Our Technology Partner

Adapt or die: your business needs APIs to survive

Today’s successful companies are built on APIs. Their success is defined by their ability to connect with and delight their customers on a personal, meaningful level.  They do this through the use of powerful apps that create convenient and instant digital experiences for their customers – disrupting the market and gaining the competitive edge over established, but non-digital businesses.

Because there’s so much choice out there on the web, we’ve reached a point where the service that a business offers isn’t as important as how quickly that business can adapt their service in response to changing consumer preferences. Businesses that fail to heed their customers’ preference signals? They’ll soon be joining the likes of BlackBerry, Blockbuster Video and Nokia.

What is an API?

In non-geek speak (and without unpacking the acronym) an API can be many things:

1. The software interface that allows separate computer systems and applications to talk to one another and share information. Without APIs, these systems are unable to communicate.
2. The digital glue that brings the apps and processes together that collectively make up digital business platforms. Here, APIs are building blocks that, when stacked together in the right formation, can make our lives better and more convenient.
3. The virtual bridge that connects legacy systems with today’s technology allowing existing infrastructure to be monetised without having to invest afresh, in order to avoid getting left behind.

APIs for your business

There isn’t a single business out there that isn’t under pressure to improve efficiency, increase profitability and transform their value proposition to do more than just survive. A workable digital strategy can be the difference between transforming your business to ensure its future and watching helplessly as the competition cashes in on previously-inconceivable opportunities.

An API is what lets you connect your business processes, services, content and data to your internal teams, partners and independent developers – giving your people access to the tools and information they need to live their best lives at work. Building consistent cross-channel customer and employee experiences only works if companies and teams can exchange data securely; which is possible through the use of APIs.

Advantages of APIs

Having a robust digital business platform built on a solid API infrastructure will allow your business to react quickly as the world continues to evolve. APIs are logical solutions for many of today’s business problems and can be used to:

• Empower companies to fast-track their business growth and gain a competitive advantage without having to start the journey from scratch
• Create new lines of business and expanding product range by utilising business data in different, fresh ways
• Strengthen the brand by enabling a consistent, familiar and personalised experience across devices and channels
• Integrate content from partners to create new opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling across the ecosystem

API Management Services

If your company plans on going digital, APIs are a must-have. Cornastone offers the following API Management Services:

• Your end-to-end comprehensive requirements gathering
• Development of APIs in collaboration with your integration specialists
• Managing and controlling API releases
• Creating an open API platform for other businesses to use your APIs
• And of course, monetising your APIs.

 Apigee’s API Management and Insights Analytics platform helps businesses to keep up with the new pace and scale digital demands, while predicting and continuously adapting to change. Used together, predictive analytics and APIs create a formidable adaptive cycle of continuous improvement, allowing your business to work smarter not harder.