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Our latest updatesIntroduction to API strategy
API (Application Programming Interface) has become such a common term in the app market that, beyond the concept itself, it’s also necessary to talk about its strategic possibilities.
First, you need to understand what an API strategy is in its essence: based on a set of routines and patterns from pre‑established software for a given application, an interface aims to implement many features within a single app.
You can’t work with an API without getting into its programming core, which implies having specialist professionals on the development side of a new software product to extract the maximum potential from this strategy.
After all, API-based releases are almost an urgency for organizations that bring technological innovation to the public.
The immeasurable value of API strategy vs. its commercial value
One of the main advantages of APIs is providing good solutions for end users, translating into ease of use or faster answers to the problems that lead someone to use a given application.
That’s the immeasurable value of a well‑executed API strategy: it saves time for everyone involved in a development project and for all users of that service. And time, as we all know, is the only asset we never get back. That’s why the better a technology’s usability is, the more satisfied customers will walk the Earth.
Because of this intangible value, the market value of API strategy has also become attractive for those who build it: even the public sector has been recognizing this kind of work and paying more for it.
In the end, what does an API strategy do to be so valued?
In general, an API enables organizations to open their data so backend professionals can use its features in new applications. A good example is Google Maps, which can be integrated into almost any software that wants to display a map.
In this case, an API strategy helps find market reach for something originally developed for a single application. Each time it facilitates interactions between code modules and systems, an API strategy is, in practice, creating new use possibilities for an already established product.
The API’s role in scenarios like this is to specify how components of a software product will interact inside other codebases, with high levels of data and content sharing between the two system fronts.
A complex concept
Although talking about API strategy doesn’t necessarily bring up a “new” subject, there’s no denying the topic is, at the very least, complex. That’s because everything related to IT evolves daily and significantly—and, in the same way, APIs must be refreshed with every relevant change in their original markets.
Operating systems, programming languages, and network changes can directly influence an API strategy. That’s why having professionals who are up‑to‑date and specialized in this app ecosystem is indispensable for companies that want to stay on the front line of new trends.
So the keyword is adaptation—because it will come. Building an API strategy for the web or social media, for example, is a good way to start thinking about the future of these interfaces and how they can generate, through research and usability, new ideas for programming and software development.
That leaves only one certainty for those who work in IT and want to make a difference in the world: the future of information lies in a well‑crafted API strategy, capable of making shareable the data people want and need to live more productive lives.