Today’s work processes increasingly suffer from painful frictional losses resulting from the immense number of business processes, solution models and objectives. Over the course of time, proprietary methods have developed for various tasks, each of which, in turn, meets its own specific requirements. What is missing, however, is the synergetic potential to create a large entity through the cooperation and combination of the originally individual processes, which increases flexibility and efficiency. This can be achieved through the consistent use of APIs. Coordinated processes as an efficiency tool The use of APIs to increase efficiency and flexibility is not primarily aimed to increase revenue directly. This aspect is already indirectly achieved with consistent application. Above all, it is important in this area to minimise resistance forces and avoidable resource consumption in order to achieve greater economic efficiency in this way. More information on aspects of economic efficiency when using APIs can be found in the article Economic benefits of APIs. In the area of software development, the use of APIs allows the creation of a universal tool tailored to individual needs that provides related business processes and services side by side. A large part of the efficiency losses observed in the company is due to the constant switching between the required applications - a configuration that prevents any flexible response to current or time-critical events right from the start. APIs create a common basis Here APIs can help in two ways. On the one hand, they unite all applications required for the task under a common user environment. On the other hand, the internal structure of APIs allows flexible adaptation to current conditions. The benefits of this strategy are spectacular: APIs not only allow previously separate applications to be efficiently combined into a single functional unit, but they also enable rapid and problem-free expansion with additional functionalities. Regardless of how many individual applications cooperate with each other - access to them is always simple and highly effective. APIs as a tool for flexible data management A coordinated application environment consisting of several jointly operating applications requires the uncomplicated and fast administration of all necessary data as well as flexible access to it. APIs make data sharing effortless, allowing universal access that is essential for collaborative or time-critical processes. The demand for simple tools to change or extend application functionality, which is associated with flexible data management, is also fully met by APIs. They open up effortless and user-friendly ways for efficient and flexible data exchange with customers and business partners, combined with seamless access to all necessary backend processes. APIs as a bridge between developers and users The special data structure of APIs allows particularly intensive and fast communication channels between software developers and end users or marketing professionals involved in business processes. This enables optimized strategies to respond very quickly to changing market conditions or other external influences. Conclusion In all phases of the operational value chain, APIs can achieve often dramatic efficiency gains and noticeable process flexibility. This ranges from conceptual design to administration and usage. APIs support the development of new products and processes as well as the optimization of existing resources. When networking with cooperating systems, accessing data in real time and eliminating loss of time, the use of APIs is a must.

API-Economy: With API products to new sources of revenue The tremendous success of APIs in recent years has opened up completely new perspectives for developers. More and more companies are realizing the immense economic and organizational benefits of an API-based software architecture. The next step was foreseeable: APIs became API products, tailored to the individual needs of customers. For companies, this means concentrating on the essentials. For developers of API products, it means the emergence of a new, lucrative market. API products are digital competence API-Economy, the economic sector that deals with the development and distribution of API products, is based on a simple but captivating insight: Not everyone can know everything. Acquiring the additional skills needed for your own business model takes time, money and resources. Since the development of new business areas usually requires a number of new competences, the effort multiplies with each additional competence - an effort that in many cases does not pay off. The alternative would be to simply purchase the missing competence. This is the moment when APIs come into the picture. From the API to the API product In simple terms, APIs are interfaces that enable software to access specific functionalities of other applications. In other words, the software uses the expertise it has been given through the API without having its own program code describing that expertise. The problem with this is that the API usually provides only one special competence. In order to cope with complex tasks in companies, however, combinations of different competencies are usually required, which must be precisely coordinated with each other. This task is fulfilled by API products, i.e. the combination of different APIs for different parts of the task. The individual APIs must not only fulfil their special tasks, but must also communicate optimally with the other APIs in order to interact smoothly in the interest of the target. Developers of API products have two options to create a custom API product: Either all APIs contained in the product originate from own development or the API product consists of specially coordinated, already existing APIs. In many cases, combinations are also possible: Competences for which third-party APIs already exist are served by these. All others require the development of new APIs. The product then consists of existing and new APIs, which are optimally adapted to each other. There are no limits to special functions In particular, the combination of third-party APIs and self-programmed APIs opens up undreamt-of possibilities for developers to design individual applications for the respective customer. Solutions are conceivable that target API products for internal use within the company or those that are designed as part of the business model for use by corporate customers. In this way, differentiated soft limits can be implemented, such as throttling, in order to limit the number of accesses within a certain period of time. These and other functionalities can be integrated into the API product exactly according to the customer’s individual requirements. When it comes to pricing, the developer has every option open to him - from price per query to graduated prices for different expansion stages and flat solutions. In addition, price models based on special application scenarios are conceivable. Conclusion API products are the answer to the problem of companies generating additional competencies with justifiable effort. For developers, API products represent a virtually inexhaustible new market in which they provide companies with the skills they need through tailored solutions.