Think of APIs as a terrific indicator of your company’s technology adoption. No APIs? You’re way behind. All your important sharables have APIs? Way to go, you get an A.
API stands for Application Programming Interfaces. In short, it’s a safe way to give 3rd parties access to information you’d like to share.
A great example of APIs can be seen in our GPS programs. Your phone has information about where you are, your GPS program (Waze, Google Maps, or the still awful Apple Maps) has information about where things are.
Google Maps will ask your phone where you are through an API. If you’ve allowed your phone to share that information, Google Maps can then provide directions to where you need to go.
Your company interacts with 3rd parties all the time. Vendors need purchasing information, clients need to track products or service times, maybe you want to automatically send emails after purchases or phone calls.
If your software is older, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to make use of this technology. You’d have to spend money to develop your own APIs. If you’re software is newer and popular, you’ll find many APIs already made for you.
There are some seriously great tools for making use of APIs:
- Zapier– Zapier has one of the largest collections of connectors. They build their entire model around connecting different technologies with API. Want to connect your email system to your website or social media? No problem. Want to automatically send leads from your website to your sales system? No Problem.
- Mint.com– Mint is the world’s best tool for aggregating your bills, bank accounts, investments and anything else financial. Good for personal and small business use, Mint.com connects to your accounts through it’s APIs to deliver a single view of your financial situation.
- WordPress– Remember how I said popular? If your business is built on WordPress, you’re on the most popular platform in the world. This means many, many companies have developed APIs to interact with your website. Simply go to your “Add Plugins” section and find a program that connects your website with the service you want. The most popular combination is websites with email or marketing automation services like MailChimp.
