What it means
REST is a set of conventions for web APIs. Each kind of data, such as customers or orders, has an address, and standard web methods say what to do: GET to read, POST to create, PUT or PATCH to update and DELETE to remove. Responses are usually JSON.
Most business software offers a REST API, alongside other styles such as GraphQL.
Why it matters for a business
Because REST is so widespread, integrations with REST APIs are usually quick to build and easy to maintain. The quality of a vendor's REST API, its documentation, limits and consistency, affects how smoothly it fits into your systems.
A business example
Things to watch
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Check authentication and permission options.
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Read rate limits and pagination rules.
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Look for webhooks, which avoid constant polling.
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Watch for API version deprecations.