Over the years, the role of APIs in creating business impact has been redefined. From its humble beginnings in the 60s and 70s, APIs have come a long way to emerge as the critical disruptor of the global economy. Forbes even called 2017 “The Year of the API Economy.” With 2020 around the corner, many future-ready enterprises are keeping API adoption high on their priority lists. What has changed is that APIs are no longer looked at as problem solvers. They have become gain givers by creating more business opportunities.  

Changing API landscape: Money talks

In a nutshell, APIs bridge the communication gaps between dissimilar internal and external systems, so that your applications can seamlessly exchange data and interact with each other. You can offer a clear path for third parties and independent developers to access their datasets and build on top of your existing products and services, with the necessary security protocols. It has led to the creation of a technology ecosystem that thrives on continuous improvement. For your customers, APIs represent better experiences, personalized services, and proactive support. For your enterprise, they literally mean more business.

Traditionally, API connectivity has led to more operational efficiency. Laying down the law for how disparate systems should collaborate, they have revolutionized asset and resource management in a digitally-connected world. However, that is merely the tip of the API iceberg. Today, there is an enormous volume of data flowing in from every channel. The adoption of smartphones is skyrocketing every single day. The emergence of AI-driven cloud computing and IoT technologies such as wearables are also impacting channel behavior.

There are plenty of opportunities to use APIs to enhance your digital assets and maximize your business value.

New streams of monetization 

Enterprises monetize digital assets by capitalizing on the powerful functionalities of APIs. They offer seamless partner integrations that connect you to external revenue opportunities and at times, even enter unforeseen market segments. You can also charge for business usage of your APIs using scalable business models such as Freemium, Pay-As-You-Go, Affiliate-Based, and more. 

More development efficiency for faster-to-market

Using APIs, enterprises save their product and software developers from the cumbersome process of dealing with endless lines of codes. Instead, they use standalone APIs for real-time third-party collaboration to get their jobs done quicker. Partial to parallel development efforts, APIs naturally expand the scope of your development coverage. It means more functionalities can be integrated into your digital assets while accelerating their time-to-market.

 Unified customer experiences

APIs unlock the true business potential of enterprises through the power of data-driven business insights. They collect, analyze, and manage the analytics from each digital asset so that the enterprise builds a 360-degree understanding of customers – be it around pricing, support, or brand awareness. APIs can also be used to drive Next Best Actions based on customer insights that ensure omnichannel consistency and hyper-personalized experiences.

Future-preparedness 

Combined with advanced automation technologies such as Robotic Process Automation, APIs are being used to achieve operational excellence across the enterprise. Eliminating human errors and process redundancies, they can accelerate your journey towards the fully-automated ecosystem of the future. Through Natural Language Processing, APIs also enable conversational interfaces such as chatbots that have been blazing a trail in the customer service function.  

Accelerators of business value

As enterprises move towards an increasingly connected world, how you collaborate with your partners and customers play a crucial role in defining your overall success.

It also means that your digital assets are becoming a more valuable part of your business value chain. There is no doubt that APIs will continue to be the building blocks of a dynamic and secure ecosystem in which you can maximize business agility and improve asset performance. More importantly, you can stay abreast of changing market landscapes and customer expectations while catering to them when the time is right.

Live API Use Cases Demo at Boomi World 2019

Aspire Systems is a proud gold sponsor of Boomi World 2019, the biggest cloud integration conference in the USA happening on Oct 1-3^rd, in Washington DC. Meet our subject matter experts at booth #205 and learn the 4 key dimensions of APIs for building a future-proofed enterprise.

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