What is the API Economy and Why does it matter?

Have you ever wondered how your phone accesses all the information it does such as traffic updates, weather, geolocations, the news, and more? The device doesn’t store this data, so where does it come from?

In simple terms, real-time traffic updates in your Google Maps are a result of an exchange between two software programs. Your device is connected to a map service allowing it to source traffic updates via an Application Programming Interface or API. APIs establish connections between different parts of a single app or two different applications, acting as a channel of communication between software programs. Each channel has customizable rules on data exchange, resource use, and access to each party's software functionality. APIs facilitate operations both internally, within your company’s infrastructure, and externally, enabling transactions, authenticating people and purchases, and providing information and data.   

Now think of a multitude of APIs creating a vast communication network; this network is called the API economy. 

The API economy allows companies to streamline processes and introduce products/ services with greater speed, responsiveness, and cost-effectiveness.  In this post, we will explore:   

• Why does the API economy matter?

• How TRIYO is leveraging the API economy

• Successful examples of companies leveraging the API Economy

Why does the API Economy Matter?

As discussed above, APIs are the foundational channels of communication that allow data exchange between different applications. The key functions of the APIs are:  

• Accessing data so multiple apps or services can work together seamlessly;
• Decoding complexity to allow developers easier navigation;
• Extending the functionality of existing systems with other systems; and
• Protecting personal data

In our increasingly interconnected world, companies are discovering that collaborating with external parties and partners can create new business opportunities and accelerate innovation. Furthermore, businesses are prioritizing responsive websites, custom mobile apps, and other user-friendly digital interfaces to enhance customer experiences, all of which depend on the API economy. 

Uber, for instance, uses the Google Maps API to inform the driver where he needs to go. Uber disrupted the transportation industry by combining public APIs with its exclusive processes. The ride-sharing company utilizes the API of Google Maps without having to build its own mapping system. 

Expedia provides access to its booking functionality to facilitate partnerships with its affiliates. The company created a feature-rich API designed to increase traffic.  Expedia now generates 90 percent of its revenue through the API, driving more traffic, generating new revenue sources, and creating new associations with other businesses around the world. 

Paybook is an API that translates raw financial data from banking and other financial institutions into a simple format that is easy to understand. It permits a user to synchronize their software with those of financial institutions, government authorities, and utility service providers to create one seamless financial platform. 

Within the financial services industry, forward-thinking banks are increasingly partnering with fintechs to develop APIs that integrate banking data into bookkeeping and investment software, and provide faster internal access to a range of account information. McKinsey estimates that as much as $1T in economic profit could be obtainable through the redistribution of revenues across sectors within the API ecosystem globally.  

TRIYO and the API Economy: Powering the Workplace of the Future 

TRIYO is an API for new and legacy workplace tools, integrating and communicating with designated toolkits. TRIYO in effect creates a proprietary, security compliant microcosm of an API economy, one that can provide significant operational advantages: 

• TRIYO sits atop of, and integrates with, the APIs of existing tools such as MS Office Suite, JIRA, GitHub etc., and extracts significant additional efficiencies. It creates an API economy within the Word/Excel/Outlook/Teams toolkit, for instance, enabling real-time document parsing, task assignments, and live follow-up from within the working document itself, effortless project management, and granular, keystroke–level capture of compliance and efficiency data.  
• TRIYO can handle complex tasks such as uploading external documents, [templating uploaded content], and enabling digital approvals for uploaded content. It can be deployed for external-facing processes such as loan origination/refinancing or deal processes that require data flow between the enterprise and its dealer partners such as legal counsel and consortium members.
• TRIYO offers a cutting edge communication tool. Use it to access channel history, post messages, view real-time changes, deploy workflows, incorporate builds, share documents, and more.  
• Furthermore, TRIYO does all of the above so seamlessly that 80% of downstream workers are rarely if ever required to click on the TRIYO platform: – they can continue working effortlessly on their preferred platform and reap all the benefits of the TRIYO API economy, with minimal behavioral change.  

TRIYO keeps everyone on the same page no matter where they are working from! 

The benefits of the API economy are significant: extend your reach, leverage data more effectively, create personalized user experiences that matter at a minimal cost, optimize resources, and generate additional revenues. TRIYO creates an API economy that is more than the sum of its parts, turbocharging your existing workplace toolkit and leveraging scarce resources for quantifiable bottom-line impact. 

Learn more

Explore TRIYO to learn more about the future of collaboration in the financial industry and the API Economy.