Importance of open APIs in big data analytics

There has been a huge shift in the big data and analytics space, which is rightly attributed to the API economy. The use of open APIs facilitates developers to access company source code and build third party applications that can help in bringing in more users, resulting in a boost in data volume for the company at almost no additional cost.

The already large world of big data and analytics is uplifted due to open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The utilization of open API has been generating huge volumes of big data. As open APIs are now accessed by the general public through apps and software programs, this has resulted in an exponential growth of data. Open APIs also play a role in contributing to the creation of analytics. Open APIs have now incorporated cognitive abilities that allow them to deliver analytics to systems. Thus, the growth of open APIs has given birth to the term “API economy”.What is open API?

An open API is made available on the Internet free of cost. Like how Google Maps is made available for use by third parties such as Uber. Or, for example, a software startup that is specializing in the insurance domain can make its underwriting calculation software available in the form of an open API. Third-party developers that are interested can access the calculation software as per the terms and conditions of the API availability.Why does open API matter?

Open APIs can help in providing advantages to both its owner and the user. For the owner, whenever the open API is used, it means that his products and services are receiving publicity, while it still retains the ownership of the code. For the user, open APIs helps in relieving third-party developers from the effort that is required to build an entire software program from the scratch. The impact of API on big data can be seen in the form of:

Increase in Data Volume

Open APIs have contributed in facilitating the growth of big data. Take an example of the online education domain. Online education has now become popular amongst students. They use apps and websites for learning. As educational content is stored in different storage systems, it becomes a tedious task to connect so many storage systems and maintain them. In such a situation, open APIs can really help. Open APIs make it easier for apps to connect to multiple data sources. For accessing a data source, users can just call an API, which delivers the requested information. More and more people are, therefore, now using open APIs as they deliver convenience.

Fast Access to Big Data

APIs can help in developing big data applications that facilitate faster access to the data storages. This results in faster data retrieval, processing, and analytics. Such open APIs can sit as a layer between distributed computing applications and storage.

Develop New Products and Services

There is a new development in the world of APIs and it is especially applicable for analytics. This development is called cognitive API. A cognitive API can accept a request in certain format from a system and deliver it to another system. The recipient system provides analytics as a response that gets delivered to the requesting system. Cognitive APIs facilitate complex data processing and help in delivering analytics. Several enterprises are using such APIs to create their own products and services. In short, using open APIs helps in delivering a high level of efficiency, convenience, and financial gain. It has, therefore, become inevitable for almost any business to make open APIs a part of their business development strategy and drive growth.