need for manual contract changes.
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Custom integrations
The custom integrations API is designed for anyone comfortable with creating custom-coded solutions or integrating directly with RESTful API. The API resources are hosted under the same domain as the Xplan site. To access these API resources, the third-party software provider must have access to the Xplan site.
- We introduced new API key management processes which benefit both custom and standard integrations.
- A continued commitment from Iress to work with you and third-party software providers to develop tailored solutions, and in some cases, embed functionality within Iress software.
A regularly updated list of available and pending integrations is available here.
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Product retrospective
Our product engineering teams regularly ask questions such as: What went well? What didn’t? What learnings have we taken from this process? What should we do next? Putting this lens over Iress Open we can celebrate some great results:
- The number of third-party integrations available has grown over recent months, as has the number of adopters. We continue to have a healthy pipeline of in-flight builds and interest.
- The standard integration template is being successfully used by third-parties with diverse business needs and propositions, from call recording through to cash flow modelling.
- The wait time to enable a standard integration in production has reduced to an average of less than 48 hours, once agreements are signed.
There were challenges to overcome and learn from including:
- A clearer communication strategy - specifically about what a client could expect from a standard integration. We were often asked for detail on a pending integration when in fact it was the responsibility of third-parties to schedule work and define the depth of their solution.
- It was challenging to stay true to our ideal of one global standard template. Instead, we took the opportunity to change direction and offer locale-appropriate versioning.
Next in our sights
We will continue to encourage third-party software providers to integrate with Iress, and you can keep track of newly available integrations via the Iress Community. If you are interested in a specific integration, your account manager can discuss next steps with you, alternatively, you could encourage the third-party to open up a dialogue with Iress directly.
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We continue to invest and develop our products in this space and will report on enhancements via this newsletter. In the meantime, keep a lookout for these in the coming months:
- Improvements in the Iress Open UI due in June/July
- Extension to the fields already included in the standard integration
- A pilot launch of the standard integration in South Africa July/August
