Long live the API!
Since the day I joined the telecom industry over 6 years ago, I have read predictions about the slow death of SMS and voice, about how these methods of communication are outdated and ‘so 2002’ and yet despite this, year after year the industry is seeing growth.
Last week, I attended the Carrier Community SMS Summit in Berlin and took part in a panel discussion alongside industry experts on the future of the messaging market and how APIs are changing the industry. The outcome of this discussion; APIs are the driving force behind market growth.
What is an API?
Literally, an ‘Application Program Interface’ is a set of tools and protocols for building software applications. It is the way 2 Applications talk to each other.
But why is this important? While API’s are nothing new, they have become the method of choice for today’s programmers to implement third party applications into their software. They are low cost, low maintenance, flexible and easy to implement, perfect!
If you look at today’s applications and websites the back end is packed full of APIs, whether it be flights, financial services or football scores. Anything can be implemented into your application without the need for huge financial and time investment. Everything we do online is managed by APIs.
I look at my own e-commerce startup and see how many API’s are needed to support the day to day running of the business. I use Stripe to process payments and detect fraud (this would be impossible for a small business to manage itself). I use the Royal Mail API for simple and time saving shipping and even use an API to send SMS Notifications to customers.
What does this mean for the telecoms industry?
The telecoms industry when compared to modern software developers is historically worlds apart. Traditional telecoms businesses are seen as prehistoric whereas software is the future. Despite this we need each other! Businesses around the world still rely on telco companies to engage with customer, detect fraud, verify users etc etc.
The widespread use of APIs among developers is a game changer and bridges the gap. It means more people than ever before are able to take advantage of things like SMS, voice calls and number information services without any specialist technical knowledge or heavy investment.
Anyone can implement global connectivity with just a couple of lines of code.
APIs allows us to focus on what we are good at. While software developers continue to come up with new and innovative use cases, we continue to provide the best connectivity in the market.