Insights success The 10 Most Valuable IT Solution Provider Companies

In Brief
interfaces for specific
languages such as DLL
files for C++ or JAR
files for Java. However,
wer
while considering the
of
API economy, the term
API is much more
generic which include
API
the language API
interfaces, but also
encompasses web
services and any kind
of software interfaces to
business assets. So API
is a more general term
for exposing business
assets, whether they are
data or software or
processes.
Application
The DAWN
Programming
Interface
of the
(APIs) are,
customizable software
interfaces that enable
P
once separate software
components to
effectively
communicate by
overcoming the
inherent
incompatibilities
created by differing
ECONOMY
software platforms.
APIs bring in a
different level of
connectivity and data
sharing between multiple
applications, irrespective of their
platforms, data structures and underlying
technologies.
Emergence of API into Technology
We are at the beginning of a new era which can be as
revolutionary for business as that of the Internet itself. The
90's saw the start of the web, which by the looks of it seem
something big. Those days some believed having a website
was not important, but after 20 years, most people will
agree that a web presence is essential for businesses of any
size. API’s are on that same-level of world-changing
technology as the Web. Soon, businesses won’t be able to
grow, stay modern, innovate and be competitive without an
API strategy, and they will find it difficult to do business, to
leverage customer and partner engagement without it. The
innovative power of APIs has led to the realization that
APIs can be a critical component of enterprise solutions
that impact the operational bottom line, contributing to
efficiency and growth. This, in turn, has created the API
economy, which is loosely defined as the way APIs can
positively affect an organization’s profitability.
Why the boost in API now?
Recently the number of private and public
APIs has been growing exponentially, with already
13,444 publically available API’s. The surge in these
numbers can be associated with mobile devices, social
networking and social content, clever apps, online services
and new software markets such as Google Play, App Store
of Apple. Recently, a survey concluded that 77% of all
Mobile Apps would not exist without API connection,
which acts as backend services of some or the other kind of
data or process access. IoT outlines how everything will
become internet connected and will be all dependent on
API's. Together all these factors are a mixture of
opportunity to gain new customers and link into new
communities.
According to analysts, the number of open APIs is projected
to reach 30,000 by 2017. Furthermore, reports suggest that
the commercial sector is quickly catching up. While “dark
APIs” (i.e., APIs not publicly exposed) are thought to have
a 5times growth rate of open APIs.
The API economy
The API economy is a new way of doing business, centered
on opening up your business and its assets so that those
assets can be accessed as a platform by third parties. The
goal is to generate additional business value through new
opportunities, which are accessed through the eco-sphere of
a third party. In a classical sense, API refers to application
Benefits of being part of API economy
The standard business strategy followed in the past has
been to guard internal assets and to try to lock in sales
channels. In contrast to the earlier strategy, in the API
economy internal assets are exposed via API’s and enabled
for access by third party businesses. The objective is to
enable these third party businesses, in order to generate new
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| December 2016 |