Are you eager to know the advantages of API for business? If yes, then this is the right page you landed on. Nowadays, there is a lot of discussion regarding the role that APIs play in improving any business model, which has many advantages for any company.
What does stat say?
According to developer stats, more than 12,000 APIs are offered by firms today. Salesforce.com generates 50% of its revenue through API, eBay 60%, and Expedia.com 90%.
While APIs have been around for decades and are not incredibly innovative in themselves. Businesses are finding more ways to use API strategy in new ways that can help benefit their organizations. They are always striving to stay ahead and get innovative.
Through this article, I will tell you the advantages of APIs for business and how businesses are using API strategy to change their organizational functions. Before we dive into the details, let's take a look at what an API is and its importance.
What is an API?
The API stands for Application Programming Interface, a set of protocols, and tools for building software applications. The API is a software intermediary that allows two different applications to interact with each other.You can outreach custom software development companies in india for your project.
APIs are becoming a powerful business tool, enabling companies to accelerate digital transformation, advance new ideas, and drive the business forward.
APIs enable companies to grow their businesses faster than ever before and represent an answer for organizations that are currently spending more than $590 billion per year, integrating disparate systems.
Like the Web, which opened up the potential of the Internet, APIs are driving a new wave of innovation focused on shared services. Organizations across all industries are looking to learn more about APIs and their ability to change business processes.
Importance of API for Businesses
APIs bring new opportunities and connect your business in ways that were not possible earlier. It does so by bringing your people together internally and nourishing relationships with clients and business partners.
With the API, the costly and challenging task of connecting applications and more importantly, the valuable data inside has been virtually erased. The API lets business people make new ways of doing tasks in companies irrespective of their sizes.
As of the 2019 API survey, about 49% of respondents working with Application Programming Interfaces felt that their APIs were not broken or changed.
In embracing APIs, organizations have understood that APIs are an important part of their digital strategy to gain business agility, streamline existing processes, and accelerate time to market.
The API is a useful utility for your business, capable of working more efficiently in specific environments and helps in creating custom solutions in an existing structure.
Business API Examples
APIs are used by organizations of all sizes for website analytics, project & team management tools, online payment systems and many more.
Google Analytics:
It is a part of the Google Cloud API platform and provides several API options that businesses can use for analytics.
Project and Team Management:
Tools such as Basecamp, Jira, and Microsoft Teams facilitate communication between coworkers and data sharing functionality and all this happens through APIs.
Online Payment Systems:
API supports the process where digital money transfer takes place. Most of the companies make use of APIs from a firm like PayPal to offer safe and secure money transfers to their users.
Here’s are some of the business benefit of APIs:
Now, let’s take a deeper dive into how API’s are helping transform businesses.
1 Better Customer Experience
APIs are creating more effective ways for companies to connect with users. Now, employees and even customers themselves have access to more data than ever before. And this has brought personalization to a whole new level.
Do you know 75% of people believe that their company’s use of APIs has dramatically improved their customer experience. With the API, a more personalized customer journey can positively impact revenue.
It is being enabled by better access to data and connectivity of application and user channels via APIs. For example, employees can view all historical and real-time information during all communications while entangling a customer.
2 Provides Efficiency
Due to API support, developers can meet their objectives on time and can do more in less time. The API has no implementation but specifies how software components must be assembled to develop the program.
API developers generally hear this sentence ‘do not reinvent the wheel.’ An API helps them to do exactly that.
3 Better Marketing
Digital marketing is predominant, but some marketing channels are less effective in comparison to others. For example, banner ads have struggled to drive real traffic, and the ability to measure their impact on brand impressions is unclear.
APIs can power dynamic cards and banners in third-party applications to present relevant, interactive offerings based on user context.
But this is only a small puzzle piece in a set of outreach channels, ranging from deep links to widgets. APIs can enable third-party websites, applications, or interactive bots to tap into your services to create value-add-ons for your users.
4 Boost User Retention
When data is mobile, you can combine data from multiple sources into one unified solution. Integrated solutions help increase user engagement and reduce user drop-off rates.
If you operate a retail chain rather than listing your store's address in a static webpage, you can use the Google Maps Embed API. It will provide an interactive map or street panorama on your webpage to capture consumers when they are most motivated to visit the store.
Also, you can use the Shutterstock API to create a frictionless workflow. A customized creative workflow, which saves users time, in turn, gives them more reason to get back to using your platform.
5 Better Software Connectivity
Many organizations use integrated software solutions, such as an umbrella software that complements their marketing and sales efforts, and HR and finance processes.
For those who have uneven software solutions - especially small businesses that are adding solutions as they grow - APIs can increase connectivity and communication between software to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
With APIs, workflows can be carefully or strategically orchestrated so that productivity and impact are optimized.
6 Opening Up Collaboration
The core functionality of an API is about connectivity. The technical layers are linked to apps, devices, and data, but the actual value of the API comes with the ability to add users.
According to Forbes, "In 1990, the average enterprise used just 5 to 10 different enterprise apps. Fast forward to today and the average enterprise uses around 1,200 cloud apps! ” This includes CRM, ERP, marketing, finance, communications and more in all enterprise software categories.
APIs and API management platforms are helping to connect everyone. As a result, APIs play a large role in improving processes and collaboration in companies today.
APIs enable more sophisticated designs of workflows that can attract more data, apps, and more people. This capability of collaboration between both systems and people is improving productivity and efficiency.
7 Driving Innovation and Disruption
The API has led to rapid innovation, for those who know can use it to create solutions to make new things happen. By providing standardized interfaces to external developers, the API revolution took off.
Previously, only developers could make use of APIs that had a complete understanding of the data exchange model, as they were provided with very rigid interfaces on how to assemble software components. This ensured that it was forbidden to think outside the box.
By leveraging APIs, companies can build relationships with new partners, deliver new services, and access new markets leading to significant changes and massive returns.
As your API usage grows and becomes an even more integral part of your business, there is an opportunity to bring even more significant business impact through increased connectivity.
8 Integration and Personalization
One size does not fit all. By integrating your application with third-party platforms, you can gain more in-depth insight about users and how they interact with the application, and improving their experience makes them far less likely to shift to an alternative, less robust model.
9 Bridging the Gap
One does not need to understand all the technical stuff to start their online business. Learning to work with APIs can bridge the gap you would typically find in the API documentation.
Here's a glimpse of what you can learn: by aggregating features set together and exposing these functionalities via endpoints (typically URL patterns used to communicate with the API) you can interact with any API.
Each endpoint will have a specified format for both its requests and responses - you usually find this format in the documentation of the API.
Are you selling your clothes on Amazon? Okay, this is the magic of the API for you. This allows you to integrate your website with Amazon's portal to reach a wider audience.
10 Flexibility in Developing Application Features
APIs can also provide you the freedom to outsource specific feature development. Instead of developing a new attribute from scratch, the developers can call an API endpoint instead.
This helps preserve developer resources so that your team can ship with a strong cadence without compromising quality.
For example, instead of building reverse image search capabilities from scratch, Shutterstock API Partners can instead call our reverse image search endpoint. Performing an industry-leading reverse image search as a product feature improves tangible products without affecting your internal resources.
The API is designed to maintain separate concerns among applications and servers. It means that applications or servers can be modified without affecting the functionality of the other.
Conclusion
As discussed in the article, APIs are essential tools for businesses because they can streamline organizational operations, provide strategic value, and increase revenue for your brand.
APIs are a new type of ecosystem, which allows companies to expand into new markets where they can use them for more than just technical concepts.
Therefore, keeping in mind the growing importance of APIs in business, you can hire API developers in India to embrace new possibilities and business opportunities provided by APIs. So, what are you waiting for? Get on board with the API revolution.
Top comments (0)