All about API integrations

Unless you plan to build a unique software architecture for your business from the ground up, you’ll probably use external application programming interfaces (APIs). But what is an API, and how can APIs help you streamline your business tech?

In simple terms, APIs are gateways—they’re bridges between apps. We’ll unpack that concept a little more in the next section. For now, imagine an API as the connection that you make with a friend on the telephone. You’re the platform, and your friend is an external app that you “plug into” via an “API conversation.”

Software companies generally produce prepackaged APIs for a range of other platforms. App developers, for instance, might create APIs to allow integration with software as a service (SaaS) ecommerce platforms. They might also produce APIs to facilitate communication between their servers and open-source platforms like Magento Open Source or Drupal Commerce.

If you do plan to integrate standalone apps and widgets, APIs are a must-have. We’ll begin this post with a thorough explanation of what APIs are in real terms, and what they actually do. Then, we’ll talk about various types of APIs, and we’ll unpack the benefits of APIs versus all-in-one online portals.

What is an API?

Some companies do build completely custom platforms, but most don’t—mainly because of the effort and cost involved. Instead, they integrate with existing apps and use application programming interfaces to “talk” to those apps.

Let’s go back to the imaginary friend we introduced in the second paragraph. That friend represents an app, and the conversation you—the primary platform—have with your friend represents the API. Your friends have many different personalities, so the conversations that you have with them are diverse. Similarly, apps behave differently from each other—they gather and pass along various types of data—so each API that you install will be different.

If you prefer a tech-centric visual, imagine your primary platform as component number one in a system, and the external app that you want to integrate as component three. Your API is component two—and it’s a tube with glue on either end. One side of the tube connects to your platform and the other side connects to the external app.

In purely technical terms, APIs are code-based interfaces that facilitate communication between your platform and the app that you want to incorporate. They define and streamline requests, specify the types of requests and the data formats they travel in and more.

The history of APIs

APIs first emerged in the year 2000.These early APIs let clients link the fledgling, cloud-based Salesforce service with existing on-site systems. Over the next two years, organizations like eBay and Amazon also got on board with APIs.

APIs really started to gain momentum in tandem with social media. Services like Flickr wrote APIs for convenient blog integration, while early Facebook APIs included Facebook Development Platform 1.0. Twitter followed suit with its own developer-facing API in 2006.

Not too long after that, companies like Amazon began shifting products into the cloud. APIs became bridges between cloud-based services, as well as cloud-to-on-premise links. Google launched Maps in late 2006, and its APIs marked the beginning of smartphone navigation app development.

More and more mobile-centric API-integrated apps materialized in subsequent months. Essentially, APIs are responsible for the phrase “there’s an app for that,” because without them, smartphone apps wouldn’t work at all.

Nowadays, APIs enable mobile computing, modular communications platforms, cloud-based CRMs, smart speakers, web-connected cameras and microphones, learning thermostats and a host of other systems and gadgets. Wearable tech—smart watch devices, for example—work because of APIs.

Most experts agree that we’re only just scratching the surface of API capability, and that the world will become more connected as time goes on.

Types of APIs

Various types of APIs exist, and each variety is tailored to the apps it serves. Here are five distinct kinds of API.

Cloud APIs

Cloud APIs connect platforms to cloud-based apps. In other words, they provide communication links that enable cloud-based computing. You can use cloud APIs to connect your platform to cloud storage, cloud communication apps, and cloud monitoring services.

Cloud-based software frees up on-site system resources, so you end up with a lighter tech stack. Like other application programming interfaces, cloud APIs act as gateways between platforms and apps, between platforms and other platforms, and between platforms and software services.

Open APIs

Also known as public APIs, open APIs are publicly available application programming interfaces. In other words, they don’t cost money and you’re allowed to modify them to suit your existing software. There aren’t many restrictions on open APIs, although some providers require user registration, while others limit how you can use the data associated with the API.

Usually, open APIs are based on open data—data anyone can use, republish, and modify. Open APIs are generally free, so they help cut companies’ IT costs.

Partner APIs

Partner APIs are quite similar to open APIs from a structural standpoint. They’re designed to do the same things, and they’re created using similar coding patterns. They are not, however, based on open data; you’re also not allowed to modify them, republish them, or use them for reasons prohibited by the API publisher.

Partner APIs are usually controlled via a third-party gateway. They link your platform with paid services—your paid CRM, for instance, or your ecommerce payment processor.

Internal APIs

You’ll almost never “see” internal APIs because they’re usually hidden components in internal systems. These types of APIs facilitate communication between one part of your internal tech stack and another. You can use them to share resources between departments (e.g., your human resources department and your accounting department).

Internal APIs are more secure than other types of integration and they’re easy to audit, making them ideal for the transmission of sensitive information.

Composite APIs

Composite APIs are the software equivalent of a hand: the central API structure creates the palm, and the fingers represent data endpoints. You can use a composite API to gather data from multiple sources and combine it to create one informational stream with a single endpoint. Alternatively, you can use a composite API to transmit data from one centralized source to a number of different endpoints.

Developers frequently use composite APIs in a microservices architecture because they’re so versatile. Using one well-designed composite API, rather than many individual APIs, substantially reduces server workload, so you wind up with a faster infrastructure.

Benefits of an API

Do developers have to use APIs? In a word, no, they don’t. Having said that, the advantages of APIs are so numerous that to cut them out completely might not make sense. For a start, APIs automate workflows, so they improve data transfer accuracy and save time over manual processes.

Other API perks include:

  • Flexibility: APIs move information quickly and accurately between different software.
  • Scope: You can add an application layer to your custom API to make information more accessible.
  • Ease: APIs make it easy to integrate functional apps into your existing system.
  • Adaptability: APIs are extremely adaptable because they’re components, rather than one-piece systems.

In short, you can use APIs to make your tech infrastructure more interesting, more versatile, more user friendly, and more functional without spending a lot of money.

APIs available with 8x8

If you want to improve communications on your platform, but you don’t want to develop APIs yourself, 8x8 can help. You can integrate our range of communications apps via API—and you can modify API characteristics to suit your organization. When you incorporate our SMS Engage app using an API, for example, you can send single or batch messages, change the template body or create a webhook URL to show message delivery status.

Our APIs are stable, easy to use and simple to set up—plus they’re secure, so you’ll never compromise corporate or consumer data. If you have a developer on your team, they can use the 8x8 Open Lab to access lab features, view cutting-edge research, and modify code. If you get stuck, simply contact our advanced 24/7 tech support department.

Communication APIs

Automate notifications and reach customers all over the globe with 8x8 communication APIs. We partner with more than 160 carriers in over 190 countries, so messages fly across networks faster than the speed of sound. You can pick and choose apps and corresponding APIs to build your ideal communications network quickly and efficiently.

Meeting-as-a-Service APIs

Video meetings are a more popular form of business communications than ever. You can make video chat part of your software infrastructure with our comprehensive, Jitsi-powered video meeting platform. Enterprise-ready, secure, and reliable, our Jitsi-as-a-Service offering will bring you face to face with clients, industry peers, and business partners all over the world.

Contact Center APIs

Use 8x8’s Contact Center service and its coordinating API to take your customer experience to the next level. Essentially a cloud-based CRM, this advanced call center software helps to improve rep-customer engagement, boosts productivity, and provides on-point agent feedback to elevate performance. Our omnichannel contact center even includes an AI-integrated customer portal for round-the-clock service.

Alternatives to APIs

If you don’t feel comfortable integrating apps into your existing platform, an API-based communications system might not be the right choice for you. Thankfully, there are two main alternatives.

Custom-built communications platforms

Option one is to hire a programmer to write custom software. If you follow this approach, you retain complete control over the development process from start to finish, and you end up with a proprietary, all-in-one enterprise communications platform. You can build communication platforms with programmers found through niche job boards, tech forums, social media platforms like LinkedIn, etc. Another option is a partnership with staff augmentation vendors such as DOIT Staffing, BEON.tech, etc

There are disadvantages to in-house programming. For a start, custom web development is very expensive, so you’ll need a hefty IT budget. You’ll also have to pay for updates, ongoing maintenance, and security patches.

8x8 Platform

The second option is a pre-built communications platform like 8x8 Platform. One of the biggest perks of 8x8 is its sheer convenience. Reps can log into the all-in-one communications platform via desktop or mobile app, or via browser—from anywhere. This makes it ideal for flex workers and teams based partly at home and partly on site.

When you choose an “as-a-service” communications platform, you also outsource all security issues, all maintenance, all updates, and all bug fixes to 8x8’s external team. The result is less money spent on IT. In the end, cloud-based communications packages cost less than proprietary solutions without sacrificing quality.

Choose the right APIs for you

Your business needs are unique—even among your industry peers. A large, unified communications platform might be more than you need; in that case, API-based contact apps represent a lightweight, modular alternative. You can create a custom communications suite with 8x8 apps and APIs, which include SMS, chat, voice, video meetings, and callstats options.

Our global apps and APIs are robust, reliable, cloud-based, and certified secure, so they reduce pressure on your existing tech without compromising business or customer data. We use the latest AI programming to make our apps faster and smarter—and if you get stuck, you’ll receive support from industry-leading specialists, 24/7.

To find out more about 8x8 products and services, or to request a demo, call 1-866-498-2316, complete our webform, or chat with us online today.