API: What Is It and What Does It Mean for You?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions have many benefits — including the integration of components, sharing of data, and the ability to be updated and secured in the cloud. None of these benefits would be possible without application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs make many of the technologies you use every day possible. Understanding what they are and how they help is essential to their use.

What is an application programming interface (API)?

An API allows developers to interact with software components outside their own code. With an API, companies can open up their applications' data and functionality to third-party developers, business partners, and internal departments within their organization.

As a business owner or executive, you aren't going to write every line of code yourself. To help with this, there are APIs for each external software component you interact with. Even if you write all the code from scratch, a well-designed application should have internal APIs to help organize your code and make its components more reusable. APIs simplify software development by making it easier and more secure for applications to exchange data.

When one program uses another, we call the first program the provider and the second program the client. APIs are the parts of a provider that clients can access. Almost every type of software application and system uses this arrangement. APIs define a known range of inputs and outputs for components and determine the protocol for interacting with them.

Thanks for the technical background, but what can APIs do for our business?

Integrate and collaborate

From the vantage point of a small-to-midsize business, the greatest benefit of APIs is enabling platforms and applications to communicate and collaborate. Without this benefit, there would be no way to automate workflows or allow personnel to accomplish shared work through ERP modules. We are no longer in the 1980s, when departments operated as silos, performing work we now think of as redundant and/or unnecessary.

Communicate and Innovate

Think of the application programming interfaces you currently use, such as web browsers and online or ERP interfaces. These allow you to connect with potential business partners, clients, shareholders, stakeholders, and customers. In your personal life, you may use a variety of smartphone applications. The iPhone and Android APIs enable third-party developers to create and find a market for their applications, making the hardware you use to access these applications valuable. Without APIs, there would be no personal computers or smartphones.

Secure and protect

Complex data security and cyber security applications, such as protecting your ERP solution and all your data, are strengthened by layers of protection between the data and the server. Developers implement API “gateways” to manage and authenticate traffic using signatures and encryption technologies. In other words, APIs are a vital part of the security infrastructure for small-to-midsize businesses to tap into economies of scale. It's also key for enjoying proportional computing power and protection for larger enterprises.

Access software and information

In your everyday life, APIs enable you to log in to websites using your Facebook or Google profile information or to pay with PayPal. When you travel, APIs turn you into a travel agent, enabling you to access thousands of hotels and airlines through travel websites. These sites and features operate through API integrations, automatically updating data between clients and servers.

Depend on data accuracy

Think back 10 years, and you’ll recall managing too many software systems and time-consuming data entry. Today, with modern business software solutions, you can depend on data being updated automatically, in real-time, and made accessible to all of your authorized personnel. Even more important, you can count on accurate and up-to-the-minute information.

APIs will continue to be integral in modernizing and transforming your business’ technology infrastructure. Having and utilizing your API will help you scale your capabilities as you grow, enabling you to tap into new opportunities that were otherwise out of reach. Working with a provider like us will help you access your business' technologies to innovate, collaborate, operate safely, and grow!