The Business Benefits of Private APIs

    For some of the big companies, revealing the data assets through APIs to foreign developers is not an option. Those organizations are developing their private API for internal usage. As their name is saying, the private APIs are not available to third-party developers.

    By developing and using private APIs, companies can bring service development and new products faster time-to-market. Also, ensuring that there are no setbacks in the company`s workflow and opening new market channels are necessary components afforded by private APIs.

    There are a couple of benefits that could make you choose private APIs over the public ones….

    API Strategic Journey

    Naturally, before you start building an API, you should have a strategy explaining what API should be doing. The API strategy includes deciding on which type of API you will develop, what do you want from that API, which programming language you will use etc.

    If the private API is the case, having a meeting with the stakeholders is a must. In that meeting, the board along with the stakeholders and developer needs to take the strategy into consideration. Developers building an API on their own is just not going to cut it.

    Modernization of Organizational Structure

    As the changing of private APIs is not going to affect outside users modernizing the organizational structure needs to be done frequently. Sometimes from restructuration of the API new, until then unseen value, could emerge.

    It is possible to develop new values by customizing the current organizational model. Also, it is possible to acquire new functionalities and data. It has been proven time and time again, that reorganization could access a greater range of resources without the possibility of damaging foreign users.

    Improving Collaboration and Internal Communication

    Having the private API in your company is going to improve the productivity and efficiency for sure. Some researches proved that by increasing the internal collaboration, companies will increase the productivity of the whole company by 20%.

    Having the same API for all of the developers inside of a company sure is going to be of help. By using the same API, the company will increase the awareness about the company`s information models. Also, it can provide a clarity with the enabling reliable data to be used when business` operations need analyzing.

    Speed up Time-to-Market

    Having an internal API can increase the speed up time-to-market of service features and newly created products. If the company chooses to focus all the resources on creating a new feature, it will be done pretty fast. You just need to follow API design guidance and you’ll be on your way to success.

    The private APIs don’t require too much time to write documentation or work on error messages. That time can be spent in making API more efficient. Just like foreign developers, stakeholders should contact the developer team if there is a problem. That way time-to-market speed will be maintained.

    Efficient Managing of the Supply Chain

    Probably, this is the most important benefit named in this article. When the developers want to create a new feature, that shouldn`t impact the existing processes. The team needs to develop an architecture that will enable more flexible modification of existing code.

    Given that the API is private, there will be no consumers damaged in this process. This way you have the ability to constantly improving parts of your code, without damaging the other elements.  We don’t need to say, that we prefer this over the collapse of the whole application because of little changes.

    More Precise BI Analytics

    The analytics are there to flow through the application and identify where the perks are, or where they could emerge in the future. One little perk could potentially damage the whole application if it is not fixed at the right time.

    An application is separated into sections, and then carefully analyzed part by part. Monitoring uptimes, response times, and the load of the servers are included in this analysis. In the end, you will get a full report on the whole app`s efficiency.

    Conclusion

    Given that the private APIs are the majority in an API world, they are probably the better way for some businesses to create their API strategy. Furthermore, developing an API can be easier when it comes to the private APIs because it doesn`t affect foreign developers or customers. If the whole team with all of its resources is working on a particular API, improvements are bound to happen sooner or later.

    Thank you for reading our article. We hope that it was enjoyable as it was informative. If you have some question, or you think we missed something, feel free to leave a comment down below. We will respond on a short notice. Have a nice day.

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    • Tom La Vecchia

      Founder of New Theory & X Factor Media

      Founder and Publisher of New Theory Magazine and Podcast. Serial Entrepreneur who loves wine, cigars and anything that allows to people to connect and share experiences.

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