The critical connector questions you’ve got to ask: How many connectors are included as standard? What if my end customers have customizations? Is there enough connectivity for future roadmap plans? Does additional connectivity cost extra? What if the provider doesn’t have a connector? Does the provider develop all the connectors? Is there an SDK to build a connector? How many connectors did you deliver last year? Can we connect to any REST, SOAP, or GraphQL API? How often do you refresh connector endpoints? What if my end customers have on-premises apps? Are features such as API retry logic and exponential back-off standard? How fast can the vendor build a connector for me? Is it simple to trace connectivity errors? 5. Check if embedded integration is a first-class object for your provider So, here’s a dirty little secret about many integration platform providers: Providing embedded integration isn’t their first order of business. For some of them, it may be far down their list of priorities. Instead, they’re focused on selling to IT or to your end users. Those vendors don’t care about things like rebranding or providing self-service activation wizards, APIs for embedding, or connector SDKs—but you do. So it’s crucial to assess how committed the vendor is to providing a top-quality embedded solution—and supporting you every step of the way. Without it, you run the risk of subpar developer support, leading to a roadmap that heads in a different direction from where your company needs it. In short, going with a vendor that doesn’t prioritize embedded integrations is a recipe for failure. Here are some questions to start the vendor conversation: - Do you have a dedicated product manager/team focused on embedded integrations? - Is there a specific roadmap for embedded integration? - What embedded integration enhancements have you delivered over the past year? - Do you have developers solely focused on your embedded product? - Is there a specific enhancement request queue devoted to your embedded product line? - Is there a developer support team to handle ongoing questions? - Show me customers like me that are successful embedding your solution? 14