RPA vs API Integration

What is RPA? 

RPA stands for Robotic Process Automation is a technology to mimic human actions. which aims to perform a specific task in an automated manner by following a sequence of steps to complete that task. Automated here simply means that the task is performed wholly by the device without any interference from humans. RPA saves time and cost as well by replicating boring and tedious manual tasks done by a human. 

Areas where RPA is used

1. Invoice processing.
2. Credit card applications.
3. Customer complaints processing.
4. Web Scraping.

These are just examples, we could do a lot more things with RPA. 

What is API integration?

API integration is a process of integrating various applications together with their APIs to perform some common tasks. API integration simply means using various APIs together, so that they can communicate with each other in an effective manner for a high-end user perspective. With these integrations, the flow and availability of data become a lot efficient and various works can be performed in no time. 

Areas where API integration is used

1. Messaging.
2. Information requests.
3. Network integration.

These are just examples, we could do a lot more things with API integration. 

Difference between RPA and API integration

1. RPA generally interacts with the application through the interface in the front end just like a normal human does, but APIs interact with the application through a backend. It manipulates the data in the backend.
2. Also it is more time saving to build an RPA tool than to build an API from scratch which will cost both time and money. But when it comes to maintenance cost the APIs are much more cost-saving than RPA.
   1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface
   2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotic_process_automation