Producing an API shouldn’t just be an IT only concern. Building an API could help sales, finance, marketing or even customer support. It’s common for it to start as an IT only matter and end up impacting the entire company.

The return on investment of investing (ROI) in an application programming interface (API) can have a dramatic upside to a business. Well designed APIs can do a lot more than just simply connect applications. A well designed and well placed API can enabled digital transformation.

Business Growth

Marshall Van Alstyne led a study on APIs that established that companies that have APIs saw 12.7% more growth in market capitalization than those who did not adopt APIs. Over a 16 year period, he observed 38% growth.

Automating Routine Effort

Automating 10 to 20 hours of labour per week provides a significant opportunity for a business. Over a few weeks or months, this could be saving dozens of full time jobs worth of costs.

Saving a few full time employee roles could provide some pretty significant relief and opportunity cost benefits.

Getting More Time Out of Legacy Applications

Often, legacy applications take a long time to replace. Maybe it’s not worth the effort to completely rip it out and replace it. Building an API could allow a company to potentially only replace the frontend so it works on mobile or doesn’t require IE.