If you have ever used ‘Sign in with Google’ on a website, have ever had a confirmation message automatically sent to your WhatsApp on an order placed, or seen an accounting software auto pull all your bank transaction entries, you’ve already had an API doing its job. You just didn’t know it had a name.

What Then Is an API?

API stands for Application Programming Interface.

We know. It does not help.

The way to better think about an API is the following. You are a customer at a restaurant. Your food and your drinks are all in the kitchen, which serves as a storage facility containing everything that you might need. But you are not allowed to go into the kitchen and get your food yourself. You will therefore require a waiter, who will then take your orders, place it to the kitchen system, and bring back what you asked for exactly.

An API is then the waiter.

It is the messaging system that runs between two different systems, carries a request from the system requesting to be communicated with, brings it to the system to be communicated with, and brings back the relevant response. Simple, efficient, without any of the two systems needing to know anything about the interior functions of the other system.

Just a Few Examples

Your payment gateway: When you enter the details of your card to complete an order on a website, the website does not automatically save or even process that payment. It transmits an API request to the relevant payment processor, such as Stripe, Razorpay, etc., which processes and sends back a confirmation.

Your CRM and Email Tool: If you automatically add leads who have filled a form on your website to your email list, two independent systems are communicating with each other using an API.

Google Maps on a third-party app: A food ordering application cannot produce an interactive map from scratch. It instead retrieves the live location of your order from Google Maps using an API.

WhatsApp Business notifications: An automated reply to confirm an order, an OTP message, or a confirmation for an appointment. All of these features can be achieved using the WhatsApp API without needing human intervention.

Why Should the Business Owner Know About an API?

The honest answer is that the owner doesn’t necessarily have to know how the API technically functions, but he or she does need to know what the API can help their business to do.

1. Systems can communicate with one another: Businesses today use a myriad of software applications. For example, CRM software, inventory software, accounting software, and communication tools. All these systems run individually without communication between them, and require the team to export information from one and manually input it into another. Errors are a common consequence, and time is thus wasted. An API connection between two systems streamlines the flow of data between them.

2. Repetitive tasks are automated: The jobs a team spends a lot of their time on, for example, sending confirmation messages, inputting and updating records, and compiling reports, could be automated using API integration. This reduces error, saves time,e and the team would have more time to spend on a task that demands more human expertise.

3. A product can expand on its functionality without developing everything from scratch: If you’re building an application or a platform for your customers, using an AP, you could integrate already existing powerful features without actually building the feature you need. A maps API could provide mapping and location services, a payment API can handle the payments, and an SMS or WhatsApp API could be used for customer notification, leaving you to concentrate solely on the part of your product that makes it unique.

4. Data has more value: Through API connections, your business data can travel between applications instantly. The sales report you’re reading can now show you the precise sales figures of today, and not some irrelevant old entries. Data can thus flow better, making the information received accurate, and leading to much better business decisions.

5. Scale your business without increasing headcount: There’s a cap on how many tasks an individual can carry out manually. As the volume of your business operations increases, manual inputs will not be able to keep pace. API based automation lifts this ceiling. Systems, rather than individuals, carry out the work as the volume of the business continues to rise.

When Should You Integrate or Build APIs?

You’d typically require API integration or development when:
→ You have to manually input the same data multiple times a day across two applications, and it’s consuming a significant amount of time each week
→ You want to send automated messages to customers via WhatsApp, email, or SMS
→ You’re building a product where you require integrating powerful third-party applications such as mapping and location services, a payment gateway, or an authentication service
→ The sales, operations, and finance teams have differing sets of data because the software applications they use don’t communicate with each other
→ You wish to link your website or app with an external source like a third-party logistics provider, ERP system, or government database

Conclusion
An API is not an exclusive technical element that only developers can make use of. It is instead the infrastructure that is enabling modern businesses to operate smoothly and efficiently, smartly automate operations, and increase the size of the business without its entire framework collapsing. If your applications aren’t communicating with one another, your team will find ways to fill that gap manually, a practice that costs time, adds to the errors, and ultimately prevents you from concentrating on your business’s growth. A competent tech partner will not only build you an API but will also look at the systems currently operating and help you connect all the dots. This is precisely what we offer at Atto Infotech. We believe in technology that works for you.
If you’d like to know how API integration can help your business, let’s connect and chat.