Using API In Business
Website Analytics
If your company has a website, you must be using some analytics to evaluate its performance. It helps to measure website traffic and user conversions. And to work properly needs to be integrated into your website. And, of course, you’ll be using APIs for that.
Take Google Analytics, for example. It’s a part of Google Cloud API Platform and it offers several different APIs for analytics. The most common are Core Reporting API and Management API. You use them to get the report data on the website’s performance and manage your Google Analytics accounts. Even when you’re just using online software provided by Google Analytics, without writing any code, you still deal with those two APIs indirectly.
Project Management Tools
When working in a company with many employees, team management tools become a necessity. Trello, Basecamp, JIRA, Microsoft Teams – you’re probably using one of them. Project management tools are great for communication between coworkers but it’s their data-sharing functionality that’s really important. This means easily attaching a file from your computer or another application and share it with other users. Or you can convert data from the project management tool into other programs like MS Excel. And guess what? All that data-sharing between different services happens through API. So, every time you link some external reports into the project management tool, you’re actually using APIs. They get the information from one software application to another so that your colleagues can see it right away.
Search Engine
Another way of using APIs is acquiring information from other services. If your business involves searching for the best offers online, like KAYAK or Expedia, you must be using APIs. In fact, third-party servers receive a request through API, respond with what the user searches for and then the information displays on your website. Or you may just have a small search box that helps users find the right content on your website. Chances are the internal search engine you use is actually an integrated custom website search API. Those are usually provided by Google, Bing or other major search engines that allow API integration.
Online Payment Systems
If your business involves money transfers and digital payments, you are clearly using APIs. For e-commerce, APIs are a valuable tool because they ensure the security of online payments. A fast and simple way to receive money online is to use the payment gateways’ APIs. PayPal, Stripe, Skrill or Dwolla – any of those APIs can be integrated with your website.
Social Media
If your business involves money transfers and digital payments, you are clearly using APIs. For e-commerce, APIs are a valuable tool because they ensure the security of online payments. A fast and simple way to receive money online is to use the payment gateways’ APIs. PayPal, Stripe, Skrill or Dwolla – any of those APIs can be integrated with your website.